alony // dismantling dreams
out now!!!

09.03.10

After being away for a long time,

I will be visiting Isreal again, and will be giving a concert on 17.3.2010 with a very good friend of mine and a wonderful guitarist, Yaniv Kerem and his band. We will be playing at the "Hasimta theater" in old Jaffa- so in case you happend to be in town- be sure to come. 

23.02.10

The BMW World Jazz Award

has started. Our concert date is set for March 7th, at the BMW Welt in Munich. The competition in going to be hard-  

up against such wonderful singers: Theo Bleckmann, Michael Schiefel, Cécile Verny, Maria de Fatima and Youn Sun Nah. Maybe that's exactly why I am REALLY looking forward to it.  

So if you happen to be in town--- we're counting on your support!!!  

 

27.01.10

A new year has rushed in,

yet I still find myself thinking and writing "2009"- as if I am still in a different time zone- which, I guess, is not so far off... :-) 

On the road with ALONY, the sparks were flying on the JOE Festival in Essen, through a wonderful encounter with the band TYFT (Jim Black, Andrew D'Angelo and Hilmar Jenssen)- WOW! - the 2 sets that we played couldn't have been more different- but they complimented each other beautifully. That was really something!! TYFT!! 

 

20.10.09

I have been a lot

on the road lately, experiencing pretty amazing things musically as well as personally.  

I have just finished a small tour with ALONY which was musically as challenging as it was rewarding. On the concert in Nürnberg (stimmenfang-festival) I received the „International Jazz Prize of th Nürnberger Nachrichten “- it was a short ceremony- but most importantly--- the concert went really well! I have a feeling that some audiences need time to open the door to our music, but once they have opened it- they are grateful and thirsty for more- which is a WONDERFUL feeling! 

 

I was deeply touched to find out that Bob Brookmeyer sent out the „Dismantling Dreams“ CD to some music journalists in the U.S. As a result we received wonderful critics on JazzWax.com and on Artsjournal.com - maybe this will open some new doors- i am keeping my fingers crossed! 

 

The next concert with ALONY on Oktober 30th will take place during the Jazz-Festival at the renowned Schloss Elmau. One of Europe's grand hotels---- i am working on combining the "work" and the "pleasure" parts of my life....:-) 

 

Efrat Alony 

02.10.09

I have started teaching

at the wonderful HKB College of Music and Arts in Bern, Switzerland. This college is the oldest Jazz college in Europe, with wonderful musicians- teachers as well as students- a great experience for me- guiding jazz-interested souls in the sometimes jazz-uninterested world......:-) so we agreed on the term „FREEDOM“ instead of „Jazz“ - and who is not interested in that....:-) Some teachers, including yours truly, will be giving a concert on the 23.11.09 in Bern- so feel free to stop by in case you are in town. 

 

Back in Berlin I found myself in the midst of a new CD Production of the „Ed Partyka Jazz Orch“, as a co-production with the Berlin-Brandenburg Radio. The band sounds absolutely wonderful, a top rhythm section, smashing soloists, and as always, it was a big pleasure being a part of it. Ed's new music is challenging, provoking, beautiful and at times funny. (But we wouldn't want too much of the latter...:-)) I will keep you posted on the developments. 

 

Oli Leicht, one of the smashing soloists in Ed's band and a band leader on his own account, and I, are about to finally record our work in progress. Our duo concerts - or better said - the FUN we had while „working“ made us want to do something „serious“ with it. Just the two of us, clarinet, voice and electronics, playing Oli's as well as my compositions and some cover songs (like Tom Waits, Suzanna Vega), experimenting and enjoying ourselves. Oli has taken upon himself the task of teaching me the secrets of "THE HANG“- as opposed to me thinking i have to take care of my voice, to get enough sleep- well- you get the drift... 

 

I will keep you posted on my learning progress- :-) 

 

Efrat Alony 

02.06.09

Wonderful news!

I just found out that I have been awarded with the "Nürnberger Nachrichten International Jazz Preis" for 2009. The award ceremony in form of a concert with ALONY will take place on October 3rd 2009 as part of the "Stimmenfang Festival" in Nürnberg. I am very much looking forward to it! 

