Mirror Image by Tal Yahalom

"Mirror Image is a refreshing, expansive and gorgeous record. I was hooked from the first minute on Prelude, and was struck by the depth and scope of the compositions coupled with Tal’s mastery of the guitar. Check out his shimmering, clean, virtuosic playing mirrored with lush string writing and intense band interplay. So many surprising moments. A record I will keep returning to!" – Mary Halvorson

“Exhibiting a mastery of both nylon string and electric guitars, Tal Yahalom delivers an imaginative and wide-ranging set of original compositions. He has a pristine, soulful touch, immaculate technique, and great arranging skills. One of the most engaging guitar albums I’ve heard lately.” – Ben Monder

“Tal Yahalom’s quiet artistry, keen imagination, and subtle virtuosity are a breath of fresh air. The music here is a journey you’ll want to take again and again, knowing that each turn will bring new riches.” – Sam Sadigursky

Adhyâropa Records is thrilled to announce the release of Mirror Image (ÂR00088) by the sensational young jazz guitarist and composer Tal Yahalom. “One of the most impressive jazz players of his generation,” and a guitarist “reminiscent of a young Bill Frisell,” Yahalom has turned the New York music scene on its head in recent years with his mind-blowing virtuosity as a solo artist as well as his malleability in his many group contexts and collaborations. His newest project, Mirror Image, is sure to cement his reputation as a composer and arranger of equal standing. Featuring intricate and rich ensemble orchestrations including a string ensemble as well as a top-notch band of luminaries from the New York jazz world, Mirror Image looks to vault Yahalom into the conversation of the world’s great jazz musicians.

“The concept of this album was first born from wanting to play more with strings, in a chamber music setting,” Yahalom says. “I wanted to put myself not only at the front of the ensemble but in equal measure in and amongst a section, fulfilling different roles – it puts me in a different creative space and showcases different ways that I like to use the guitar. The first tune I worked on for this album was ‘Sophianic Mess,’ arranged for the string trio: myself, violin, and cello. After finishing it I knew I wanted to add another lead voice as well as percussion to round out the sound of the ensemble.”

Enter David Leon on alto sax and flute and Rogerio Boccato on percussion. Miami-born rising star Leon was named a 2024 Music Composition Fellow by the CINTAS Foundation, was awarded a Roulette 2024 Jerome Commission, and has performed with Tomas Fujiwara, Nick Dunston, and Ingrid Laubrock.

Boccato is, simply put, one of the busiest and most heralded percussionists in the music world today. A faculty member of the Manhattan School of Music, NYU, and The Hartt School, he regularly performs with Maria Schneider, John Patitucci, Fred Hersch, Brian Blade, and Danilo Perez. With the Orquestra Jazz Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, he has collaborated with Antonio Carlos Jobim, Hermeto Pascoal, Milton Nascimento, Egberto Gismonti, João Bosco, and Joe Zawinul, among many others.

Together with Yahalom’s darting, pointillistic solo forays, they strike a balance that sings and soars throughout the album. ‘KIM’ is an early standout: angular phrases and addictive rhythmic figures tumble upon one another, the strings gradually adding to the texture, through the epic groove-driven coda.

Following on its heels is the single ‘Tri-Tonal,’ a perfect encapsulation of the strengths of the album and of the uniqueness of Yahalom’s approach: richly harmonized strings in the vein of Ravel (another of Yahalom’s great influences) in the intro give way to a duo between Yahalom’s guitar and Boccato’s percussion in which each indulges their virtuosity and quick creativity. Their phrases sprint in and out of each other’s periphery like starlings following an updraft; Julian Lage’s duet projects with Gary Burton and Fred Hersch come to mind.

The final triptych of pieces on the album reveals Yahalom’s full powers as a composer and arranger. ‘Sophianic Mess’ progresses from an evocative solo guitar feature to a sprightly, plucked chamber symphony. ‘The Boat Drifts Still’ is a melancholic, minor-key piece that reaches a place of great power, particularly under Leon’s alto solo. And closing the collection, ‘Dusk on Landwehr Canal’ establishes a ruminative, undulating texture that gives Boccato room to explore his entire battery, the strings provided by the Bergamot Quartet’s Ledah Finck and Irene Han rocking side-to-side like the canal boats the piece is intended to invoke.

“When you listen to a piece by Ravel – say, the string quartet or Ma mère l'Oye, you’re immediately tapped into an image, a soundworld, an atmosphere that you drop into and can live in for a while. This was an emphasis of mine, to use the composition as a way to create spaces for the musicians to hold and fill together, not merely as a vehicle for solos or improvisations. Following our live performances, I’ve been told these pieces sound like expansions and orchestrations of my solo vocabulary, which has been a main creative vehicle. It's beautiful that it's received this way, in the same way Ravel’s piano music, chamber music, and even his symphonic music all convey the spirit of the person behind it. In the modern musical world, I deeply respect Guillermo Klein's music for doing a similar thing, tying together all these unique rhythmic and harmonic elements into very personal soundscapes and platforms for improvisation; in fact, I wrote a lot of this music immediately following a composition workshop I had with him. Miguel Zenón’s music, as well as Brandon Seabrook’s String Society were also influences on my compositional style during this period.”

Yahalom placed an emphasis not on fireworks, but rather on the meditative aspect of this music. “Both for live shows and in the recording studio, I guided the band to connect to the essence of each piece, so when we reach a certain texture and gravity in the direction that the piece is naturally pulling towards, this is where we stay. I would love for the listener to inhabit the unique space of every song and see what the weight of it, the emotion of it, brings to you. But also, I’d love to explore, with the listener, a different concept of what a ‘jazz ensemble’ can be like – or even to question what it means to be a ‘jazz ensemble.’”

Guitarist / Composer / Educator based in Brooklyn, New York since 2014.

Co-leader of the trio KADAWA
(http://www.kadawa.com/)

(Photo by Adrien H Tillmann)

talyahalom.com
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