Jazz, Spiritual Traditions & the Sephardi Turn
Dedicated in Honor of Judge Abraham Sofaer
What is the connection between jazz and spiritual traditions? Why have so many jazz musicians experienced their music in spiritual terms?
Join us on Sunday, January 8th at 7:00PM as New York-based trumpet virtuoso Itamar Borochov and the ASF’s Director of Publications, Aryeh Tepper, orchestrate a listening party and free-flowing discussion about jazz and spiritual traditions, including Sephardic spirituality. The event will feature both live and recorded music, and audience members will be encouraged to take part in what should be a lively discussion.
Israeli-born, Brooklyn-based trumpeter & composer Itamar Borochov connects lower Manhattan to North Africa, modern Israel, and ancient Bukhara, celebrating traces of the divine that he finds in elegant sophistication, Middle Eastern tradition and downhome blues.
Borochov has working with legendary artists Curtis Fuller and Candido Camero, and served as arranger and co-producer for acclaimed world music sensation Yemen Blues. His critically acclaimed debut recording Outset (2014) was included in the New York City Jazz Record’s Best of 2014 List, and his forthcoming album Boomerang was chosen as “revelation of the month” by Jazz Magazine.
Borochov has performed internationally at such prestigious venues and festivals as Lincoln Center (NY), The Kennedy Center (Washington DC), SummerStage at Central Park (NY), Roskilde Festival (Denmark), Ethno Port Festival (Poland), Montreal Jazz Festival, and the Moscow Jazz Festival.
The February 2016 issue of Sephardi Ideas Monthly featured an interview with Borochov, “Revitalizing the Roots,” and the October 2016 issue featured the liner notes for Boomerang, written by Aryeh Tepper. Borochov graciously performed at the ASF’s “Daniel Pearl Concert” in 2014 and, in 2015, played at the opening of “Sephardic Journeys: An Evening of Exploration,” inaugurating the opening of the eponymous exhibit in The David Berg Rare Book Room.
“Boomerang is an example of how American Jazz can merge with other cultures into a successful sound-cosmos – contemporary and looking forward, subtle, melodic, soulful.” – NDR