Assaf Kehati, "jazz" guitarist and writer of interesting music for his quartet, has worked with George Garzone and Ran Blake, has a trio with Billy Hart, and lives up in Brookline, Mass., not far from where I lived for a time. He and his regular quartet emerged from the studio earlier this year with their second album, Flowers and Other Stories (AKJazz). It is a winning combination of lyrical tunesmithing a la classic ECM meets the spirit of Jim Hall and a winning performance by the quartet of Assaf, Alon Farber, saxophones, Daniel Sapir, acoustic bass, and Udi Shlomo, drums. Assaf has a very sophisticated melodic and harmonic sensibility. His guitar work has the sound sometimes of a middle period John Abercrombie and sometimes the chordal purity of a Jim Hall, though the end result is recognizably his own. Alon Farber plays notey contemporary solos that have a mellow coolness that can heat up in nice ways when the music crescendos. The rhythm team is very comfortable with the modern loose grooves that Assaf's songs call for.
It's a very fine set of music and Assaf's playing is very creatively lyrical. He strikes a nerve with his meditatively quiet lyricism and can crank it up when that is called for as well.
Flowers and Other Stories is a very beautiful album. It's accessible (my wife likes it, for example) yet there is nothing diluted or self-conciously pandering about it. This is the music, you can tell, that Assaf likes and needs to make right now. I'm glad he does! It's joyous and tender. Assaf is a new guitarist of great poise, with impressive ears and flawless technique. Very much recommended!
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