The musical group Trio Shalva obviously consists of three pieces. The term Shalva, however, means serenity in Hebrew. Consisting of Israeli-born musicians, the band will perform on Saturday night [April 16] at the Westchester Conservatory of Music to mark the release of their new disc “Riding Alone.”
“Playing Israeli roots music puts us into a serene state of mind,” said drummer Nadav Snir Zelniker. “We’re from the same heritage so we enjoy coming together to play things we have in common.”
Jazz is so popular in Israel that an offshoot of the genre, called “Falafel Jazz,” or “Hummus Jazz,” has sprouted.
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“Israelis are attached to the element of freedom in jazz,” said Snir Zelniker. “It’s a tense society with social conflicts, so we relate to the freedom and self-expression. Younger and younger generations in Israel are developing their talents in jazz.”
Jews have contributed to jazz since the music bubbled out of New Orleans in the early 1900’s, including Mezz Mezzrow, George Gershwin, Benny Goodman, Stan Getz, the Brecker Brothers, Kenny G and new guitar sensation Oz Noy.
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The trio members’ families hail from different parts of the world: Snir Zelnikov from eastern Europe, bass player Koby Hayon from northern Africa and pianist Assaf Gleizner from Argentina and Slovakia.
Some of their original arrangements rework Bedouin melodies, Hebrew folk and pop songs for piano, bass and drums. On their new disc, the musical motif of the song “Sova” is obviously not Western, while “Pizmon LaYakinton” sounds a lot more like jazz than the Israeli lullaby that inspired it.
They also enjoy picking up different instruments. Bass player Koby Hayon plays the oud, a string instrument popular in Arab music. Pianist Assaf Gleizner plays the melodica, a wind instrument with keys that reggae artist Augustus Pablo built his sound around. And Snir Zelniker picks up a frame drum covered in goat skin and a doumbek, from Pakistan, a goblet-shaped metal drum that contains a tambourine inside just underneath the head.
"Piano players are jealous of horn players because they can hold notes, or be so expressive with notes, so this is my way of playing a keyboard instrument like a horn,” said Gleizner.
The three musicians attended SUNY Purchase College. With just a handful of other Israeli jazz musicians in the county, who also teach music and Hebrew within the community—it wasn’t long they eventually found each other and put the group together two years ago.
These seasoned jazz musicians can be downright serene and mellow, lulling listeners into a trance, but they’re experts at dynamics and can bring songs from a simmer to a boil in an organic build up that can be jarring in its effortlessness.
Due perhaps to their common heritage, they gel well, handing off parts and solos seamlessly. Their lush ensemble sound is greater than the sum of its parts and they kept their endings tight.
At a recent performance at the Watercolor Café in Larchmont, Gleizner hunched over the keys and played several percussive solos. He pounded out a beat with his pinkies and thumbs extended, hitting the keys like he was playing the bongos and pecking out notes in sustained runs up and down the length of the keyboard.
Hayon played a few melodic solos that worked the upper registers on his electric bass. His song “1-3-4-8” featured a Latin feel to the soaring piano solo and Snir Zelniker worked the dynamics, shifting from a backbeat into a syncopated rhythm when appropriate.
In “The Years Have Passed,” a Sephardic song drawing from the Jewish heritage in Spain, the scales and meters threw Western ears a curve ball and at one point, just to keep it interesting, Gleizner played a note drawn from the minor scale.
When they pulled out the acoustic instruments on “Erev Shel Shoshanim,” the group picked up speed after an extended oud opening. As the speed and the eerie melodica melody droned, Snir Zelniker tapped out sophisticated rhythms with his fingers on the doumbeck hitting the middle of the head to get deep sounds and playing the rim to produce higher pitched beats.
In the final number, “Misirlou,” Gleizner did some heavy lifting as a soloist, slapping at the keys with an open palm on his right hand as if he were playing with a kitten and hitting the same note with four different fingers, coaxing a slightly different tone with each stroke. At song’s end, he pounded out a ragtime-flavored solo just before the band stopped on a dime.
Just about every musician wants to “make it,” usually defined as becoming famous or making a living playing music. Trio Shalva knows that as Israelis, they can bring things to a higher level.
“A lot can be achieved through the arts,” said Snir Zelniker. “I am constantly asked for my take on the situation in the Middle East or my take on the Palestinians. Everywhere I go, I’m an ambassador for my country and the music gives it another layer.”
Trio Shalva, April 16, 8 p.m. Music Conservatory of Westchester, 216 Central Avenue, White Plains. 914-761-3900 $15 general public; $10 WCM students/alumni
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