Anat Fort - And If (2010)

And If is the second ECM album from Anat Fort. Six years ago, the Israeli pianist set up a New York recording session with Perry Robinson, Ed Schüller and Paul Motian. Touched by the musical outcome, Motian recommended the project to Manfred Eicher and the recording was mixed and issued as the wryly-titled A Long Story on ECM in 2007. The album made a lot of new friends for Fort, was a modest ‘hit’ in jazz terms, and caught the attention of the world’s press.

Working with legendary drummer Paul Motian on her first ECM release, A Long Story (2007), must have been a formative experience for pianist Anat Fort. On And If, her second release for the German label, she opens and closes the set with two readings of "Paul Motian."

And If carries the Fort tale forward. Where A Long Story was essentially a production project, the new disc puts the focus on Anat’s regular trio with Gary Wang and Roland Schneider, a group which recently celebrated its tenth anniversary as a working band. 

Anat Fort (piano)

Gary Wang (double bass)

Roland Schneider (drums)

10 tr.

Zone E

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Anat Fort - A Long Story (2007)

From the first notes of "Just Now," an attentive listener will recognize that A Long Story is going to be something special. The seemingly simple, Middle-Eastern tinged melody is treated with odd phrase lengths, keeping the listener decidedly off-balance, despite the direct harmonic progressions. Pianist Anat Fort's improvisations on the tune float around the barely felt pulse creating an atmosphere of calm, serene beauty, which nevertheless is quite taut beneath the surface.

The rest of the album seems to simply unfold, gradually exposing this remarkable musician's compositional and improvisational skills. The pieces each tell a story and each has a combination of rigorous logic and playfulness mixed with much room for spontaneous invention.

Anat Fort: piano

Perry Robinson: clarinet, ocarina

Ed Schuller: bass

Paul Motian: drums

11 tr.

Zone E

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