Asaf Harris - Walk of the Ducks (2022)

Asaf is an Israeli musician and composer based in Brooklyn, New York. He gained considerable experience in prestigious jazz clubs and festivals worldwide including Birdland, Beit Haamudim, Bern Jazz Festival, and the Red Sea Jazz Festival. He played alongside leading jazz musicians such as Ofer Ganor, Hal Galper, Abraham Burton, and 'Avi Leibovich and the Israeli Jazz Orchestra'. Asaf is a recipient of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarship and was Awarded with Excellence Scholarship by the Center for Jazz Studies at the Israel Conservatory for Music in Tel Aviv. In the Spring of 2020, Harris graduated from the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York, receiving the 'John Coltrane Award' for outstanding performers/composers/improvisers. In August 2020, Asaf recorded his debut original album, Walk of The Ducks. He describes the project: "The idea behind 'Walk of The Ducks' is to make an album that is sincerely me. It concludes some of the most powerful experiences and emotions I have had in my journey of life. I strongly believe that composing and playing music is my best way for self-expression, and I can't wait to share this album with the world. Music is one form of artistic expression. By combining different musical and personal influences into an original sound, I aspire to characterize a unique voice that has a signature of its own. The album contains many political messages and criticism. "In May 2020, I flew back to New York City to empty my apartment in Brooklyn, one day before the murder of George Floyd. The piece 'Helen Court 2020' (Helen Court is the name of my building in Brooklyn) is written about these three weeks I spent there, in the middle of the biggest health crisis in over 100 years, while the streets were burning and the protests were at their peak. This experience has opened my eyes and changed forever the way I look at the world. "The composition is written in a concerto format and divided into three different parts. The first part is full of mystery and uncertainness, followed by the second part, which is stormy and full of anger, while the third and last part is comforting and full of optimism. All of the pieces in the album came out of personal experiences. For example, 'Walk of The Ducks' (which is also the name of the album) is about a magical night in Tel Aviv a few years ago. It was a day before I left Israel for New York and had to break up with my girlfriend whom I loved very much. We were sitting by the Yarkon River when suddenly a group of five ducks came out of the water and started to march through the streets of Tel Aviv. At that moment, this unusual phenomenon felt very symbolic. The piece was arranged for three saxophones - soprano, alto, and tenor. It features Yehonatan Cohen on soprano saxophone and Yuval Drabkin on alto saxophone."