CHABAD AL HAZMAN

With his debut album Chabad Al Hazman (literal translation: “Chabad on the time”), Yosef-Gutman Levitt gets right to the heart of core musical truths, on a number of levels. We hear the sparse yet full-bodied lyricism of his unique instrument, the five-string acoustic bass guitar. We hear the sound of a multifaceted ensemble featuring the Persian kamancheh, ney flute, piano/Rhodes, clarinet and world percussion (calabash, darbuka, udu, rik), summoning richly varied sounds from different yet compatible musical cultures. Last but not least we hear the soulful cry of the nigun (plural: nigunim): wordless flowing mystical melodies with changing rhythms drawn from Hasidic (specifically Chabad Lubavitcher) Jewish tradition. The nigunim Levitt chose here reflect not only his own observant Jewish faith, but also his fertile musical imagination as he taps into the stylistic essence of the nigun while creating a sound all his own.

“When playing Hasidic nigunim,” Levitt says, “God is above the music, and the music is there in order to make a space through which people connect. In most other forms of music, the music is the thing that people are connecting to. Over here, the music is simply a gateway for people to connect to something higher.”

Gilad Ronen, who plays clarinet and flute on Chabad Al Hazman, also served as the album’s arranger and producer. He and Levitt share a musical connection that formed when they were Berklee roommates some 25 years prior. Together they consulted on which nigunim held the most promise for the project. And with superb players including Tom Oren (keyboards), Yagel Harush (oud/kamancheh/ney), Amos Hoffman (oud), Yanush Horowitz (accordion), Eyal Heller (guitar), Itamar and Mayan Doari and Joca Perpignan (percussion), they brought Gutman’s melodious vision to life over three days of recording at Pluto Studios in Tel Aviv.

Credits

Released January 23, 2019

Yagel Haroush - Kamānchah & Ney flutes
Itamar Doari - Percussion
Tom Oren - Piano
Yosef Gutman Levitt - Acoustic Bass Guitar
Amos Hoffman - Oud
Gilad Ronen - Arrangement, Orchestration & Woodwinds
Eyal Heller - Spanish Guitar
Yogev Cohen - Acoustic Guitar
Yanush Horowitz - Accordion

Recorded Live at Pluto Studios

Tracking Engineer - Yishai Pitzion
Mixing Engineer - Aran Lavie
Mastering Engineer - Aran Lavie