“Roy Mor imposes himself, with this album, as the youngest with whom we will have to reckon.”
REVIEW: Roy Mor/After The Real Thing
JazzNu writes, “Roy Mor is both extremely musical and exhausting.”
Jazz Kolik Best of 2021 On Air: Roy Mor / 'After The Real Thing'
Jazz writers, radio programmers and critics chose the best albums of the year.
Roy Mor - 'After The Real Thing': ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Columbus Music Magazine selects Mor’s album on Ubuntu Music as Album of The Year.
REVIEW: Roy Mor 'After The Real Thing'
Off Topic’s Riccardo Talamazzi writes, “Mor is endowed with a tense and quivering writing, often effervescent, of great adaptability to the strict needs of the different pieces.”
For the full review, please click on the image, above.
REVIEW: Roy Mor 'After The Real Thing'--4.5 STARS
Jazz Journal’s John Adcock writes, “Mor’s leap from working for Microsoft in Israel and pursuing the dream of being a musician in New York is a big one, but based on the superb music he’s creating, one that was well worth making. “
Within a few bars of The Echo Song, the track that opens this album, it’s clear that Mor is an accomplished and sensitive performer on the piano. This debut album for Mor as bandleader features some original compositions as well as arrangements of Israeli classics, and also features a couple of his favourite songs – Kurt Weill’s Speak Low and Hoagy Carmichael’s The Nearness Of You.
Mor’s physical and musical journey through life are captured in the recordings, with Jerusalem, New York and Tel Aviv providing the inspiration for material. In addition to leading the band, Mor is credited as arranger and producer. It’s a high-quality production, with beautifully recorded dynamics.
The musicians work well together and the blend of cultures and instruments gives the whole project a polished and vibrant mood that engages the listener completely for the duration. Perhaps the finest moment is Mor’s performance on The Nearness Of You. Recorded live, he captures the intimate essence of Carmichael’s lovely ballad without ever becoming cheesy. At times, the delicate phrasing reminded me of Oscar Peterson when he stripped the music back to the bare essentials; it’s that good.
Mor’s leap from working for Microsoft in Israel and pursuing the dream of being a musician in New York is a big one, but based on the superb music he’s creating, one that was well worth making.
Discography
The Echo Song; After The Real Thing; Jerusalem Mezcla; Nikanor; Daybreak; Solar Reimagined; Speak Low; Do You Know The Way; The Follower; Playground; The Nearness Of You (58.00)
Mor (p, kyb, arr); Amos Hoffman (oud, g); Myles Sloniker, Marty Kenney, Joel Kruzic (b); Itay Morchi, Peter Traunmueller (d); Davy Lazar (flh). New York, no date listed.
Ubuntu Music UBU0081
REVIEW: Roy Mor 'After The Real Thing'
The Jazz Mann’s Ian Mann writes, “An impressively diverse album that borrows from both the Israeli and American musical traditions and which represents a good snapshot of Mor’s musical influences and of his musical journey thus far.”
For the full review, please click on the image, above.
“This release introduces another exciting jazz discovery to UK audiences and maintains the high standards we have come to expect from the increasingly adventurous Ubuntu record label.”
—Ian Mann
REVIEW: Roy Mor 'After The Real Thing'
Jazz Views’ Eddie Myer writes, “A very high quality endeavour.”
For the full review, please click on the image, above.
INTERVIEW: Roy Mor
Sandy Brown Jazz’s Howard Lawes speaks with the gifted pianist.
REVIEW: Roy Mor 'After The Real Thing'
Pianist, philosopher, engineer ... not exactly a combination that screams 'jazz'. Or is it? Because if there is one genre of music that sounds like higher mathematics and physics to some, with its complicated chord changes and rhythmic acrobatics, it is jazz. On paper, the jazz pianist Roy Mor from Israel has the right jazz profile, in practice too, as it turns out!
© Yossi Zwecker
Together with Myles Sloniker on double bass and Itay Morchi on drums, he recently released the album After The Real Thing . A fairly classic jazz album that is firmly rooted in the period after the pop and before free jazz. So do not expect provoking eardrum conditions, nerve-racking improvisations, electronics or daring noise influences.
We do get sparkling and very melodic compositions in which especially the sometimes oriental sounding guest contributions by guitar and former player Amos Hoffman offer a solid added value. It was therefore a strong move to open one of our favorite songs on the album with the somewhat atypical The Echo Song . On one track ( Nikanor ) the trio is also joined by Davy Lazar on flugelhorn.
Roy Mor and his comrades swing and anoint, twist and seduce and here and there let you be amazed by their virtuosity. All, however, without disruption and / or rebellious unruliness. A bit obedient but damn beautiful.