The first question I asked Omar Klein was, “What is jazz in your eyes?”. A question that could take you in many different directions – after all, jazz – but it immediately gained an orderly ideological subtext for him. “I recently read a book in which Art Taylor, drummer of “So it’s important from the 50s, interviewing 30 of the greatest jazz players,” he says. “And in the book he asks them exactly the same question. What does the word jazz describe for them? The answer was almost unequivocal – that this is a word that they feel was imposed on this music from the outside, and it actually diminishes it. The vast majority of the original jazz musicians were black, and the white society of the time both wanted this all-too-attractive product, and didn’t want official history to tell who made the music. I think this is what they mean by coercion and small. What’s more, they say that the word jazz was originally a kind of slang for sex, in the disrespectful sense.”
It’s actually a compliment to compare a musical style to sex, isn’t it?
“Apparently yes, but for them it indicated that white society does not imagine that they are capable of creating music that is, indeed, instinctive and physical, but equally rich and deep. Therefore, even when I teach, I immediately bring up the black matter. We are allowed to make this music, but it is other people’s music.”
What is “other people’s”? After all, decades have passed since then. You are already a part of this music.
“Of course, all the music belongs to everyone. There is something beautiful in music, called ability. If you can learn something and play it great, then it’s yours. But I think it is important to know history and the relationship of music to society.”
In this context, jazz was originally something cool and more popular. Then it became a more elitist and tight-knit style, and got a little lost. Do you agree with this distinction?
“Completely. Jazz was originally dance music. And that’s the music I like, something you can still dance to. When it becomes too intellectual, it does not meet the ultimate challenge that jazz offers – to create music that speaks equally to the mind and body.”
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An excellent definition, which perhaps explains why Klein’s music delights even listeners who claim they “don’t like jazz”, such as H.M. But before we dive into the intricacies of the creation, it’s time for a brief ID. Klein (40) is considered one of the greatest Israeli jazz pianists in recent years. He grew up in Netanya, studied at Thelma Yelin and from a young age began studying, living and working musically abroad. Initially in New York, and since 2009 in Germany, where he still lives and enjoys great success. He has released eight albums to date, including with his regular friends Amir Bresler the drummer and Hagi Cohen Milo the bassist, who together make up the “Omer Klein Trio”. The ensemble, which will celebrate its tenth anniversary next year, will appear at the upcoming jazz festival in Eilat, on November 11, and this is the official reason for our conversation. The festival itself will be held on November 10-12, and will include 18 performances, among others by big names from abroad such as the Englishman Jacob Collier, winner of five Grammy awards.
Back to the definitions of jazz, Klein usually combines motifs from diverse and not always routine musical worlds in his work. For example, he staged a tribute show to the pioneers of Eastern music with the participation of Yehuda Kiser, performed together with Rona Keinan, performed as a singer a number of children’s songs translated from Yiddish, and much more. “Talking about jazz without talking about its relationship with other genres is almost meaningless,” he claims. “I don’t know any jazz musician who doesn’t have these crosses, it’s almost funny to call it a cross. It’s more of an attitude For music, where you can bring into it whatever you want from your world. That’s why it also holds, because it’s something that can grow with you. And with future generations.”
He will soon appear, as mentioned, at the jazz festival in Eilat, which since Yossi Payne became its musical director is characterized by a welcome mix of genres, including hosting artists who are not seen as jazz artists at all. At the current festival these will be, for example, Ravid Plotnik, Gidi Gov, Neta Barzilai and others. This versatility is not always well received by veteran jazz fans. Klein, per se, thinks that this is a much broader process than our southern festival. “Yossi simply aligned with what was happening all over the world,” he explains. “The day I played at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam, jazz giants such as Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea, but also D’Angelo and even Lady Gaga. Therefore, the program of the Eilat festival seemed to me to be very similar to what I know from other places. The situation of jazz today in the world is such that the crossbreeding with other genres is done more strongly, and it is natural for a festival to reflect that.”
