Albare Records New Album, Beyond Belief

Born in Morocco, and growing up in Israel, France, and the United States, Albert Dadon aka Albare has just released his new album featuring Australian pianist Phil Turcio, bassist Phil Rex, and drummer Pablo Bencid.

JB:  How long have you known and worked with bassist Phil Rex and drummer Pablo Bencid?

A:  Pablo was introduced to me by Antonio Sanchez in 2012. I’ve been working with Pablo ever since. Phil Rex started touring with us in 2013. We did Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and the US that year. The first recording he did with us though was in 2017 on the Dream Time album where both Pablo and Rex are featured.  

JB: The album has a bit of a Latin feel throughout. Tell me about your vision for this album.

A:  Like most of my previous albums, this one draws inspiration from the essence of Latin Jazz, not as a novelty but as a tradition we’ve embraced with our own style. It was about crafting a language that’s distinctly our own and transports you to a place beyond where you normally go. 

JB:  Lionel Cole is featured as a vocalist on “I Believe” where he wrote the lyrics to your music.  Talk about how this song came about.

A:  Lately I have been doing a few gigs with Lionel. He was once at my place and I presented him with this song which he immediately adopted and started jamming with it. He went on working on it all night. By the morning all of the lyrics made perfect sense and this new song was born. 

JB:  All the songs except one are originals.  In a general sense, talk about compiling the songs for this recording.

A:  The writing of the songs is quite spontaneous. Phil and I usually put together a collection of songs that could be enough for 2 or 3 albums. It is then a decision we make as to the ones we retain that seem to be making the most sense. We allow ourselves to change our minds. For instance, the first song on the album “Missing in Action” was rejected early in the process. But it kept on growing in me at the end we brought it back. We simply follow our instincts and what moves us.

JB:  Your version of “Blue Bossa” is refreshing.  Talk about how you came up with this rendition.

A:  Simply by adding a bridge and changing the rhythm. We play that song every week so we know it as if we composed it. I think I know every rendition that has been recorded of this song. For us to commit it to a new album it needed to satisfy us that we were true to the original intent yet gave it a new life. Hopefully, we succeeded. 

JB:  You and Phil Turcio complement each other as guitarist and pianist without getting in each other’s way.  Apart from listening, tell us what you are thinking about as you create this music.

A:  That’s a good observation that Phil and I were commenting on the other day. We’ve been playing together since 1993. So, there is an evolution which, by the way, we take everywhere. Phil and I play in different bands and we bring that kind of playing with whoever we play with. It is true to say I play my best when Phil and I are on the same stage, we just complement each other musically, there’s no doubt about that. The second part of your question is tricky. When playing the focus is listening. You become an observer of the process. That allows your subconscious to take over. 

Subscribe to Jazz Guitar Today – it’s FREE!