Reut Regev - R*time
Rahway, New Jersey, United States | INDIE
Music
Press
"... stunning debut... Regev combines the expressivity of the avant garde and the technical precision of bop with the farsightedness of a musician in step with her own time...."
full article:
Since moving to New York City in 1998, Israeli-born trombonist Reut Regev has made a series of remarkable appearances with a number of high-profile ensembles and artists. Unconstrained by stylistic preconceptions, her early work with such Yiddish-themed artists as Frank London and Metropolitan Klezmer sits comfortably alongside recent gigs with renown avant gardists Butch Morris and Anthony Braxton. Breathtakingly expansive and unabashedly modern, This is R Time is her debut as a leader.
Exploring an exotic no-man's land somewhere between avant jazz, rock, funk, reggae, and dub, the album's nine original tunes unfold with a driving intensity. Regev's writing is reminiscent of Ray Anderson's early nineties funk experiments with the Slickaphonics, but far more gritty. Versatile guitarist David Phelps, veteran bassist Brad Jones, and Regev's husband, drummer Igal Foni, make up her regular quartet. Their seasoned interplay is laser-tight, leaving ample room for freewheeling discourse. The elastic rhythm section plays it close to the vest, knowing just when to lock down the beat and when to cut it loose.
A wildly diverse stylist blessed with prodigious technique, Regev's approach is joyously unfettered. From the mercurial euphony of "Hula Hula" and blistering staccato cadences of "Nutcase Scenario" to the earthy tailgating of "Some of the Best Fish Are Alive" and mellifluous refrains of "Balibalaila," Regev embraces every aspect of the trombone's storied history. An intrepid explorer, she fearlessly augments her horn with EFX, periodically running it through wah-wah pedals and reverb units, invoking dub as readily as the electro-acoustic experiments of fellow trombonist Robin Eubanks.
An eclectic performer and perfect foil for Regev, Phelp's Hendrixian lyricism comes to the fore on the ebullient "Nutcase Scenario," while offering serene introspection on the sultry exotica of "Balibalaila." His chameleonic tendencies suit Regev's restless aesthetic perfectly; spiky electric guitar salvos shadow peals from her amplified trombone throughout the session, sporadically culminating in kaleidoscopic maelstroms of psychedelic intensity—like the one found at the apex of the searing closer "True Story."
This is R Time is a stunning debut record from an upcoming artist. Regev combines the expressivity of the avant-garde and the technical precision of bop wih the farsightedness of a musician in step with her own time. As one of the jazz idiom's oldest, most versatile instruments, the trombone provides both a connection to the past and a link to the future, a place Regev is prepared to take us.
- All About Jazz
"...its a knockout!... The simple fact is that Reut can play pretty much anything she wants. And clearly what she wants to play are these intricate and complex originals. A very impressive date." - Stuart Kremsky, The International Association of Jazz Record Collectors
"... a provocative brew that straddles the heavy metal bebop devide...Wildly imaginative and virtuosic..."
- Bill Mikowski, Jazz Times
"...jazz and funk and freedom merged nicely in the band known as Reut Regev R*Time, led by the dazzling trombonist-bandleader Regev..."
- Joseph Woodward, Jazz Times
“...With tremendous energy Reut Regev fired broadsides of Funk, Bluesrock and Electric Jazz at the audience in Berlin... The discovery of the Festival” - Wolf Kampmann, Frankfurter Rundschau,
Discography
Reut Regev - This is R*time
Photos
Bio
R*time is the first official recording in the 12 year musical collaboration between trombonist/leader Reut Regev and her husband drummer/co-composer Igal Foni. All About Jazz.com calls it a “stunning debut record” that is “breathtakingly expansive and unabashedly modern”.
An expandable unit that ranges from duo to quartet and beyond, R-Time combines sophistication and propulsion with a kaleidoscopic appetite for sounds, rhythms, and musical flavors that boggle the mind, excite the body and feed the soul. Reut has been described a: “a wildly diverse stylist blessed with prodigious technique" and an approach which is "joyously unfettered" and "embraces every aspect of the trombone's storied history.” Igal’s drumming draws on an extensive experience in creative improvised music projects on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as n encyclopedic knowledge and integration of idioms that range from the blistering energy and science of heavy metal to South Indian drumming, Haitian rhythms, straight-ahead jazz and funk. His telepathic interplay with Reut and their shared taste for a groove that defies categorization is at the core of the experience which is R-Time.
In the Fall of 2009, R*Time made its first European festival appearance at the Berlin Jazz Festival with special guest guitar Jean-Paul Bourelly. Bourelly’s extraordinary melding of multiple traditions and experimentation in every possible aspect of music making from the polyrhythmic, polymetric mesh of groove and pattern to the creative use of studio techniques, has influenced and inspired Reut and Igal from the very beginning of their association.
R*time also opened the Goettingen Jazz Festival, with special guest Vincent Segal on Electric Cello, sharing the main stage with Randy Brekcer and Mike Stern.
Upcoming Festival performances include the Halifax, Strasbourg and Cologne Jazz Festivals.
Please check out www.reutregev.com for more information, videos and press quotes
Links
