UNITY
As we wake up to another day on this wildly magnificent planet of ours, we feel like this might be the right moment to immerse ourselves in the latest album by Jerusalem-based bassist, composer and improviser Yosef Gutman Levitt and Argentinean-Israeli classical guitarist Itay Sher. Released at the tail end of August via Levitt's own imprint Soul Song Records and titled "UNITY", this nine-track oeuvre realizes a novel "approach [to] Hasidic Jewish nigunim (liturgical melodies) in a spirit of harmonic and improvisational exploration," the release notes detail. Not wanting to rush things, the two musicians took their time with this one, meeting in regular intervals to see where this particular musical journey might lead them.
"My recordings are usually done in two-day sprints," says Levitt, "but I really wanted to take my time with this project. Itay and I got together every Thursday afternoon and started making layers, different chord progressions that might give these nigunim a more modern sound. The melodies are kept intact, but the progressions shift and change. Traditionally, nigunim don't even have chord progressions, so any accompaniment is typically as banal as possible, so as to be culturally apropos and not interfere," he continues. As such, Levitt and Sher decided to expand their vision by adding "sounds and rhythms from other musical sources," such as Bill Evans or Peter Broderick, as well as a chamber orchestra to the sensuous equation.
Levitt, who was born in South Africa in 1979, was formally trained at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, after having received a scholarship to study there for his rendition of the South African national anthem. Upon graduating with honours, he moved to New York to pursue a career in jazz, which proved challenging in terms of actually being able to make a living. He embarked on an artistic sabbatical, ventured into commercial music and eventually founded a tech startup after having trained himself as a software architect and designer. It was only a few years ago, that he decided to make his return to music and popped onto our radar with his stunning debut trio release "Upside Down Mountain" (2022).
Fast forward to his latest collaboration with Itay Sher on "UNITY", which sees him playing his signature five-string acoustic piccolo bass guitar. Arranged by Levitt's longtime musical partner Gilad Ronen, the two protagonists enter into something akin to "an elevated spiritual conversation," brought to full fruition by the accompanying chamber orchestra, including Ronen on reeds and David Giat on drums. Intimate, contemplative, touching are just some of the words that do these breathtaking recordings justice, compositions that are way more intricate than one might at first assume. The ensemble even recorded a full performance video before a spectacular natural backdrop, which is equally spellbinding.
There is something sublimely captivating about these nine tracks – including two original pieces by Sher in "The Way Back Home" and "Rain Melody" – with their slow-drip ambient allure and sudden lavish orchestral flourishes that will leave you feeling slightly melancholy (the term 'Weltschmerz' might apply here considering this world of ours that is in constant upheaval). And yet, there is no denying a gentle power oozing from each chord along with a general feeling of hopefulness, of being at peace with our surroundings, if only for a mesmerising moment of, well, unity. But then again, what more could we possibly ask for?
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