Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Shai Maestro: Human

Shai Maestro: Human

By Chris May
January 25, 2021
View read count

After paying his dues with

Avishai Cohen

bass
b.1970

" data-original-title="" title="">Avishai Cohen, with whose Trio he recorded four well received albums, pianist

" data-original-title="" title="">Shai Maestro cut loose on his own, debuting with Shai Maestro Trio (Laborie) in 2013. Human is Maestro's sixth own-name album and his second on ECM, followingThe Dream Thief in 2018. The new disc is elegant, expansive, emotionally charged and beautiful. It contains ten Maestro originals and one cover, a playful version

Duke Ellington

piano
1899 - 1974

" data-original-title="" title="">Duke Ellington's "In A Sentimental Mood."

This time out, Maestro has expanded his group with trumpeter

Philip Dizack

trumpet

" data-original-title="" title="">Philip Dizack. It is a musical marriage made in heaven. Dizack comes from a similarly lyrical and expressive place as Maestro: one of his first professional gigs was with the

Stan Getz

saxophone, tenor
1927 - 1991

" data-original-title="" title="">Stan Getz /

Clifford Brown

trumpet
b.1930

" data-original-title="" title="">Clifford Brown Big Band, in 2003, and in 2019 he toured with fellow rising star, alto saxophonist

Immanuel Wilkins

saxophone, alto
b.1997

" data-original-title="" title="">Immanuel Wilkins. Inexplicably, Dizack's most recent own-name album was Single Soul (Criss Cross) in 2013.

ECM is widely seen as the exclusive preserve of austere, overly cerebral music, a perception that begins with the lingering legacy of its global cross-genre smash hit, saxophonist

Jan Garbarek

saxophone
b.1947

" data-original-title="" title="">Jan Garbarek's Officium in 1993, but which has also been formed by plenty of other chilly and stand off-ish outings. A significant minority of the label's catalogue, however, is comprised of quietly expansive and emotionally intelligent music. The label ended 2020, for instance, with singer

Elina Duni

vocals
b.1981

" data-original-title="" title="">Elina Duni and guitarist

Rob Luft

guitar
b.1993

" data-original-title="" title="">Rob Luft's by turns heart-warming and heart-breaking Songs Of Love And Exile, a masterpiece of simultaneously soulful and thinking music.

Human is another fine addition to the Romantic strand of the ECM's catalogue. It is an intensely humanistic and societal affair, as track titles such as "Compassion," "Prayer" and "They Went To War" suggest. Three individuals are also spotlighted: "Hank And Charlie" pays tribute to the musical empathy shared by the late pianist

Hank Jones

piano
1918 - 2010

" data-original-title="" title="">Hank Jones and bassist

Charlie Haden

bass, acoustic
1937 - 2014

" data-original-title="" title="">Charlie Haden, and closing track "Ima" is dedicated to Talma Maestro. Wife? Sister? Mother? Someone, anyway, clearly loved. An ambiance of beatific calm suffuses the album with the exception, midway, of "The Thief's Dream." This thief clearly does not sleep easily at night.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Time; Mystery And Illusions; Human; GG; The Thief��s Dream; Hank And Charlie; Compassion; Prayer; They Went To War; In A Sentimental Mood; Ima (For Talma Maestro).

Personnel

Shai Maestro

piano

Jorge Roeder

bass, acoustic

Ofri Nehemya

drums

Philip Dizack

trumpet

Album information

Title: Human | Year Released: 2021 | Record Label: ECM Records

PREVIOUS / NEXT

The Weakened Worriers
< Previous

Hurricane Mouse
Next >

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.