Gilad Hekselman - Life, At The Village Vanguard
Gilad Hekselman - Life, At The Village Vanguard
(la reserve Records, 2024)
New York City guitarist Gilad Hekselman has recorded seven studio albums, the most recent being Further Chaos (Motema Music, 2019). Between March 20 and April 2, 2022, Hekselman and his band: pianist Shai Maestro, bassist Larry Grenadier, and drummer Eric Harland enjoyed a residency at the Village Vanguard, where they recorded the material comprising Life, At The Village Vanguard. Appearing at New York City’s Village Vanguard has been considered a rite of passage for jazz musicians for nearly 90 years. Almost 100 live recordings have been made, notable examples including, Sonny Rollins A Night At the “Village Vanguard” (Blue Note, 1958), the first recording made at the venue; Bill Evans The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961 (Riverside, 2005); Joe Henderson The State of The Tenor, Vols. 1 & 2 (Blue Note, 1986); and Art Pepper The Complete Village Vanguard Sessions (Contemporary, 1995).
Hekselman brought his working band, pianist Shai Maestro, bassist Larry Grenadier, and drummer Eric Harland for the residency, recording a thrillingly diverse and freshly ground program of seven original compositions and two compelling standards. Hekselman plays with a round, reverb-rich tone that is enhanced where necessary and never overly so. His tone works well with the airy and ethereal pieces like the brief introduction and “Rebirth.” Hekselman paces the evolution of his recital with a “Low Spark Of High Heeled Boy’s” like arrangement and performance of John Coltrane’s blues “Equinox,” which he approaches slowly and simply gradually building the song with the rhythm section into a grand post-bop exposition.
The guitarist turns things hard and funky with “The Headrocker” which recalls Joe Zawinul’s “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy” had it been composed yesterday. Tight and precise, Hekselman spars with Maestro in building a soul jazz temple that is toe-tapping fun. “Dark Blue” is a gentle and tactile ballad that floats gently into a tonal form that the “ECM Sound” may reach when it grows up. The disc ends with a fragile reading of the ballad standard “Everything Happens To Me.” Hekselman introduces the piece with angular consideration that balances into a smooth transition to the melody. Grenadier and Harland’s careful playing accents the song’s mood while Maestro’s piano adds a hard foil to the guitar. Life, At The Village Vanguard, complements the twenty-first-century jazz guitar songbook.