Noam Buchman – Chance Encounters. Uri Brener: Jazz Sebastian Bach; Astor Piazzolla: Histoire du Tango; Claude Bolling: Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio. Noam Buchman, flute; Ruben Seroussi, guitar; Tabula Rasa Jazz Trio (Uri Brener, piano; Edmond Gilmore, bass; Shlomo Deshet, drums). The Eighth Note: www.tav8.co.il

The flute repertoire may seem meagre, but too many flute players lack the imagination to do anything about it. Players latch onto any decent piece and perform to extinction. My life would not be incomplete were I never again to hear the Chaminade Concertino, or Debussy’s Syrinx, or the Poulenc Sonata, or Varèse’s Density 21.5, or Berio’s Sequenza, or any of a dozen other works every flute player wants to play. This is not to say these are not good pieces of music (well, all right, the Chaminade is a truly wretched piece of dross), but, really, enough is enough. Why, I keep wondering, can’t people look for something new to play? Now, this excellent recording appears with two more pieces that I have heard too often, along with (bless my soul!) something new, and very good it is, too. Noam Buchman, is the terrific flute player responsible.

Claude Bolling’s Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio is another of those standard works that is played so often we can forget how enjoyable it was on first hearing. Buchman has had the clever idea of commissioning another work for the same combination of instruments from Uri Brener, Jazz Sebastian Bach. This is a delicious work that I hope someone will publish soon; players will love it, and so will their audiences. Arguments will doubtless be made that jazz is an improvisatory form and this fully-notated work can therefore not be jazz. Whatever it is, this piece is wonderful to listen to. Brener has taken some movements from Bach flute sonatas and jazzed them up in the styles of Duke Ellington, Dave Brubeck, Chick Corea and others. It has to be said that bits of the Bach B minor sonata are pretty jazzy to begin with, and I can understand why this was one of Brener’s choices. Noam Buchman, for all his strict classical training (he is first flute in the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra) is not afraid to let rip with some dazzling playing.

This CD includes some movements of the Bolling Suite and another of those good, but too-often-played works, Astor Piazzolla’s Histoire du Tango for flute and guitar. Uri Brenner’s jazz trio, Tabula Rasa, provides spirited support, as does the guitarist Ruben Seroussi.

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Noam Buchman- Song of the Flute: Classic Renditions of Beloved Israeli Songs. Arrangements by Matti Caspi, Shimon Cohen, Shlomo Gronich, Rafi Kadishson, Noam Sheriff and Oded Zehavi. Noam Buchman, flute; Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra conducted by Doron Salomon; The Aviv String Quartet; Ruben Seroussi, guitar; The Ankor Choir.

Noam Buchman thinks Israeli songs have a melodic quality equal to the finest songs of Schubert, Brahms, Gershwin and Bernstein, and he wants to familiarise the world with them. His love for these melodies shines through this delightful recording. The arrangements range from Hollywood lavish (imagine bible epic meets love story) to delicate chamber music, with a dash of jazz thrown

in. Buchman is a very fine flute player indeed, and a versatile one, too. The accompaniment is excellent, as is the recording quality.

See: http://www.noambuchman.com/About-English.htm

And: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc-Yeiw8UBU&list=PLKbXHYB4w3OHd9X7GcowI-DX39aFgjHRg

This review first appeard in Flutist Quarterly, winter 2015 and is used by permission

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