Reflecting on Freedom Alon Farber & Hagiga

• 1 Israeli Song 05:15
• 2 Reflecting on Freedom / Freedom Jazz Dance 07:07
• 3 Theme for Michal 05:18
• 4 Ima 03:40
• 5 Fresh Start 04:36
• 6 More Monkeys, Please 08:58
• 7 You'll See the Way 07:49
• 8 Hammouda 05:14
• 9 Farbalak 06:00
• Total Runtime 53:57

Info for Reflecting on Freedom

Now entering its third decade as an ensemble, Hagiga's founder, saxophonist Alon Farber looked to Eddie Harris's "Freedom Jazz Dance" as inspiration and a theme for their 4th recording, Reflecting on Freedom. Hagiga revels in the diversity of musical flavors and colors that make up the "Israeli soundtrack." With an exciting three horn frontline - reminiscent of some Dave Douglas or Booker Little ensembles - they draw liberally from Swing, Moroccan, Funk and Brazilian musics in creating their wide-ranging, highly personal sound. Farber's bold compositions reflect his years at the forefront of Israel's jazz scene - including co-founding the Israeli Jazz Orchestra & receiving the Prime Minister's Award for Jazz Composers - and his time in America while studying at Berklee, where he won the Wayne Shorter Award for Composers.

"Hagiga has been at the forefront of the miraculous envelope-pushing curve of Israeli jazz for some years now." (Barry Davis)

Alon Farber, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone
Yehonatan Cohen, tenor saxophone, flute, clarinet
Oded Meir, trombone
Eden Giat, piano
Assaf Hakimi, acoustic & electric bass
Roy Oliel, drums
Special guests:
Sarai Zak-Levi, vocals (tracks 1, 3, 7)
Rony Iwryn, percussion (tracks 1, 2, 3, 7, 8)

Alon Farber
Saxophonist and composer Alon Farber is one of the leading jazz musicians in the Israeli jazz scene. His style is very unique and innovative and combines rich harmonies with contrapuntal writing. As a wind player Alon has great sensitivity for writing for horns. Alon claims that he has been influenced by great artists such as Wayne Shorter, Dave Douglas and Ornette Coleman. Alon has collaborated along the years with well-established Jazz artists such as Omri Mor, Amos Hoffman, Avi Lebovich, Omer Klein, Haggai Cohen-Milo, Avishai Cohen (the trumpet player), Eli Degibri, Anat Cohen, Hagai Amir, Tal Ronen, Uzi Finerman, Toru Dodo(Japan), Eyal Ganor and Ofer Ganor.

Hagiga
in Hebrew means “celebration” and in our music we celebrate the cultural divergence of our Israeli heritage. Hagiga is inspired by the variety of musical flavors and colors of the “Israeli soundtrack”. Our compositions cross musical genres and are influenced by Swing, Moroccan, Funk and Brazilian backgrounds. It is this unique "celebration” of original Israeli jazz that is Hagiga . ​

Alon Farber Hagiga was founded in 2001 by Alon Farber and have since then released four albums, and the fifth one is coming on Feb 2024!!!

Our first two albums, Exposure and Optimistic View were released by Fresh Sound Records (Barcelona). Nathan Halaway from jazzreviews.com named Hagiga "one of the finer groups that the Fresh Sound label has produced".

Our third album, New Directions was released by QFTF (Berlin), and prompted internationally acclaimed saxophonist Eli Degibri to note: "Taking their time, the band captivates the listener through a deliberate, fascinating and wondrous journey." ​

Our fourth album, Reflecting on Freedom, was released in 2021 in on one of the leading jazz labels in the world, Origin Record. It got many enthusiastic reviews. Chris Spector from Midwest Records wrote: "Now entering its third decade, this ensemble snake charms, belly dances and parts the waters with chops to spare. Opening the ears to jazz pouring out of Israel, these vets and pros are some really sterling travel guides to new sonic lands" Our collaboration with Origin Records continues for our new and fifth album, The Magician, which will be released on February 2024. The album was recorded live at the Jerusalem International Jazz Festival in June 2023 and it features the famous American trumpeter Dave Douglas, who added some of his fabulous compositions to this record!

Hagiga has performed along the years quite intensively at both local and international jazz festivals and venues. That includes the Paris Jazz Festival, Copenhagen Jazz festival, Red Sea Jazz Festivals (three times!), Jerusalem International Jazz Festival (twice), OCT-LOFT Festival (Shenzen, China), Tel Aviv International Jazz Festival, The B-flat (Berlin), and Israeli International showcases.

Over the years Hagiga has collaborated with amazingly talented and important artists such as Omri Mor, Eli Degibri, Anat Cohen, trumpeter Avishai Cohen, Ofer Ganor, Omer Klein, Amit Friedman, Amos Hoffman and many others. ​

Alon Farber, the band leader, studied Jazz composition at Berklee College of Music, Boston, and is a recipient of the Israeli Prime Minister's Award for Jazz Composers (2016) and the Wayne Shorter Award for Composers (1998). He is one of the founders of the "Israeli Jazz Orchestra" in which he plays lead saxophone, and also serves as associate arranger and composer.

This album contains no booklet.