DESCRIPTION:
Franck Amsallem (Fr; http://www.allmusic.com/artist/franck-amsallem-mn0000196204 ) - Jerusalem Jazz Festival 18-24.3.1999

...contains 2 tracks from Franck Amsallem-Tim Ries CD "Regards".
_1) On Second Thought
_2) Ode to Mr Blue
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playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxkh4mJ51daBx_krO1rvJL1b-5hXxLVpw
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Jazz is a free art form that emanates from the soul of man to express joy and sorrow. The African slaves in the US sang and played what later became known as Jazz in order to express their pain and suffering as well as their occasional joy. It's rythmic composure indicates that the singing accompanied the dull and routine slave-work they were subjected to in the cotton fields in the South. In the absence of musical insruments the slaves, masters of creativity, used available tin cans and wooden surfaces to produce what later became a world music.
Consequently, this style of music became in many countries the expression of rebellion over orpession and "slavery". Different genres of Jazz music started appearing as the result of the fusion of Jazz with ethnic music from all parts of the world. One examample of the multi-ethnicity of Jazz is the incorporation of the Middle-eastern Oud alongside the saxophone.
Undoubtedly, this music and fusion is new in Palestine. Nevertheless, its spirituality, sense of dignity and hope can't be more suitable to a people, who despite the historic injustice inflicted upon it and the daily tribulations and the enormous challenges it is facing, is still alive, like the 18th and 19th century American slave.