Shauli Einav Quartet - Beam Me Up (Music inspired by Sergei Prokofiev) (2016) [HDtracks]

In its latest CD Beam Me Up the Shauli Einav Quartet produces an impressive sound, rich in creative musical ideas. These talented, award winning musicians: Shauli Einav - saxophone, Paul Lay - piano, Florent Nisse – double bass and Gautier Garrigue – drums have recorded a remarkable album that is multi-layered, tuneful, energetic and swinging.
For inspiration Shauli Einav he has dipped into classical music – in this case ‘Visions Fugitive’ by the Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev. “I love his music,” says Shauli. “The melodies are so dissonant, with much use of dissonant intervals and unexpected harmonies. He makes them so digestible, with great rhythm and great harmony. Even if you hear Peter and the Wolf, the melodies are quite dissonant, but it sounds so singable, because he is a genius.”
Asaf Mattijahu, a classically trained composer with his own improvisation theatre group, has been Shauli’s close collaborator on this album based largely on Prokofiev’s short, whimsical, effervescent piano pieces.
Shauli describes the creative process as follows: “In this new album I played with Prokofiev’s motifs, until I got an idea for a new tune. I would randomly chose notes and put them in the bass line. On these bass notes, I would add the harmony. The harmony makes sense. The bass notes do not make sense. My challenge was to create an atonal bass line with harmony that works above it then a melody that embellishes it. I find it a very interesting process. Most composers take from each other. We tried to stop looking at it as a Jazz composition, even though you have the walking bass, the chords played by the piano, the sax - the solo and the drums - the rhythm. We tried to orchestrate it differently. Asaf was next to me and guiding me. You can hear it in this new music.”
The track Ten Weeks is about, “…the whole process of waiting for a baby and knowing that he is being created. It’s kind of mysterious and magical and scary at the same time. That was on my mind. I just manipulated it.” As if in confirmation, Shauli’s son, now a toddler, clamours for attention in the background during the interview for this article.
In 1415 the motifs of the No. 14 and No. 15 miniatures by Prokofiev are made into a Jazz swing piece. Assai is from Assai moderato, No. 12. Shauli starts with the original chords and harmonic rhythm and develops them with different orchestration. “The bass,” he explains, “is playing very, very high notes. The piano is in the background and the melody is just between them. But the first thing that you hear is the high screaming bass, playing that motif, over and over. The harmonies are really intensive, but they are being softened by the repeated rhythm of the bass.
Tao Main is an anagram of Animato, No. 4 in ‘Visions Fugitive’. “I take two bars from Animato. It’s quite a fun, polyrhythmic tune. It breaks down into different unexpected sections. We are improvising not on the chords, but on the rhythm.” 76 San Gabriel is dedicated to an old friend who died a few years ago - a lament for him.
Shauli Einav now lives with his family in Paris. His saxophone, perhaps a little more complicated than he originally thought when starting out, is played with beauty, virtuosity and daring.