Ehud Ettun

January 2012, Vol. 28, No.1


Red Trio: Ehud Ettun, Luke Marantz, Zach Para. Photo by Lauren Desberg.

By Danielle Bias

There are Seattleites who will recognize the name Zach Para. The drummer is a graduate of Garfield High School and received the Wardenburg Scholarship in 2006 for the Port Townsend Jazz Festival. Now living in Boston, Para will be in the Emerald City this winter for a brief residency from January 8 through 15 with his Red Trio. He co-leads the Red Trio with Luke Marantz and Ehud Ettun.

“Red Trio is comprised of myself and two amazing musicians whom I have met over here on the East Coast,” Para explains. “We are pushing some unique concepts, and I am very excited about the music we are creating.” Red Trio plans to perform on Tuesday, January 10, from 7-9pm at Egan’s Ballard Jam House; on Wednesday, January 11, from 9-midnight at The Owl and Thistle; on Friday, January 13, from 9pm-1am at Faire Gallery with Justin Evans and Anand Galloway-Davis; and on Saturday, January 14, from 6-9pm at Havana Social Club.

Para not only commands attention as a drummer, but he has shown steady growth and sophistication as a composer and educator. He combines his knowledge of traditional jazz, African, Brazilian, Afro-Cuban and classical Indian styles with contemporary musical idioms, drawing influences from hip-hop, rock, and electronic music.

Growing up in Seattle, Para began his musical studies at an early age and soon began playing in the internationally acclaimed Garfield Jazz Band. In his early years, he won many awards, including most outstanding soloist at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival as well as other soloist awards at the Reno Jazz and Mt. Hood Jazz Festivals. He has toured in Europe, Asia and all across the United States, playing at many notable festivals and music venues, including the Montreux Jazz Festival, the Umbria Jazz Festival, Benaroya Hall and Lincoln Center. Para is completing his Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance at the New England Conservatory, where he has studied with legends Billy Hart, Bob Moses, Cecil McBee and Jerry Leake.

Described as an “impressive talent” by the Yediot Aharonot Israeli newspaper, bassist, composer and bandleader Ehud Ettun is quickly establishing himself as an up-and-coming bassist on the jazz and world music scene both in the United States and in Israel. A versatile musician, Ettun has recorded and performed with a myriad of established artists and bands, including George Garzone, Stephan Horenstein, Tal Gur and many others. He has also appeared as a performer and composer at world-class jazz venues in Europe, Israel and the United States. A former student of renowned bass teacher Michael Klinghoffer, Ettun has studied at the Jerusalem Rubin Academy of Music & Dance and at the New England Conservatory with notable musicians such as Dave Holland.

Luke Marantz is a Boston-based pianist and composer from Texas. Born to a musical family, his studies began at a very early age with piano, voice, saxophone and visual art. A graduate of the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas, Marantz was awarded multiple national jazz awards during his time there, including seventeen DownBeat awards which led to him being featured in the publication three times. During his young career, Marantz has performed in professional settings with Jeff “Tain” Watts, Tierney Sutton, Ingrid Jensen, Antonio Hart and many others.

For more information about Zach Para and the Red Trio and their performances in Seattle, please visit www.zachpara.com.

Earshot Jazz is a Seattle based nonprofit music, arts and service organization formed in 1984 to support jazz and increase awareness in the community. Earshot Jazz publishes a monthly newsletter, presents creative music and educational programs, assists jazz artists, increases listenership, complements existing services and programs, and networks with the national and international jazz community. - Jazz Earshot

Bassist Ehud Ettun shows some real promise on his debut album, best illustrated by some of the quieter tunes, like the title-track, which seems to withhold new notes as a way of building anticipation (and it works). At times, the music comes off as a bit overproduced on the contemporary side. For instance, the track “Night Portrait” is reminiscent of some of the rock-new age fusion that Andy Summers & Robert Fripp were putting out in the 80s, though it’s worth mentioning that those are still very fun albums to spin. Overall, the high moments on this album make it worth the purchase, and if you live somewhere that gets lots of rain, maybe even more so.

