Azilut!
To the Power of Three
Babel BDV 2131

Coming Home (Sassoon ) mp3
Dancing in the Alligator (van Helsdingen)
Finger Funk (van Helsdingen)
Baghdad Cafe (Sassoon)
Out of Sync (Sassoon)
Pumpkin's Delight (van Helsdingen) mp3
Neigha (van Helsdingen)
Metamorphosis (Sassoon) mp3
Long Time no See (Ohlmeier)
Wedding (Sassoon) mp3

Julie Sassoon - piano; Bart van Helsdingen - drums/steelpan; Lothar Ohlmeier - tenor sax/soprano sax/bass clarinet

"… full of witty improvisation and brilliant writing. It's as fresh as tomorrow's paper yet firmly in the jazz tradition." Jack Massarik (Evening Standard)

"This album mingles lyrical rapture with driving intensity, often at the same time. The music is characterised by flux." (City Life)

This trio has now been in existence for a few years in its present form, when Bart joined the duo of Julie and Lothar which had been in existence since 1995. But it has developed very much into a band of equals. This is clearly borne out by both the title of the CD and also the band's name (taken from the Kabbalah). All the tunes on this CD are originals by all the members of the band. UK performances include the festivals at Chard and Bath Jazz Weekend in 2000.

Julie was trained as a classical pianist and violinist, even including a period of postgraduate Indian violin studies. For several years she was one of the six pianists in the ensemble Piano Circus, with whom she toured extensively in Europe and the US. (She was one of the pianists in the original performance of Riot, included in the new Huw Warren CD.) She is also a painter. When her duo with Lothar Ohlmeier performed at the Jazz Café in 1998, John Fordham wrote that Julie's music "possesses spritual depth and a special lyricism entirely of its own". (The Guardian)

Lothar studied in the Netherlands and is equally at ease in contemporary music as in jazz. He has worked with innumerable companies in the Netherlands, such as with Jorrit Dijkstra, Tetzepi, and others.

Bart van Helsdingen was nominated for best jazz drummer in the Netherlands in 1988 and 1994. He has worked with a variety of groups in Netherlands including Available Jelly (with Michael Moore) Jango Edwards. In 1993 he composed music for the opening of the Frankfurt Book Fair. "He is one of those rare artists who plays melodies on his drumset." (Downbeat)

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