Featuring Gunter 'Baby' Sommer on drums, Assif Tsahar on bass clarinet, Steve Horenstein on baritone and soprano saxes, Yonatan Albalak guitar, Yoni Silver bass clarinet, Yonatan Kretzmer tenor saxophone and JC Jones bass. Israeli bassist, JC Jones, continues to invite great improvisers from around the world (like Joelle Leandre, Barre Phillips & Ned Rothenberg) to play and record in Israel for the Kadima label with great results. This disc features solos, duos, trios and quartets with FMP legendary drummer Gunter 'Baby' Sommer and some of Israels' finest musicians. Commencing with a trio of Sommer with Steve Horenstein on bari sax and JC on bass, we are off to a strong start. Gunter does a splendid job of pushing the trio through a series of different rhythmic sections that keep changing yet are connected. He worked perfectly with bassist JC Jones who also bows powerfully and interacts with Steve's great bari sax. The quartet with Assif Tsahar on tenor, Steve on soprano, JC on bass and Gunter on drums is another spirited piece, starting with restraint before launching to the stratosphere. Powerful and superbly captured, sound-wise. If I didn't know any better, I would think that this is a long lost classic from the loft jazz days of the seventies. "Sommertime" is an exquisite, thoughtful and most creative solo drums piece with a bit of vocal punctuation, six minute short story. "Bast" is a long trio for bass clarinet or tenor, bari sax and drums which again works marvelously well at balancing the talents of the trio, mostly on the more restrained side. Superb cymbal work from Gunter here. "Yo Yo Yo" features a quartet of Israeli players whose names all start with "Yo" (hence the title) and with whom I was not previously familiar. Bass clarinetist Yoni Silver is quite good while Gunter plays great mallets along with him. Guitarist Yonatan Albalak and tenor man Yonatan Kretzmer also play with a fine, simmering and subdued spirit. The final duo with Assif on tenor and Gunter is also a perfect closer to this strong disc with Assif blowing hard with that great Trane-like tone. JC Jones' Kadima label consistently releases gems of international improv at it best. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery