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ACCLAIMED GUITARISTS LAUNCH NEW CD
Proceeds benefit Englewood Hospital’s Dizzy Gillespie Memorial Fund
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Roni Ben-Hur & Nilson Matta,
by John Abbott
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Roni Ben-Hur & Nilson Matta,
by John Abbott
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Uniting their mutual love for both jazz and Brazilian music, two acclaimed stylists, the guitarist Roni Ben-Hur and the bassist Nilson Matta, have found common ground on Mojave, their first recorded collaboration. With expert support from the long celebrated drummer Victor Lewis and Brazilian percussionist Café, Ben-Hur and Matta have conjured up a project that celebrates the best of both worlds. Mojave entrances with its Brazilian sensibilities as successfully as it swings.
It blends original tunes from all four players with compositions from such Brazilian masters as Antonio Carlos Jobim, Baden Powell and Pixinguinha - in addition to a samba-infused version of Burt Bacharach's classic, "The Look of Love." -Ben-Hur and Matta honor the song craft that makes Brazilian music so beloved, while also acknowledging its pervasive influence. While the Brazilian born Matta comes to the music of his country with the natural ease one might expect, Ben-Hur, born in Israel, impresses with the idiomatic comfort he's acquired. "Roni loves the music," says Matta of his musical partner, "and although he's not Brazilian, he plays the music so well. But this project was never intended to be pure Brazilian; it's a mixture of bebop and samba: a perfect combination. With an American musician with Israeli roots, one native-born American, and two Brazilian players, it became more international in flavor."
The co-leaders began their collaboration in 2009 playing duets in the performance lounge at New Jersey's Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, home to the Dizzy Gillespie Memorial Fund, which provides care for jazz and blues musicians in need. Extensive touring followed and plans were soon made for recording.
It was only fitting when Matta and Ben-Hur decided to make Mojave the third CD in Motema's Jazz Therapy Series that twenty percent of sales will be allocated to the Dizzy Gillespie Memorial Fund at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center. "The desire to make an album together was natural," Ben-Hur said. It was a great opportunity to play music that I had loved all my life with someone I consider an icon of the music." The addition of Lewis and Café, long admired by Ben-Hur and Matta, brought a cherished project to fruition.
To purchase a copy of Mojave, click here.
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