If we stay with the basic concepts of jazz, how important is the dimension of improvisation in your music?
“The most important. Even when I enter the recording studio, I prepare compositions in advance that I work on hard and meticulously, but leave room for improvisation. And with this improvisation I would like to surprise myself, and for my partners to surprise themselves and me. The less I get a result I least expected, the happier I am. In my opinion, this whole issue is related to life itself. How can you get through the day so that at the end you say ‘Wow, that was a day worth getting through’. A lot of it has to do, in my view, with ‘being in the moment’. release. I wasn’t always like that. I tried much more to control in the beginning, and over time I discovered – not out of a conscious desire to be free – that the more I let go, the more I like the result. When you are younger, you attach great importance to every millimeter along the way, and maturity brings with it the knowledge that there are all kinds of possibilities, and you can let things be what they are. Especially after many years of concerts.”
You really appear a lot, and in many places. Is it even possible to characterize audiences, according to their location?
“I mainly see the distinction between big cities and small cities. The audiences of Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin and Tel Aviv sometimes have more in common than the audiences of small cities in these countries. In big cities they get the biggest artists, so the audience is experienced, sophisticated and has a high bar. I like this. With them I can go to more distant and more surprising places, because they have many references. Small venue audiences have another advantage – a kind of gratitude that you’re with them tonight, and that they haven’t had something that touched them so deeply in a long time. Something that can really affect them. I understand that, as someone who grew up in Netanya.”
But he has been living for many years, as mentioned, abroad. The official communiqué of the festival reads as follows: “Klein manages his successful career from his home in Germany, and does not forget to return home.” When I read the line to him, he bursts out laughing, then thinks for a moment and says: “It’s actually pretty accurate. It is very natural for me to come to Israel. I have family here, friends, a regular audience.”
Can you define where your home really is?
“Home is a very important and highly charged concept. First of all, I have a wife and children here in Germany. My wife is German, a theater actress. So from the moment my family came into the world, home is less about where I came from. I now give my children a home. What happened to me happened to many people who leave at a young age for study and work purposes, it was done without too much planning. Actually the move to Germany was not related to my career. I was in a relationship with another woman, who got a job in Germany (Alma Moshunov, the daughter of a successful opera singer – Israel). We broke up, and then apparently I could have returned to New York or Tel Aviv, but a career here had already taken hold of me. I became a Steinway artist ( a well-known piano company), I was signed to Warner, I have a lot of shows. Then I had a family, and I’m happy here. So if you ask me where my home is, it’s first of all my apartment in Frankfurt. Do I feel completely at home in Germany? To say yes would be A bit extreme. On the other hand, I don’t know if there is another place where I feel more at home. I am no longer 12 years old in Netanya.”
How aware are you of what is happening in Israel at the current level?
“it interests me. I read the websites from Israel. Over time I calmed down a bit, because I felt it was strange to live in one place and read only the newspaper of another place. And yet, current Israeli culture is very important to me. I drink from this well all the time. She still fertilizes me.”
How important is it to you that your children (6 years old, and 3 year old twins) be exposed to Israeli culture? Hebrew?
“Obviously important. We speak Hebrew, I read them books in Hebrew. They love Mati Caspi. The corona virus knocked out the plan to come with them often, but we will get to that too.”
Speaking of the corona virus, did it leave you with significant insights?
“is very. I realized something about the relationship between me and the audience that I didn’t know before. How important it is to both of us. In the first moments it almost took away my desire to play. I always thought that I was doing it as a supreme pleasure, separate from the desire to give it to others. Even if I don’t perform, I’d love to play all day. But at the beginning of the corona, when all my shows were canceled, I suddenly couldn’t play and practice. And then I realized how critical it is for me to give the music to the audience. And there were also existential questions like: who am I, if I don’t do what I know. It’s a bit like feeling fired. Especially when you are not very young anymore. That’s why I start every concert today by saying that the last two years have taught us all how much we need this meeting, not through screens, so thank you all for coming to share it with us tonight. And I mean every word.”