Guitarist Eran Har Even graduated with both bachelor and master degrees from the Amsterdam conservatory and he’s now a resident of that city where he’s been a faculty member of the conservatory for the past decade. He’s also one of the most active figures on the Dutch jazz scene.
In addition to composing, teaching and performing, Har Even is currently researching for a book he is writing on the application of polyphony on guitar which when completed will be one of the first practical method books addressing this topic in the jazz idiom.
As the album’s title suggests Shorter Days is a reimagining of eight tracks from the extensive Wayne Shorter songbook. Throughout his tenure in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, the second great Miles Davis quintet and Weather Report, the late saxophonist was a prolific composer whose tunes were frequently recorded by Blakey and Davis and appear on Shorter’s catalogue of solo albums. Many of his compositions have become standards. So Har Even had a wealth of material from which to choose.
The guitarist’s lithe, fluid guitar work is faultlessly accompanied by fellow Amsterdam residents Omer Govreen on acoustic bass and Wouter Kühne on drums. Har Even’s imaginative arrangements of these Shorter pieces are captivating and enlightening. His deconstruction of Lost from The Soothsayer (Blue Note, 1979), originally recorded by the saxophonist in 1965 but released over a decade later, can be intriguingly compared with a reconstruction of Capricorn from the album Super Nova (Blue Note, 1969) where Shorter’s ascetic, rubato reading of the melody is in stark contrast to Har Even’s catchier, more conventional take.
Discography
Lost; El Toro; The Big Push; One By One; Nefertiti; Dance Cadaverous; Capricorn; Night Dreamer (41.30)
Har Even (elg); Omer Govreen (b); Wouter Kühne (d). No details provided but probably Amsterdam around 2023.
eranhareven.com
