Downbeat Magazine

April 2006

Omer Avital Group
Asking No Permission
Smalls Records 0011

Four stars (****)

By Jim Macnie

Artists who make sweeping music rarely make rugged music. But when formulating his unique four-saxophone group back in the mid-90’s, Omer Avital paid particular attention to the versatility of his design. Those who crowded into New York’s West Village nightclub Smalls during the era were treated to a band that impressed its audience with high-flying polyphony, textural mischief, brawny episodes and terrific thematic ideas. The music’s eloquence won the Israeli bassist lots of critical kudos, but better, the ensemble packed the cozy club each night it played.

Recorded live in the Spring of 1996, Asking No Permission plops you down in the center of the joint, and regardless of whether you were there a decade ago, the band’s vitality is obvious. This is a vérité affair: An appealingly natural ambiance gives the instruments a forthright sound that puts the power of the reed players (Mark Turner, Greg Tardy, Myron Walden, and Charles Owens) in your lap. You hear the leader energizing his brood with bandstand quips, like “I love it!” and “Go ahead, go ahead, go ahead!” And you hear them yield to his enthusiasm, raising the ardor to another level while keeping an eye on the specifics at hand.

That passion is needed to goose the action during the extended pieces that seem to be one of the composer’s signature traits (for of the seven tunes are more than 10 minutes, two tilt towards 15 minutes). Simply put, it’s also the way Avital does business. His personal gregariousness always shows up in the music. “Know What I Mean?!” has a bluesy dynamic that barely contains itself, and as “Devil Head” offers echoes of northern Africa, its comparatively pensive vibe remains marked by vehemence. Drummer Ali Jackson is a hard-driving hellraiser throughout the program, but bearing down with the brushes on “12 Tribes” he sends the horn players through the roof.

Knotty and fierce one moment, breezy and genial the next, Avital’s tunes offer vista after vista. At recent New York gigs, he’s proven that propulsion remains a calling card (on reason you don’t miss a pianist on this date). If your take on jazz is based on momentum and tunefulness, this decade-old artifact is sure to knock you around a bit.