Your album personnel: Ehud Ettun (bass), Tal Gur (saxophones), Haruka Yabuno (piano), Nathan Blankett (drums), and Hagai Perets (guitar).

The album is Self-Produced. Jazz from the Boston, MA scene.

Available at eMusic. - www.birdistheworm.com

December 2, 2008
Raichel doesn't have an iota of humor, Bloch has matured but has not really
changed, and Herman and Ettun are a musical gem that is worth getting your
hands on.
Yoni Bloch has a new album. So does Idan Raichel. That's all well and good (actually
not so good and not so well). But anyone who is looking to find signs that there is
profundity in the sensitive and contemplative spheres of young Israeli music should
disregard the well-oiled public relations of these mediocre albums and lend an ear to
another disc that has come out recently. Its songs will not be on any playlist even
though they are accessible for the most part, and its creators, Uriel Herman and
Ehud Ettun, are unknowns. You will probably have to go to several record stores
before you find their album, but the effort will be worthwhile. "Half Colors, Half
Voices", 13 new melodies for the poems of Rachel is a musical gem. Ettun is a jazz
contrabass player, Herman is a classical pianist; both are students at the Academy of
Music in Jerusalem and their encounter with the poems of Rachel has produced an
explosion of magnitude 8 on the Rechter-Kanner or Wirtzburg-Gelbatz scale. At the
present time it is better not to compare "Half Colors, Half Voices" to "14 Octaves" or
to "Good Vintage" but some of the qualities of those albums are unquestionably to be
found in this album. The most notable of these is the delicate balance between artistic
composition and pop songs. Ettun and Herman's compositions are not conventional:
they almost always have another dimension, explicit or concealed, but they never
sound like homework for a course in composition. They are relatively catchy,
hummable tunes, enjoying complexity but respecting simplicity.
Good tunes are not enough. What makes "Half Colors" into an album with the
potential to fulfill its great promise is the outstanding ensemble assembled by these
two creators. The musical production was assigned to the talented Adi Rennert.
Among the musicians are Rea Mochiach, Eran Weitz, Zohar Fresco, Asaf Roth, and
Gidi Raz. And most important of all are the singers. A vocal team this refreshing has
not appeared on an Israeli album for a long time: the soul of Ayala Ingdeshet, the
harshness of Eli Magen, the roughness of Avi Balali, the delicacy Eli Dgibri, the
delightful Indian clarity of Liora Yitzhak (whom we remember from "Hadag - Ben Shalev, Haaretz

Two students at the Academy of Music kept Avi Efrati glued to the amplifiers
Uriel Herman and Ehud Ettun "Half Colors, Half Voices" – the Poems of Rachel
"Half Colors, Half Voices" is the first formal project of these two composers, students
at the Academy of Music in Jerusalem: Pianist Uriel Herman and Contrabass player
Ehud Ettun. In the context of the Israeli world of music this is history-making – the
encounter between two young talents that will produce an explosion of impressive
music. This can be compared to the historic combinations of the 70s between artists
who went on to become part of the Israeli musical genome: Yoni Rechter and Avner
Kanner, Mati Caspi and Shlomo Gronich, Sheshet, no less.
Herman and Ettun have set Rachel's poems to music – in itself a seventies style
enterprise. But nothing on this disc is old-fashioned. To the contrary. They are of the
here and now and are accompanied by outstanding musicians whose touch is clearly
contemporary.
Ettun and Herman have chosen serious texts some of which have become classics and
have enfolded them in voluminous melodies. Something that could easily have become
just a student's intellectual experiment, has succeeded where many excellent
predecessors have failed: they touch the depths, confer respect upon the written word.
It has a fascinating sound ambience and still retains its pop-rock flavor –
communicative and relevant.
The anchor of this disc is its melody. The tunes are varied in their sources of
inspiration but from all of them there emerge fully-formed sounds, distinct and
unique, that are a pleasure to encounter. The melodies are full-bodied, well
constructed, rich in nuances but accessible. The arrangements have the appropriate
space for them, they are not over-wrought or overdone like most of the local products
and for this Adi Rennert, the producer, deserves all the credit. "Half Colors, Half
Voices" is an impressive presentation from musicians who are two of the greatest
talents developing in our midst. Pay attention to them! - Avi Efrati: Yediot Tel-aviv

