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"to release" - a verb that implies conflicting things. On the one hand - a sense of freedom; of lighter breath & calmer muscles. On the other - the tension that was needed in order to have something to release...On one hand - the feeling of letting go, pressing "restart", new possibilities, new energy. On the other - it implies a void, an emptiness...
to release... to let go of what was kept tight. (Is there a loss in that?)
to release... to be able to place things and move away from them.
[I don't believe in progress, but rather in modulation. shifting is not evolving, just motion to another plain.]
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...and can we ever break these spirals of tension and release? would we want to if we could?
[in music and in life i NEED this delicate balance of tension and release in order to remain interested. never just one or the other. give me some ugliness along with the beauty, some rawness aside the refinement, some harshness inside the delicate...]
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I love rituals. They allow us to take note of the spot we are standing on. they allow us to measure. to re-think and re-choose. to choose to move away or to continue on the path we have already been on.
I am ritualizing this moment by writing these words. I am sitting near the window of my home-for-the-month on Ave B. Plants surround me. two beautiful felines are purring at my feet. I am thinking about releasing. I am drinking coffee [small soy latte] to make a mark in time: upto here, from here.
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a new album is born. I notice the familiarity and closeness when rehearsing the music with Avishai, Loren and Anat. I think of how long it has been since we were all in one room together. I appreciate the beauty and tenderness that Anat's trio with Roland and Gary bring to the music. I notice the absence of our drummer, Take, who is definitely in the room with us, but only in spirit.
We will celebrate this release together in New York, Philly and Boston (details below). There are some circles closing... to play in Boston for the first time since I've lived there (about 8 years ago)... after I no longer live in the U.S... To release THIS record, with THIS title, in the months following my move back to Israel... and to begin the releasing celebrations in NY, a city that was home until not long ago, and now is a place I come for visits... To say a final goodbye to Take by letting this recording go out into the world, while re-uniting with Avishai, Loren and Anat after a long time we haven't all shared a stage
Where is home these days?
"adam betoch atzmo hu gar"
I ate my first pomegranate of the season today. thinking... "Tishrei's pomegranates, cluttered, bursting silently within themselves". bitter sweet juices. red stains on white napkins. and, my pomegranate man - he's my antioxidant... in a couple of month we will be living together in Israel after two and a half years of living apart. I recorded this CD weeks before we got married, and now, several years later, it is being released weeks before we actually start living together again...
A new-ju-year is beginning. a great time for releasing, reflecting, renewing. A great time to sing songs about pomegranates, that are now in season... that symbolize hope for an abundance of rights (to all humans and living things this year, amen). A great time to sing the words of Dr. Martin Luther King and Rumi about self fulfillment and the meaning of living.
A new-ju-year is beginning. I'm throwing breadcrumbs in the water. shedding. letting go of preconceptions on what life should be. allowing myself not to know. to float. to recharge.
I hope you keep joining me on this journey, and share your thoughts and upto-here-from-here moments with me. may we have a calmer year. a year of peace, resolution, realization, experimentation, creation, love, laughter, friendship and fluidity. may we release what needs releasing, and keep what needs to remain close.
Much love and Shana Tova
Ayelet
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Sept 15, 7:30 & 9pm
$20
Sept 17, 8 & 9:45pm
$15
with:
Ayelet Rose Gottlieb - Voice / Compositions
Avishai Cohen** (trumpet)
Loren Stillman (saxophone)
Anat Fort (piano)
Gary Wang (bass)
Roland Schneider (drums)
At Vernissage in Boston
Oct 8, 8pm
with:
Ayelet Rose Gottlieb - Voice / Compositions
Avishai Cohen** (trumpet)
Michael Attias (saxophone)
Carmen Staaf (Piano)
Sean Conly (Bass)
Satoshi Takeishi (Drums)
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* each of the "Upto Here | From Here" links to a different review of the new CD if you're interested in reading those...
**Avishai is playing with in NY and Boston. Not Philly.
