Yotam Silberstein: The Village

Still got it!

It’s true, it’s already five years ago that guitarist Yotam Silberstein surprised us here at MúsicaBrasileira with a splendid Brazilian flavored jazz album. Brasil was a nice surprise for the jazz fans who can appreciate a serious Brazilian influence in jazz. So when I saw The Village, I wondered if Yotam Silberstein (Tel Aviv, Israel) still followed that same course.

Living in New York since 2005, Yotam found his artistic home in the city’s jazzy Greenwich Village. It’s highlighted in the title track of this album, “The Village.” The guitarist/composer surrounded himself with a rhythm trio that has jazz written all over them. It’s the same trio star saxophonist Joshua Redman used for his albums Beyond (2000) and Passage of Time (2001): Aaron Goldberg on piano, Reuben Rogers on bass and Gregory Hutchinson on the drums. All top of the bill instrumentalists. But not the kind of musicians you think of if you talk about Brazilian music.

Nevertheless, The Village will please Brazilian music fans. The album opens with a very Brazilian sounding “Parabéns” in which Yotam lays a perfect link with his previous album. It’s throughout the whole album that you’ll hear that Yotam embraced the Brazilian music culture. In the accompanying booklet, Yotam explains that the title “The Village” not only refers to Greenwich Village but also to his idea that the world has become a global village. That thought seduces him to use a wide variety of different music styles. But with songs like “O Vôo da Mosca” (by Jacob do Bandolim) it’s clear he didn’t lose his love for Brazil. It makes The Village a most pleasing album. And how good it is to have such a talented and dedicated representative of Brazilian Music in New York’s burning jazz scene!