Born into a musical family, raised in the mixed Jewish-Christian-Muslim city of Jaffa, Itamar Borochov has always been faithful to this profuseness of influences: Edith Piaf, Weather Report, Nusrat Fatah Ali Khan or Prince have laid the foundations of a beneficial openness to music. His initiation was completed only when he entered the neighborhood Sephardi synagogue: there, Borochov absorbed sacred music based on Arabic scales and nourished of that centuries-old Jewish tradition. His immersion in the New York jazz heritage in the early years of our century will eventually convince him: “I have to be real. If Coltrane was informed by his father being a preacher, I had to do the same thing. Lee Morgan brought gospel and I’m bringing Sephardi synagogue music.”
After the excellent “Boomerang” album released in 2016, critically acclaimed in France and around the world, Itamar Borochov once more exhibits what he can do best: putting forward his talents as an experienced melodist and a musician inhabited by a dominant spirit. Though his hardbop past may come out at times in the structure of his compositions, this new journey proposed by Itamar Borochov (trumpet), his brother Avri (contrabass), Rob Clearfield (piano) and Jay Sawyer (drums) transports us into a space so deep and so dense that we find ourselves sucked up by all these calls from the tradition and this so modern music.
As a deep believer, Borochov also throws his authenticity into his search for “the Divine” even in the music he offers. He catches glimpses of it in various settings, both sacred and profane. So what is Itamar Borochov’s story? According to him, “there’s Divinity in the world. And it’s something to aspire to – perfection is a reflection of Divinity. That’s the role of virtuosity, really. Standing in the middle of a dirty street and aspiring to greatness. Because wherever there’s greatness, from Bird to Miles to Coltrane, your experience is more intense, it can be overwhelming, you sense life on a deeper level.”