by Sarah Thomas

A native of Israel, guitarist Tal Yahalom came to New York in 2014, finding a strong community of collaborators in Brooklyn. He’s released a solo guitar EP and a record with his collaborative trio KADAWA. This week at The Jazz Gallery, Yahalom returns with his newest working band—a string-heavy quintet—performing music from an upcoming album.

We caught up with Tal to talk about the recording process, musical influences, and the exploration of new instrumentations and textures. 

The Jazz Gallery: What are you playing on your show at The Jazz Gallery?

Tal Yahalom: We recorded an album last month of repertoire that was building up for the last two and a half years. It’s my original compositions and one arrangement of a beautiful tune by  Armenian pianist Vardan Ovsepian called Chorinho for Tati. So we're going to basically play that whole book. 

Some of the pieces were written earlier, maybe even going back to 2018. I reshaped those for this band imagining this sound and being drawn to all these textural ideas. Then the newest pieces we're going to play are from two months ago. I wrote them before the recording session to get them in there on time and have a fuller, more balanced picture to present.

TJG: You describe your quintet as a group of folks from the jazz, contemporary classical, and Brazilian music scenes all playing together. Could you talk about how the group came together?

TY: The way it came together goes back to those earlier pieces that I wrote. There were a few pieces that I wrote for solo guitar and recorded, and I clearly heard strings on some of the sections. I was also listening to a lot of other people that used strings in this kind of context at the time. 

It was influenced a lot by saxophonist Miguel Zenón’s record, Yo Soy la Tradición. It's a string quartet and saxophone. I really love the context, how he plays inside that band, and all the different ways that he blends into that kind of ensemble. Also, Brandon Seabrook’s string trio of guitar and alternating formations of double bass, cello, and violin was another group that got me into the idea of having strings as a core part of the band. 

I wrote one arrangement for string trio and was super into it, but I also thought it needed some more support. So now I have a lead voice as an alto sax and flute, and then a percussion set that doesn't take as much space as full-on drums. It's a little bit more fragmented and versatile in the kind of sound combinations it can get. That was something I was looking for. 

I would say selfishly, I got the band together to get to play a lot with strings and see what my role in that what be, and how I would interact with that. I placed myself kind of in the middle of the band, but not from a soloistic standpoint. It’s more about being the connecting point between all of those different players and different textures, and being able to define the sound of the band by how I play in it.

TJG: Who all is in the band and how did you come to work with them?

TY: For the strings, I've played with Ledah [Finck] in Nick Dunston's band, Atlantic Extraction. We always had a really amazing connection, I thought, both improvising and matching on certain written parts we had there. So that was kind of an obvious choice, also with her being a composer and a member of Bergamot Quartet, which I knew would bring a lot to this project too. 

Then with Irene [Han], I was like, “Okay, who am I going to bring that will blend easily with Ledah,” and the obvious choice was the cellist of the same string quartet. I just love the intensity and intent Irene plays with. She had such a unique, full sound and a special presence when I heard the quartet playing for the first time that was amazing to see.

David [Leon] moved to New York maybe in 2018, and we met and somehow, a year after, ended up in like three bands together led by other people. We just spent so much time together and got into details of phrasing and groove and sound in a way that felt very, very natural. We both have the same kind of obsessed, detail-oriented way of thinking about certain things that I really appreciate. He's super, super expressive, and thinks about things in a similar way when it comes to chamber playing. I think he really cares about that notion of, “How do I blend into the sound of others? How do I phrase with others?” 

With Rogerio [Boccato], I really wanted someone who is very, very groove-oriented, first and foremost. And I wanted someone who has control and ears for all these different layers, and would bring a world of rhythms that I'm less familiar with but getting much more into. So after we played one trio gig together that felt great and very fresh to me, it was kind of obvious that he would be it.

TJG: Have you worked on other projects with David or Rogerio?