 

Efrat Alony 

30.05.09

Back home in Berlin,

after a wonderful ALONY CD Release Tour in Germany and Austria. The surprise "star of the evening" was the "Lights On/Off" video. It was especially exciting to watch it on the big cinema screen in the gorgeous "Babylon-Mitte" venue in Berlin; a definite night to remember! 

 

In between the ALONY concert-dates , I spent a week with the absolutely marvelous HR Radio Big-Band, recording a new project called "new jewish folk songs". It was as always a pleasure working with Ed Partyka, who conducted and beautifully arranged some 10 israeli songs. It was an incredible experience, singing the songs I grew up with (an entire program in hebrew!! ) with the powerful, warm, at times crazy sound of this orchestra around me, painting the songs in new colours that bewildered everyone- including myself. Such lovely people; such GREAT musicians!  

 

Efrat Alony 

01.05.09

Finally,

we are off to our CD Release Tour!!!  

Frank Hellenkamp, the "superman" responsible for the marvelous artwork, has managed to outmatch himself with this wonderful video to "Lights On/Off" - i hope you'll like it! 

 

 

Efrat Alony 

22.02.09

It's crazy to try and capture

the work of almost a year in to a few sentences, so maybe i'll begin with the end, which is also a beginning- our new CD “Dismantling Dreams”. It will be released on April 17th on ENJA RECORDS. We will be going on a CD Release Tour during April and May 09 and we will be delighted to see you there. 

 

This CD was a co-production with the Bavarian Radio, by the wonderful, inspiring Beate Sampson (Jazz Director, BR and a great singer) who supported this project through thick and thin- in addition to recordings made in Berlin, we were able to use the Radio’s facilities in Nuremberg, which allowed us to be slightly (ha ha) more extravagant than we would normally dare to dream of. This time around using a fair amount of electronics, and unusual synth sounds, beautifully designed by Mark Reinke, prepared drums and fantastic fragments of little hard-to-track-down-sounds on behalf of Christian Thomè and the rich sound of the Kaj:Kaj String Quartet, we dived into this production, knowing where we were starting, but not fully realizing where it could/should/would end :-) The luxury of more studio time harbors the danger of getting lost in the small detail. Over were the days, where we would go into the studio, be inspired and play- this time it was as if we had to work out a giant puzzle, where every piece had to perfectly fit in. With Mark, on the producer chair, we edited, manipulated and rearranged the incredible amount of recorded material. (my deep thank you to the wonderful sound engineer Jörg Surrey for bearing with us:-)) 

I hope you will enjoy what you hear. 

 

I chose to sing a couple of songs in Hebrew again, I ended up writing music to a poem written by one of Israel's most important poets of our time, Dahlia Ravikovich. It was a great privilege. It's always very special for me to sing in Hebrew- and I intend to do it more often. 

 

Efrat Alony 

20.02.09

A wonderful thing coming up

is a project I will be doing in May with the Radio Big-Band Frankfurt (HR Big-Band). we will be recording a CD with Israeli songs that I chose, arranged and conducted by the wonderful composer and a dear friend Ed Partyka. We will be playing one concert in Frankfurt on May 20th 09. Ed had me featured on his wonderful CD called “Overcast” played by the “Sunday Night Orchestra” released Jun. 2008 on Mons Records. We enjoyed working together so much that he has asked me to take part in the recording of his new CD recording, set for Sep.09, which will be a Co-produced by the Berlin-Brandenburg Radio. 

 

Through Ed I got acquainted with an outstanding musician, Oliver Leicht. We have started a duo going. Him beautifully playing the clarinet and so tastefully using electronics. The first concert is set for 10.3.09 in Köln. 

 

another blessing is that I have found two remarkable women, contact and Marion Hölzcl, to take care of our booking and the PR. I suppose it is difficult for a stranger to understand, but ever since they are around I sleep better and I suddenly have time again :-) 

 

I am very excited to see what this coming year has in store for us. 

 

 

Efrat Alony