The initial piano line is so simple and unadorned that it does not necessarily promise much. However, 'Spiritual Wars' from In Between transforms itself when not even the brushes of the drummer or twang of plucked string but the chime of harmonica enters. A first album by harmonica player Ariel Bart, the setting finds the Israeli (who reminds me of the sound of Grégoire Maret a little) in a pastoral chamber-jazz configuration that has much in common with a lot of the more interesting new jazz these days especially emanating from labels such as La Buissonne and CAM Jazz. Brutal power is not the name of the game more a sense of poeticism and statement that never needs to shout but speaks volumes. With instrumentation of cello played by Mayu Shviro who also gets a featured spot on later track 'Intro', aforementioned piano (Moshe Elmakias) double bass (David Michaeli) and drums (Amir Bar Akiva) the sound certainly embraces the arc of improvisation and is grounded in an unobvious sense of bittersweetness that accentuates the minor mode of its bluesiness especially when the best parts of Bart's soloing are reached. Towards the end of the track the piano part becomes far more interesting and you divine a real sense of how fully formed the ideas are. I'm looking forward already to hearing the rest of the album later this month. SG
In Between (Ropeadope) is to be released on 20 May. Ariel Bart top, Photo: publicity shot via Bandcamp
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