Jewish music is sexy. Slow, meandering melodies
conjure hot, arid lands or intimate moments at the
synagogue. Based on prayer, it's a mortal's direct link to divinely personal experiences with God. But
its
surface can evoke sensual undulations of the hips and exotic murmurs of the lips.
On his debut disc as a leader, saxophonist Paul Shapiro combines ancient melodies with
contemporary improvisation. Arrangements of seven traditional songs, two originals, and one tune
from Fiddler On The Roof combine to build a sincere
tribute to Shapiro's heritage.
With a front line of two saxes and a trumpet, Midnight Minyan breaks through the usually
nostalgic songs with brassy panache. Not that the record is flamboyant. Aided by bassist Booker
King and drummer Tony Lewis, the arrangements possess a hip sophistication.
The layout of the tracks loosely suggests a metaphor for life. "Haftorah Prelude,"
marked by pianist Brian Mitchell's glossy keys, is traditionally chanted by young Jewish adolescents
at their Bar Mitzvah. Borrowing from Louis Prima's arrangement of "To Life (La Chaim),"
this track represents the
jubilance of life's prime. And Shapiro includes a prayer for the sick towards the end of the disc, with
"Lester Young's Misheberakh," an original that offsets smooth sax lines with trumpet
laments to a tango beat.
Combining nature (and mathematics) with art, Shapiro ends the album with "Haftorah
Postlude." The sextet plays the galloping rhythm in accordance with the Fibonacci Series,
where the preceding two
numbers combine to form the next - most visually apparent in nature's relics like seashells and
pinecones. It's an interesting idea that unfortunately gets annoyingly repetitive.
With six musicians on the album, Shapiro leaves room to join his minyan (ten people gathered
together in prayer). Grab a few friends, don your yarmulkes, and have a listen. Just don't get too
caught up in the seduction of it all. Remember, this is sacred stuff.
This review originally appeared in
All About Jazz-New York June 2003.
~ Celeste Sunderland
