The Omer Avital - Marlon Browden Project

The Japan TimesFriday, May 12, 2006LISTENING POST: CD REVIEWSOmer Avital/Marlon Browden "The Omer Avital Marlon Browden Project"By MICHAEL PRONKOBoth bassist Omer Avital and drummer Marlon Browden are regulars at the New York club Small's, a hive of jazz creativity for young musicians. But on this album, the two travel to Avital's native Israel for a live recording of their funky, electric "project."The quartet is rounded out by Avishai Cohen on a sound effects-laden trumpet and Omri Mor on a Fender Rhodes piano. In its taut grooves, the music is quite simple, but the unhurried, heartfelt jamming also makes these eight workouts fun of a sophisticated kind. They know their R&B as well as their jazz, and weave modal scales together with funky riffs while shifting seamlessly between high energy and laid-back minimalism. Recorded live in Jerusalem in one night, the album gives "The Wailing Wall" new meaning altogether.