By EYAL HAREUVENI, Published: March 30, 2008

Young Israeli alto and soprano saxophonist Tal Gur's debut features him leading a quartet comprised of fellow young Israeli players: drummer Ariel Armoni, who collaborated recently with Israeli pianist Daniel Sarid on TR (Levontin 7, 2007); guitarist Ido Bukelman, who is a member of Israeli jazz quartet The Rats, and bassist Ehud Ettun. Classically trained, Gur performs and records jazz, rock, Hassidic and Balkan music, in addition to studying sound engineering. For Air Portrait, Gur composed all six tracks.

The sound of Gur's saxophones indeed captures the attention, but can be annoying. After the brief electronic introduction of "Buds of Cyclamens," "Detours" finds Gur riding above the fusion guitar lines of Bukelman, who sounds as if he adopted the 1980s ECM-era sound of Bill Frisell, with a sweet and light sound that never gathers substantial volume or power. "Cyclamens" retains the same atmosphere, but leaves enough room for the inventive Armoni and Ettun to explore more interesting sonic detours over the reserved fretting of Bukelman. Gur joins in on the last third only, gently emphasizing the melodic theme of this cinematic composition.

Gur begins "Sholem" with a soft vibrating tone, letting Bukelman to take the lead for another impressionistic solo before both begin digging deeper and searching for more challenging interplay, but this attempt remains a brief one. Than, when it appears that this quartet will never break out of its subdued comfort zone, it surprises you with a tight and mean fusion piece, "Whirlpool," that demonstrates some muscle and an angry sound. Bukelman adds some distortion to his guitar and abandons the Frisell-ian texture, while Gur pushes deeper for a more varied and nuanced sound with solid support from Ettun and Armoni. The last piece, "Silent High Tide," sounds like a compromise between the earlier impressionistic tracks that fails to linger in the memory, and a more meaningful sound exploration in the vein of "Whirlpool."

Track Listing: Buds of Cyclamens; Detours; Cyclamens; Sholem; Whirlpool; Silent High Tide.

Personnel: Tal Gur: straight alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, keyboard; Ido Bukelman: guitar; Ariel Armoni: drums; Ehud Ettun: upright bass.

Record Label: First CDs Productions | Style: Fusion/Progressive Rock - All About Jazz

Howdy,

Big fan! You four are amazing. So talented. Among numerous things, I was loving the interplay of the off tempo rhythm between the bass player and piano. So simple, yet brilliant: the bass players use of harmonics; the drummer using so many different techniques, punctuated with the occasional odd crash; the pianist playing the same, single note but making it the sound seven different ways! Then playing tricks by misguiding the listener to expect resolution and chords and playing them somewhere else! And was the clarinet player (was that a clarinet?) weaving in lines from Coltrane or was I imagining things? Wow! Brilliant!

But what do I know? I am not a professional musician. I barely know my instruments. I just keep trying to play my guitar and piano, and appreciate how much work and effort go into making it look effortless. Maybe that is how all jazz is played.

I do know I loved the composition; enjoyed the melodies. In the first two songs, I heard a story. The music was simple and easy on the ears but with so much interplay going on. Then we had to go.
You four make the world a better place! I hope to hear more next time.

I am so blessed I got hear that music.

So how come I could not buy a CD? Because I wanted to buy a CD. Still do.

Peace - None