TY: With Rogerio, it was a couple of my own trio gigs. And with David it was kind of a constant. We were in the band for a large ensemble project of Adam O’Farrill's that was also performed at the Gallery. It was called Bird Blown Out of Latitude. We did a full weekend there.

David and I have also been a long time in Lisa Hoppe’s trio called Third Reality. Lisa is a bassist and composer from Germany who used to live in New York and now is in Berlin. So we did a recording session with her there this year. And now David is maybe putting a new group of his own together, a sextet. So we're always doing stuff together, it seems like.

TJG: The album you just recorded is your first non-solo album. I’m sure leading a recording project with a band is a very different experience than making a solo album. What was that process like for you?

TY: There’s a lot that comes up with this question. Preparation-wise and musically, we've had a really good run of shows and rehearsals, and just personal social hangs that brought us closer together. So when we came to the recording session, I was sure that we were in a good place musically. Besides the recording itself, it all starts with how you build up towards it. For me, that continuity of knowing that we're getting deeper into the music gradually and not being in a rush to just do it in a concentrated way to get a product out—having more of a process was really important. 

It was very different from making my solo albums because I had to make all the decisions about the schedule, what to try to record again, when it’s good enough, how we were going to approach it. We did some tracks with a click, other things without a click, some things in chunks, and other things as full takes. So it was a lot of planning, but also adjusting in the moment by what feels right.

I think the hardest part about it was being a listener while being a player at the same time—directing other people, but then also remembering, like, “Oh, damn. I need to perform really well myself.” That was a lot of responsibility. But I also liked the challenge, in a way.

TJG: Do you feel like your writing has evolved in composing for this ensemble? How are you thinking of the musical content in this album?

TY: A lot of the writing I did for some of my solo stuff, other bands, and this band comes from being drawn into things that feel meditative, in a way—or cyclical, you could say. But I think that appears in many different ways. It could be a certain rhythm. It could be the way a whole form plays out. It could just be the feeling of the groove being heavy and wide. It’s something about creating spaces that both the musicians and the audience can stay in and live in for a while. 

That's something I’m drawn to. When I just play by myself and go through the composition process, that's something that feels satisfying. Then it ends up in the music also. Certain things sometimes start from a technical idea that I’m trying to break through or get into my playing, or just from imagining a certain texture. 

Something that’s different for sure about how I write for this band is that by now, the sound is very, very familiar to me. Just imagining that enforces a lot of things. A good example is these two pieces I brought in just two months ago. They worked so much smoother and more naturally than everything else I’d brought before, just because it was like, “Okay. Now I get this band and I know exactly how they're going to interpret it.” And that feels really nice. 

Some things still start from the guitar and find their way orchestrationally into this format. And everyone has amazing suggestions, too, in rehearsals. I try to be as open-minded as I can about things—finding better string possibilities for certain spots, or the way everyone expresses the melody that could be different from what I expected, or having a certain form change. So the people have a lot of great, creative input, which is awesome.

TJG: Do you have any other projects going on these days?

TY: This year, I’m aiming to release my first solo standards record and hopefully tour with that as well. A long-lasting trio I co-lead with Almog Sharvit and Ben Silashi, KADAWA, will also be getting back into action and planning to release our second record. There are a few more projects I’d love to record of new collaborations that are coming to life, some of which are centered around my recent obsession with and love for Brazilian music and other styles coming out of South-America.

In addition, since May 2022 I’ve been curating a weekly concert series on Wednesdays at Threes Brewing in Gowanus. That has been a really interesting and satisfying experience of  programming a whole evening and bringing together different musical communities—creating a space for creative music, exchange, and good hangs to happen. So we’ll see what 2023 brings. 

Tal Yahalom plays The Jazz Gallery on Thursday, January 19. The group features Tal Yahalom on guitar, Ledah Finck on violin, Irene Han on cello, David Leon on alto sax & flute, and Rogerio Boccato on percussion. Sets are at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. ET. $20 general admission (FREE for members), $30 cabaret seating ($20 for members), $20 Livestream (FREE for members). Purchase tickets here.