Israeli Jazz Musicians Make Mark

[mjzee]

Some two decades ago, bassist Omer Avital stepped off a plane from his native Israel and into a jazz scene in Manhattan's West Village that was nearly devoid of his countrymen and their music. It was a lonely time, he said, and when he set up shop in Smalls, a dark and slightly tattered basement club that was, like Avital, struggling to build a reputation, he inevitably found his bands populated by Americans and his sets dominated by well-worn standards.

But when Avital returned to a refurbished Smalls for four nights this past June and July, his standing had taken a turn for the better and his repertoire a turn toward the East. The occasion was the debut of his new combo, the Band of the East, which places the traditions of his youth at the core of a working unit. The personnel of the band changed over the course of the engagement, but on all four nights, a singular young Israeli, Nadav Remez, filled the guitar chair.

Read more: Forward