The New York Times
February 19, 2006

Playlist

By BEN RATLIFF

Omer Avital

So we weren't crazy: finally, here's proof that Omer Avital's sextet, which played at Smalls to a small but deep following in the late 90's, really was good. "Asking No Permission" (Smalls Records), recorded there in 1996, is the first album to be released by that group. With Mr. Avital on bass, Ali Jackson on drums and four excellent tenor saxophonists (Mark Turner, Greg Tardy, Myron Walden and Charles Owens), the young band worked a lot and developed fast, dealing in a range of sounds from the World Saxophone Quartet to Warne Marsh to Ornette Coleman to early-60's Coltrane. For a little while, it was as good as any jazz group in New York, and Mr. Avital, in his mid-20's, wrote stronger tunes than those of many bandleaders with twice his experience. (Available from smallsrecords.com.)