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MATTAN

KLEIN

"Mattan Klein, flutist and composer presented with his quartet his latest album, “The Long Run” released on the London label, Ubuntu Music earlier this year. The musician born in Jerusalem, a student of the Rubin Academy and Berklee College in Boston is inspired, like a large part of the Israeli scene, by the different cultural origins of his country, as well as the United States, the cradle of jazz, and Latin America, particularly Brazil, where some of his masters are Hermeto Pascoal, among others, or Chick Corea, whose tributes he paid with an emotion that the audience welcomed with undisguised enthusiasm.

 

Mattan Klein is also a renowned teacher. He claims this role of transmission with vigor. His students over the years have become his jazz mates like the excellent young pianist Toki Stern.  To note also the performance of the excellent Yoran Oron on bass.

 

The writing is melodically and rhythmically rich. The quartet of talented musicians is tight and coherent. Mattan Klein, with his quiet virtuosity, leads the way with elegance. A magnificent discovery. An invitation, a suggestion addressed to the programmers of the festivals and the jazz halls of the hexagon. The atmosphere is charged with love and benevolence. The public smiles"

- Jacques Pauper, Couleurs Jazz, Paris

"Klein’s flute-playing is a particularly fantastic fit for his brand of Israeli-Brazilian music which finds the instrument sounding increasingly contemporary, especially when paired with his virtuosic improvisation."

- Nicky Schrire, London Jazz Review

NEW REVIEW

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Spice'n'Space - The Funk Thing:
 

This album caused me to fall in love once again with Funky Jazz!

Flute can really do it in funky jazz! There are fine proofs made in here in Israel. Listen to this album by Spice'n'Space, a new group led by the excellent Jazz flutist Mattan Klein and drummer extraordinaire Uria Mader. I can recall one of the oldest albums in my CD library "Jungle Jazz" by "Cool and the Gang". This was my first introduction to funky jazz rock flute playing. I also fell in love with Rahsaan Roland Kirk with pieces such as Serenade To A Cuckoo and Fly Town Nose Blues. There are more groovy funk flute pieces by some of the most influential flutists in Jazz such as Yusuf Latif, Hubert Laws, and Herbie Mann.

Spice’n’Space made me fall in love with funky jazz all over again. The Funk Thing (the album’s title) reveals an Israeli band at a very high level. The members of the group, which includes, in addition to flutist Mattan Klein, and drummer Uria Mader, guitarist Ohad Niceberg, Toki Stern on the keyboards , Rhodes and Hammond and Yoni Ben Ari on the bass. They all combine their mutual love for jazz, fusion and Funk music. And provide an excellent basis for the groove, creating a new sound, balanced between the old and the new, the simple and the sophisticated. The album reminded me to some degree or another of 'HeadHunters', one of the groundbreaking albums of jazz fusion, which stand out in the history of jazz, in fact the funkiest album in Herbie Hancock's discography.

Mattan Klein says: "The Funk Thing presents a new and fresh approach to funky Jazz with a special focus on the flute in the context of groove and funk. The album fuses old groove with hints of pop and reggae elements, and vintage keyboard and drum sounds" 

Klein's playing gives the flute sound a strong ‘fat’ presence. This is modern jazz-funk with an emphasized rhythm feel, but also with beautiful lyrical lines, and exciting improvisations that come from the combination of the flute and the guitar on a track such as  ‘Blues In E’ and from the interaction between the flute and the bass on - ‘Picc Your Battle’ or ‘What's The Use Of Falling’. The connection to the drums on ‘Found It - Keepin' It ‘ is also wonderful. It can also be found at the end of the creative, melodic and exciting ‘JetLag’. 

For lovers of funky fusion - a must! I want to believe that this record is not just for export, but will be heard locally, and it is indeed a great musical export!

Yossi Harsonski 
Senior Jazz Critic

 

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