Ten years ago I realised that beauty is the way forward. I saw that art is the true means of transformation. Spirit and energy are bricks and mortar. Shapes and colours are hammers and chisels. Rationality is a misleading concept, the melody is the truth, humanism is a metaphor, consciousness is the devil and amnesia is freedom. The tide has changed and so have we, more than ever, and in spite of all the odds, we laugh.
In the last decade I have managed to surround myself with some of the most incredible musicians around, people who push each other towards the edge of artistic creativity and beyond. I guess that the Orient House Ensemble’s motto is pretty obvious: relentlessly, we remind ourselves why we decided to make music in the first place.
I thank the Gods for allowing us to proceed so far.
Gilad AtzmonRiotous mix of oompah music-hall cavortings, slurred-pitch Middle Eastern rhapsodising, luxuriously sensuous clarinet love-songs, and stormy collective blasts reminiscent of the 1960s John Coltrane quartet.
John Fordham The Guardian ****Atzmon's spirit and soul inhabit every one of his compositions, and his playing is truly exceptional, staking a genuine claim to being one of the finest saxophonists in contemporary jazz....This is a richly varied recording from one of the most exciting and intriguing bands in jazz; a classic in the making
Bruce Lindsay allaboutjazz.com