Maayan Sherman - Contrast (2024) [Hi-Res]

Ubuntu Music is delighted to announce the signing of Australian based Israeli sax player Maayan Sherman, for the release of Contrast, his upcoming album on Ubuntu Music.

Maayan shares his thoughts about the project and the idea behind it: “’Contrast’ is my debut album. It's been cooking in my head for a long time. After my graduation from The Jazz Institute in Rimon (Israel), I felt ready and decided to commit to the idea. As this is my first album this was also my first run as band leader. One of the greatest joys as band leader was choosing my band members. To get the sound I wanted, I needed musicians who were trained in jazz but didn't grow up in it, and I couldn't have chosen better. We have Noam Arbel on drums, Noam Benishay on bass, Ofek Ram on keys & synths, Tal Gordon on trumpet and myself on saxophones. It took six month of experimenting and rehearsing to get the sound I wanted out of the material. On the 28th-29th April 2023 we recorded the album in Kicha Studios in Tel Aviv. Despite all the preparations, the first day of recording didn't go as planned and we left the studio that evening with only one take of one song that I liked, so when we met up for the second and last day in the studio, I was quite nervous. However, not to my surprise, we pulled it off and recorded the entire album in one day. It took me about three months to find the right mixing engineer for the album. I sent the sources to six or seven different mxing engineers until I found the right one. A lot of my writing process is done in front of recording software (DAW), so when it came to mixing I already had the sound in my head that I was looking for. When Arik Finkelberg sent me the first rough mix for ‘So’ I immediately knew we had a common language. We ended up spending three months mixing the album. The mastering process was done by Ori Verthaim and it was one of my favorite parts of this project, putting all the pieces together and finally seeing the bigger picture I imagined. I'm very grateful to all the amazing artists who took part in this project, it would have been nothing without them.”

Maayan continues, providing his description of the music on the album: “‘Contrast’ is a collection of compositions I wrote over the last three years. In the process of selecting and rearranging the music I found myself taking a deep look into my expression as composer and a performer. In doing so, I found my deep interest in constructive contrasts - like peanut butter and jelly - opposite ideas that bring the best out of each other. I always imagined my first album as a "concept album", where every piece is a different view on the same idea. ‘Contrast’ is not that, but in the process of rearranging the music it was important to me to create this feeling of continuation that I like so much as a listener. Most of the music I write is the music I would like to listen to. ‘So’ and ‘Purple Whale Ave.’ are great examples of that..a steady rhythm section and the horn lines cutting through it all. Some other parts of this album are pieces that describe my human experience. ‘The Big Loss’ and ‘The Small Death’ describe the end of my first big love. I feel like ‘Drift’, the last piece of this album, is the strangest one. It's very straight forward in approach compared to the other pieces but I feel it gives a sweet ending to this dark journey my album describes.”

Maayan describes his new relationship with Ubuntu Music: “I'm very grateful and humbled to be in good company with the great musicians in the Ubuntu roster. I couldn't have imagined a better home for this album. I'd like to thank Martin Hummel, who gave me this opportunity and believed in my weird creation from the beginning.”

Martin Hummel, Director of Ubuntu Music, concludes: “I was immediately attracted to Maayan as an artist, his music and the thinking behind it. Maayan initially defined this as a musical journey driven by a passion for exploring the intricate nuances of sound, often embracing the darker and more enigmatic aspects of music. He is inspired by the captivating contrasts that can be found within the realm of jazz and psychedelic music. And it is strikingly expressed through his debut album, ‘Contrast’. We are so happy to welcome Maayan and his band into the Ubuntu Music Family.”