David Buchbinder's Odessa/Havana

Award-winning trumpeter and composer David Buchbinder teams up with a crew of top Jazz and World musicians to present this exhilarating, unprecedented project of musical discovery: the Jewish-Cuban connection. Odessa/Havana presents “delicately textured and dazzlingly tuneful music, with powerful, swinging and lyrical playing”, that is “passionate, dancing and completely irresistible.” Arising out of the musical ferment of the most diverse city on the planet–Toronto–this truly original sound is a collaboration between the writing of Buchbinder and Grammy-nominated Cuban piano master Hilario Durán, and the band of killer musicians. Together, these two forces take audiences on a journey of cross-cultural discovery, that consistently engages, challenges and delights.

Odessa/Havana’s two CDs have been beautifully received, hailed as outstanding in both the World Music and Jazz realms. Walk to the Sea was recently honoured with JUNO (Canadian Grammy) and Canadian Folk Music Award nominations, and along with the group’s self-titled debut CD (both released
internationally on the Tzadik label), have received well over 100 rave reviews. !e band has toured across North America, playing to sold-out houses in every venue, and was at the core of David Buchbinder’s multi-disciplinary creation Andalusia to Toronto, commissioned by one of Canada’s greatest venues, Koerner Hall at the Royal Conservatory of Music. Now, on the heels of the release of their sophomore CD, they are ready to take on touring the world.

While the cities and cultures of Odessa and Havana might seem many miles apart, their musical associations are many-faceted, multi-layered and rich indeed; rooted in their common ancestry on the Iberian peninsula and sharing Arabic, Roma (Gypsy), Sephardic and North African forbearers.The two musics already share haunting minor modalities, improvisatory flourishes, a strong rhythmic drive and deeply spiritual underpinnings. And both musical traditions have long since proven their suitability for creative adaptation, serving as a kind of “raw material” for musical development (Latin jazz, modern klezmer/“Radical Jewish Culture”). Buchbinder and Durán’s compositions explore these commonalities as they break new ground, and the recent inclusion of their special arrangements of Sephardic songs have taken the music to a new level of richness. Without a doubt, Odessa/Havana’s compelling and powerful performances will bring your audience a peak musical experience. Guaranteed!