Gregory Golub’s ‘African and Other Jazz Passions’ makes for a stimulating listen by an inventive and distinctive musician who is well
worth discovering.
Scott Yanow
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data-original-title=”” title=””>Gregory Golub is a composer, pianist and keyboardist whose music is full of surprises, creativity, and a blending of different idioms while always being inventive jazz. He was born and raised in the USSR and began teaching himself piano when he was 12. Although he would have a formal musical education, he has long had his own style. Early on, Golub performed at a jazz festival in Russia and received a prize for his writing talents. Since moving to Israel in 1990, he has steadily developed as a pianist, keyboardist, composer, and arranger in addition to being a poet and a philosopher. African and Other Jazz Passions is his third album, following Idioms and Jazz Aftertaste.
The new project consists of a dozen original compositions featuring Gregory Golub on an array of keyboards, where electric piano frequently intertwines with acoustic piano and a variety of electronic timbres — a combination central to his musical signature; he also adds occasional voice, weaving it in as an additional musical instrument. It begins with his electric piano which seems to think aloud during the thoughtful African Passions” before the piece gets a bit funky. Toledo,” which has him utilizing several keyboards to achieve a rhythmic pulse, is full of movement and activity, musically depicting a city in motion. Hasidic Melody” is catchy with Golub including some vocal sounds, Caucasian Blues” is a one-chord jam over an infectious rhythmic pattern in which the structure of the blues is easily recognizable, and Espana” has a strong Spanish feel.
Other Time And Passions Same” features Golub drawing on the sound of vibraphone in his speedy playing, creating a lively dialogue between vibraphone and electric piano, with several musical ideas unfolding at once. He builds up a dense, driving Latin groove on Latino Smile,” scats a bit on the forceful Chara, and is introspective on the ballad Not Knowing What The Future Holds.”
The unpredictable but consistently colorful outing concludes with the happy rhythmic piece Oriental Jazz,” the waltz time of Hallelujah,” on which his voice sometimes mixes with an electronic scat background choir, and a second and concise rendition of Other Time And Passions Same” that is looser and freer than the first version.
Gregory Golub’s African and Other Jazz Passions makes for a stimulating listen by an inventive and distinctive musician who is well worth discovering.
~Scott Yanow, jazz journalist/historian