Israeli native Oran Etkin grew up in the United States, and he credits this country’s blues and jazz musicians (Yusef Lateef, Betty Carter, et al.) for molding his approach to life and music. For his new album, Gathering Light (Motema), Etkin gathered a topflight group of musicians. He draws on experiences from his travels to Mali, Indonesia, Japan, China and Europe for a number of tunes. In the album liner notes, Etkin, who plays clarinets and tenor saxophone, says that he hears “the essence of the blues” in the song “Shirim Ad Kan,” which is “based on a poem [by Natan Yonatan] celebrating love, written by a father who had just lost his son in war.” The Yiddish tune “Der Gasn Nign” gets a deep blues treatment. And the final track, “When It’s Sleepy Time Down South,” is Etkin’s homage to the music of New Orleans and, he says, “to the man who first sparked my love of music, Louis Armstrong.” — Mordecai Specktor
(American Jewish World, 5.9.14)
