Read what key journalists have to say about our musical works.
Review: Upside Down Mountain
When Yosef Gutman plays his acoustic bass guitar it takes you places. There’s a purity in his tone and an honesty in his expression that draws you into his musical journey—one that has brought him from his South African upbringing to his musical development in Boston and New York City to his current Jerusalem home base. A prime example is his latest effort, Upside Down Mountain, a story of unwavering love and joy told through exquisitely written and improvised melodies.
Chris Jisi, Bass Magazine
Artist Portrait
"There is something so luminous, open-hearted and wholly unique about the music on Yosef Gutman Levitt’s self-produced trio recording Upside Down Mountain that it begs the question: Where did this guy come from? The answer to that is a long and winding road."
Bill Milkowski, DownBeat Magazine
Review: Soul Song With Lionel Loueke
As an acoustic jazz quartet album, it’s very well crafted, tender and thoughtful, with a highly emotive sensibility. The tunes are performed so well by this quartet and although largely on the gentle side, the band isn’t shy about branching out into more diverse realms of bright and breezy effusiveness at times. Overall though, they paint their musical pictures in pastel tints as opposed to vibrant hues, yet with an open-hearted, joyous mood prevailing. Like a homecoming, it’s easy to feel the love.
Mike Gates, UK Vibe
Review: Melodies Of Light
To listen to "Melodies of Light" is to embark on a journey of the soul. It is to experience the world through the eyes of two musicians who not only understand their craft but respect the emotional weight that each note carries. And in a world where authenticity in art is increasingly hard to come by, this album stands as a beacon that not only illuminates but enlightens. So, clear your schedules, folks, you've got a date with what could very well be the most soul-stirring album of the year. And trust me, it's a rendezvous you won't want to miss.
Review: Upside Down Mountain
Upside Down Mountain, the first of several planned releases, features Levitt’s original compositions in a trio format, with pianist (the only familiar face for me, given his work with Shai Maestro, Avishai Cohen, and Omer Avital, among others). Reflective and possessing an exceptional clarity of feeling, Levitt’s music settles the soul. He plays an electrified acoustic bass, often in the highest register, and both Mor, who can sometimes conjure the kora from his piano, and Nehemya bring a corresponding feeling, restraint, and musicality to the project. From the jubilation of “Wedding Song” to the magic hour coloration of “Time with Abba,” from the struggle of “Jericho” to the gratitude of “Family (Folk Vibe),” with its African feel, to the centering quality of “Arise,” Upside Down Mountain offers a satisfying island of lyrical sanity.
Mel Minter, Musically Speaking
Review: Melodies Of Light
There is much generosity but nobody takes advantage, there are whimsical elements but life is always being celebrated and the sparse, ethereal parts lift the playing beyond the physical to a more temporal place, just briefly, before touching the earth again and feeling those vibrations moving through. As an album, Melodies Of Light works really well and as a life-affirming collaboration it is even better, producers and players bringing the very best out of one another and showing Jerusalem to be quite the crucible of exploratory, heartfelt music.
Mr. Olivetti, FREQ
Review: The World And Its People
Music can soothe and explain, and create a place of rest for peoples of whatever persuasion. It is a cliché but no less true for that: music is a universal language. Bassist Yosef Gutman Levitt makes such music on this album under a title which embraces rather than excludes. That said – and given the times it could hardly be otherwise -- there is sadness and melancholy in some of the 11 pieces which sit between elegant jazz fusion, the creative edge of New Age, Jewish folk and classical music.
Graham Reid, Elsewhere
Review: Melodies Of Light
This is a first for me — recommending three releases by the same artist within the same year. (In fact, technically within the same season.) But bassist Yosef Gutman Levitt’s recent string of recordings with a variety of collaborators has just been such an unmitigated success that I feel like I need to bring