Podcast 953: A Conversation with Omer Klein

Listeners to Straight No Chaser know I have great fondness for the music of the piano trio, an art I consider one of the highest forms of jazz in terms of improvisation and collaboration. The music these groups make grows richer over time, so those groups that stay together can often take their sound to another level as they mature. Pianist Omer Klein has made some of the most intriguing piano trio music of the recent past. His latest album Life & Fire marks an anniversary – Klein and his trio partners bassist Haggai Cohen-Milo and drummer Amir Bresler have been together for ten years. Over this period, they have produced four albums and shared their common musical experience with audiences worldwide. To celebrate the group took both music from the past repertoire and new tunes, and recorded in a small studio with an audience of friends and family, making Life & Fire sound not just intimate, but celebratory. In our conversation Omer talks about how the group has grown together, how he individually continues to work outside of the trio – he has written scores for dance and performed with classical musicians – and the music scene in his hometown of Frankfurt, Germany. Musical selections are "Niggun" with a challenging 11/8 meter, and the melodic "Tzuri," written for his late grandfather.