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Oded Tzur

Here Be Dragons

ECM

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1 Here Be Dragons  
2 To Hold Your Hand  
3 20 Years  
4 Miniature 1  
5 Miniature 2  
6 Miniature 3  
7 The Dream  
8 Can't Help Falling In Love  
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Here Be Dragons is the ECM debut of New York based, Tel Aviv born tenor saxophonist Oded Tzur, one of the most strikingly original musicians to have emerged from Israeli's creative jazz scene in recent years, and the leader of an outstanding group. 

Oded Tzur has found a new and personal sound for the tenor saxophone. Inspired by his extensive studies from 2007 onward with bansuri master Hariprasad Chaurasia, he has mastered the graceful slides of Indian classical music and brought raga's sense of pitch fluidity and microtonal shading into a jazz context. His pieces elegantly explore and unfold their melodic and atmospheric implications in a context of subtle group interaction. Structurally, each of Tzur's compositions on Here Be Dragons sets out to develop a "miniature raga" over a moving bass, juxtaposing two musical concepts. Oded: "The dialogue between these dimensions takes us wherever it takes us." The ragas deployed in the pieces "Here Be Dragons", "20 Years" and "The Dream" are of Oded's creation, while "To Hold Your Hand" uses an Indian scale called Charukesi and operates on similar principles. He stresses, however, that "raga is, for me, a universal concept. I hear its connection to synagogue prayers, or to the blues – a marvellous creation – and to music all around the world." Ancient and modern traditions are referenced in Oded's work, including traditions of storytelling. "If music has the ability to tell stories," suggested All About Jazz, "saxophonist Oded Tzur proves himself one of the jazz world's premier storytellers." Tzur's concept is also broad enough to embrace some unexpected song choices, and the album concludes with a tender interpretation of "Can't Help Falling In Love", made famous by Elvis Presley. 

  • Oded Tzur - Isabela is All About Jazz - Chris May's Number One Best Albums Of 2022
    Posted At: December 2, 2022
    On his follow-up to Here Be Dragons New York-based saxophonist Oded Tzur and his collaborators apply their subtle dialect in a more intense space, exploring the nuances and colours of the saxophonist’s self-fashioned raga in a suite-like sequence of quiet meditations and powerful exclamations. Throughout Isabela a heightened sense of urgency prevails, as Oded returns with his unaltered quartet to weave...

  • You won't easily find saxophonists with a better voice than Oded Tzur / COMMENTARY BOX SPORTS
    Posted At: July 4, 2022
    On his follow-up to Here Be Dragons New York-based saxophonist Oded Tzur and his collaborators apply their subtle dialect in a more intense space, exploring the nuances and colours of the saxophonist’s self-fashioned raga in a suite-like sequence of quiet meditations and powerful exclamations. Throughout Isabela a heightened sense of urgency prevails, as Oded returns with his unaltered quartet to weave...

  • Oded Tzur - Isabela makes JAZZIZ: The Week in Jazz
    Posted At: June 7, 2022
    On his follow-up to Here Be Dragons New York-based saxophonist Oded Tzur and his collaborators apply their subtle dialect in a more intense space, exploring the nuances and colours of the saxophonist’s self-fashioned raga in a suite-like sequence of quiet meditations and powerful exclamations. Throughout Isabela a heightened sense of urgency prevails, as Oded returns with his unaltered quartet to weave...

  • 'The Dream' from Oded Tzur - Here Be Dragons featured on Punto Radio - animajazz
    Posted At: June 1, 2020

    In episode 921 of "ANIMAJAZZ", conceived and conducted by BRUNO POLLACCI , broadcast on TUESDAY 2 June at 20.30, on PUNTORADIO, also streaming on www.puntoradio.fm and in an immediate podcast on http: // animajazz. eu will be the protagonists of the evening, which include; "The Dream"; by ODED TZUR from "Here Be Dragons"  Here Be Dragons is the ECM debut of New York based, Tel Aviv born ten...

