(Modern Creative, Post-Bop, Modal Jazz) [CD] Jonathan Klein & Herbie Hancock (Thad Jones, Jerome Richardson, Ron Carter, Grady Tate) - Hear, O Israel: A Prayer Ceremony In Jazz - 1968 / 2008, FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Most likely you don't immediately connect Modern Jazz with Jewish Ritual, but this gorgeous reissue of a long lost private pressing of a 1968 Friday night service may have you rethinking those ideas. Written by Jonathan Klein, a then 17 year-old son of a Massachusetts Rabbi, who was asked to compose music for a service dealing with "Sects and Symbols Within Judaism". The music and service were so popular that the Synagogue incorporated the piece into every Friday night service, and Klein assembled a group to tour various New England Universities. For the debut performance in New York, Klein managed to get the finest New York Jazz musicians to perform his piece, including Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on bass, Grady Tate on drums, Jerome Richardson on flute and saxophone and Thad Jones on trumpet and flugelhorn with Antonia Lavanne and Phyllis Bryn-Julson on soprano and contralto voices respectively. Thankfully it was all recorded. Unlike the Christian Youth movement who used spiritually minded rock and folk music to sway new converts, the music for this service doesn't pander to youthful audiences. The music swings in unexpected ways for a religious ceremony but its full intent is an abstract spiritual openness. Even with the Hebrew recitations by Rabbi David Davis, the message is divine, universal and inspired. Rejoice!

This album was lent to me back in about 1999 by one of the great London jazz collectors, John Cooper. At the time I was going through a jazz-meets-religion phase and it seemed an appropriate listen. The LP reared its unusual head a few years later as another strange Trunk project loomed. This time, when I borrowed the record it struck me that it was far more special than I had first realised. With its Hebrew song and prayer mixed in with striking New York modern jazz I was totally captivated from the instant it started. And I'm not Jewish either. It didn't sound like anything else, and the whole history of it was bizarre. It was written by a 17 year old, and then performed by the top New York jazz musicians of the day. I decided to find out a little more and eventually (after the usual detective work) ended up speaking to a lovely woman called Dorothy in New York. I explained to her what I did here in London, and that I'd like to issue the recording. She said "You mean the jazz?". I said "Yes, I mean the jazz", to which she suggested I go right on ahead and do it.
Well if only life and music was that simple. Over the next few months we went on to sort out the full musical rights and the result is the first ever major release of this glorious recording.
The original LP was issued privately and in very, very limited numbers, it had no catalogue number, sparse distribution (possibly only at concerts) and maybe sold only a few hundred copies back in 1968 - if that. If anyone has further information please get in touch as we'd all like to know. Especially me. I'm a bit sad like that.
As for the cover art, I made a decision not to use the original sleeve image, simply because it is so very terrible. It looks like a second generation blurred photo of a Tora scroll with a trumpet and another couple of brass instruments lying on the floor. And don't get me started on the typography. So, I started looking for alternate images. I looked far and wide, at antique fayres, Judaica auctions, photo libraries and anywhere else I could think of and failed miserably to get anywhere even after months. I looked for good shots of Synagogues, for interesting Rabbi photos or paintings, always seeking anything that would give the sleeve a religious feel but still maintain a jazz edge. In the end I settled for a slightly abstracted Hanukkah Lamp, which although has nothing to do with Friday night prayers, has an instant and recognisable connection with the Jewish faith.
One final note, I have copied the original sleeve notes out for this release. This is far easier than trying to write something else, and then at least it's all correct. So when you get it, you can read the whole original story.
JONNY TRUNK
2008
http://www.trunkrecords.com/turntable/hearoisrael.shtml
AllMusic Review by Thom Jurek
This album is a missing link in the discography of Herbie Hancock, so much so that many ardent fans didn't even know it existed. Hear, O Israel is the recorded version of a jazz concert comprised of lyric and sacred material from the Friday night prayer service in the Jewish synagogue. Privately released in an edition of a few hundred copies, the music was composed by Jonathan Klein, who was commissioned by Rabbi David Davis in 1965 to write jazz for the Friday evening conclavette. Klein was 17 at the time he began. Composed for piano, bass, drums, soprano/alto/baritone saxophones, French horn, flute, flügelhorn, and two voices, Klein performed it with his own group and Rabbi Davis; it was so successful that a few years later, in 1968, the synagogue commissioned a full-blown concert by name jazz musicians. Klein, then a college student, composed more material to supplant some of what he'd written previously, and the instrumentation was changed a bit. The synagogue recorded this concert and it is presented here as performed by Hancock; Jerome Richardson on flute, tenor, and alto saxophones; Klein on French horn and baritone sax; trumpeter Thad Jones (who also plays flügelhorn); bassist Ron Carter (he and Hancock were part of the Miles Davis Quintet at the time); and drummer Grady Tate. Other participants are Rabbi Davis (reading the proper prayer texts), soprano vocalist Antonia Lavanne, and contralto Phyllis Bryn-Julson. But is it good? Heavens yes. One can hear traces of Vince Guaraldi and the early Columbia period of Dave Brubeck in these compositions, but so what? Hancock's no imitator; he was and remains a tremendously lyrical and rhythmically inventive pianist, and the band plays these charts effortlessly with requisite soul and swing. There are beautiful solos by Hancock, Richardson, and Jones, and the rhythm section is fluid, fresh, and upbeat throughout. The vocalists might bother some listeners, but essentially, these tunes and the manner in which they are presented and recorded are quite striking -- in the same way that those appearing on records by Azar Lawrence, Doug Carn, and Harold McKinney in the '70s are. The vocal charts are somewhat abstract, so in a sense they are further out than the jazz. In fact, this is a nearly perfect meld, where jazz and sacred music meet and become something else together. One not only reflects the other, but causes it to transcend itself. The longest track here, the nine-plus-minute "Torah Service -- Adoration," is a hopping soul-jazz number with killer funky piano work by Hancock in full-on Blue Note mode. The segments read by Rabbi Davis are also very effective in the context of the band's charts, vamps, and improvs. Hear, O Israel was mastered from an LP copy, since the masters no longer exist. There was some groove wear near the end of each side due to a worn stylus, but considering the source, Jonny Trunk has done an excellent job of cleaning it up without sacrificing a bit of the performance. This recording should be heard by anyone interested in '60s progressive jazz or Hancock's career during the period. Hear, O Israel gives an entirely new meaning to the term "spiritual soul-jazz."
http://www.allmusic.com/album/hear-o-israel-mw0000786958

The album was originally commissioned by Rabbi David Davis, recorded and then pressed in 1968, and includes the following musicians:
Herbie Hancock - piano
Jerome Richardson - flute, tenor and alto sax
Grady Tate - drums
Thad Jones - trumpet and flugelhorn
Ron Carter - bass
Jonathan Klein - composer, French horn and baritone sax
Rabbi David Davis - reader
Antonia Lavannne - soprano
Phyllis Bryn-Julson - contralto