Saxist Eli Degibri’s No. 9

Tenor saxophonist Eli emerges from the early tsunami of Covid-19 with his 9 th album…a series of impassioned love songs, Henri and Rachel arrives on March 12…Tel Aviv-based Eli launched his career internationally as a member of Herbie Hancock’s 1998 Gershwin’s World tour…the new album features soulful melodies that in stretches develop with a 5/4 time…including his playful swing through Jimmy Van Heusen’s classic standard “Like Someone in Love” with his quartet pianist Tom Oren dazzling in Bach-like runs…Eli’s eight originals are deeply personal…three songs embracing his fiancé with heartfelt lyricism…plus the dance-like bounce and swirl on “The Wedding”…most moving is Eli’s title-track love song for his parents…father passed away, mother suffering from dementia…the melody infectious…so much so that Eli opens the album with the tune with wordless vocals and closes the album with a saxophone-piano duo reflection…tender then joyful…of interest: earlier in his career, Eli enlisted Kurt Rosenwinkel to be in one of his bands…

Photo: Dan Balilty
Author: Dan Ouellette