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Overt interaction with spirit, with soul, is usually confined to temple walls, an hour out of the week to face the Creator and then off to our secular distractions. Yossi Piamenta melds Hebrew texts with hard-edged, highly melodic exploratory jazz-rock. Having only recently returned to performing after a three-year hiatus, pyrotechnic guitarist Piamenta leads a dead solid band through a very different kind of devotional music. Prior to hearing this record you may have thought Technical Ecstasy-era Black Sabbath and Hebrew prayers were incompatible, but the absolute sincerity of all involved helps erase most seams. Comparisons to Jimi Hendrix that abound in Piamenta's press are a stretch, even on the set closing "Red House." He's a very talented, fluid guitarist but his style is closer to someone like John Scofield, Sufi period Richard Thompson, or Eric Johnson infused with a profound spirituality and Middle Eastern elements.
When the band isn't rockin' it they veer into smooth roads that suggest what Steely Dan might produce if they immersed themselves in Judaism. One has a feeling this is a bigger blast in person, the play of all this passion on their faces, the group energy of a room welcoming God in, the clean drive of it all. Fans of Jerry Joseph, Blues Traveler, and similar giant-size barroom bands would do well to check out Piamenta, even if the only Jewish culture they know is the names of the big holidays. Piamenta should be admired for bringing an oft-segregated community into conversation with the larger world, using the universal Tower-of-Babel-tumbling power of music to open new pathways to dialog.
Dennis Cook
JamBase | Oakland
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