  • Oded Tzur puts forth some of the most engaging music on ECM debut; Here Be Dragons / JAZZ VIEWS w/CJ
    Posted At: April 17, 2020

    Last year when ECM celebrated it's 50th Anniversary, one of the most striking aspects was the it's invested interest in Israeli musicians.  The label has been instrumental in bringing to international attention Scandinavian artists, such as legends like Jan Garbarek, Arild Andersen, Nils Petter Molvaer, Swiss artists like multi instrumentalist Stephan Micus, North African artists and also representi...

  • Oded Tzur - Here Be Dragons makes CD Hotlist - March 'New Releases' pick
    Posted At: April 16, 2020

    Oded Tzur - Here Be Dragons - ECM Here Be Dragons is the curiously forbidding title of one of the sweetest, softest, and yet most complex and musically dense jazz albums I've heard in ages. Oded Tzur is both a hugely gifted composer and a tenor saxophonist of uncommonly sweet and lovely tone; on top of that, he is also an arranger who shows deep respect for his sidemen by giving them plenty of ro...

  • Oded Tzur - Here Be Dragons is a resoundingly beautiful and meditative album / UKVIBE.org
    Posted At: April 1, 2020

    "Here be dragons" is the ECM debut of New York-based, Tel Aviv born tenor saxophonist Oded Tzur. One of the most strikingly original musicians to emerge from Israel's creative jazz scene in recent years, he leads an outstanding quartet which includes Nitai Hershkovits on piano, Petros Klampanis on double bass, and Johnathan Blake on drums. Tzur has a very personal sound to his playing which encompass...

  • Oded Tzur - Here Be Dragons. Introspective stance and immensely melodious structure / Gina Loves Jazz
    Posted At: March 25, 2020

    Israeli tenor saxophonist and composer Oded Tzur  has released his first album on the prestigious ECM label. Oded, who is working in or from New York since 2011 (where else?), debuted in 2015 with "Like A Great River" which was followed in 2017 with "Translator's Note". It seems as if his new-found home at ECM has somehow earthed him, grounded him, since this release is much more connected a...

  • The interplay and cohesion on Oded Tzur's 'Here Be Dragons' is fabulous throughout / 91.1WTJU
    Posted At: March 10, 2020

    "Here Be Dragons is Oded Tzur's debut on the legendary record label ECM….‘Here Be Dragons' (HIC SVNT DRACONES in the original Latin) was an inscription indicating unexplored territories on old maps. Tzur composed the album for a new quartet, featuring Nitai Hershkovits on piano, Petros Klampanis on bass (also appearing on Tzur's previous albums) and Johnathan Blake on drums." The interplay a...

  • Surprises abound through elegant compositions on Oded Tzur - Here Be Dragons / The Aquarian
    Posted At: March 10, 2020

    Here Be Dragons (ECM Records) by Oded Tzur, the Israeli tenor sax man now living and working in New York City, takes its inspiration from ancient times when the Dutch Society of Cartography commissioned Florentine artist Filippo Brunelleschi to board a pirate ship in 1439 to seek out dragons. They found no such creatures but got drunk on rum and managed to survive a monster wave or two. Tzur heard these ...

  • Oded Tzur's 'Here Be Dragons' has already spent a large chunk of time in my player / LONDON JAZZ NEWS
    Posted At: February 27, 2020

    Oded Tzur makes an extraordinary sound with his tenor saxophone. I suppose the last time I was quite so struck – entranced might be a better word – with the sound of a specific instrument played by a specific musician was when I first became aware of Arve Henriksen. Just as the Norwegian can sometimes make his trumpet sound closer to the shakuhachi, the ancient Far Eastern bamboo fl...

  • Verve/New Deal/Impulse!/ECM artists make this week's PlayMPE 'jazz top 10 downloads and streams'
    Posted At: February 21, 2020

    TOP 10 Downloads    Ted Poor - Push Pull – New Deal, Impulse! Oded Tzur - Here Be Dragons - ECM Shabaka And The Ancestors - Go My Heart, Go To Heaven – Impulse! Joey Alexander – Warna – Verve        TOP 10 Streams                      Ted Poor - Push Pull Newl Deal / impulse!  ...
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