Cardamon Quartet	Website:	www.CardamonQuartet.com
	Genre(s):	Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, World Music, Jazz, World Fusion
	Instrument(s):	Clarinet, Sax, Cello, Bass, Drums, Percussion, Piano, Accordian
	Trademark(s):	Middle Eastern & Mediterranean fused with Jazz & Contemporary
	Album(s):	Reflections of the Road
	Collaborations:
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Reflections of the Road is a fascinating collection of world music arrangements featuring largely Middle-Eastern, Turkish, and Mediterranean flavored motifs that are fused with gypsy, jazz, and other styles contemporary music. Alto saxist, clarinetist, and master of the Middle-Eastern maqams (similar to European, classical modes), Harel Shachal, interleaves an unending, continuous stream of mesmerizingly lyrical themes that take the listener on an epic voyage through exotic, foriegn lands far away and perhaps, from times long past. Uri Sharlin balances Shachal's striking themes with an unusual style of piano and accordian accompaniment that thoughtfully fuses the Middle-Eastern, Turkish, and Mediterranean tonal and lexical qualities with elements of jazz, contemporary, and gypsy music. Jennifer Vincent contributes an exquisite dimension to the quartet with a spellbinding style of bass and cello that augments the rich sonic texture with her own innovative fusion of classical, jazz, and contemporary techniques that she seamlessly and sensibly applies to the intricate and exotic arrangements. Facilitating the fourth support of the bridging of Middle-Eastern and Western music, Dan Aran furnishes the eclectic soundscape with tactful rhythmic foundations that subtly intertwine traditional rhythms with jazz and contemporary rhythms. The overall judicious combination of the striking tonality, complex timing, odd meters, and exotic, traditional lexicons with complementary facets of Western music produces a hypnotically compelling sound that stimulates and warms the listener's ear like the savory cuisine of the Middle-Eastern and Turkish regions followed by a strong cup of cardamon-spiked coffee.

The musical style of the quartet is marked by numerous characteristic features that distinguish the resulting original sound. The instrumental array that matches the distinctive sounds of alto sax, clarinet, accordian, and percussive instruments to the conventional sounds (from a Western perspective) of cello, bass, piano, and drums is vital to the signature texture that characterizes the quartet's progressive fashion. Shachal's serpentine alto sax and clarinet melodies possess a genuine, exotic quality that draws from a deep knowledge and firm grasp on the Middle-Eastern maqams (modes) and gifted interpretation of quarter tones that are used in the traditional Middle-Eastern music and reside between the semitones of the European chromatic scale. The lexicons that Shachal enunciates in his captivating themes is entirely disparate from European-derived music, though the manner the group craftily fuses these intriguing melodies with Western motifs and instrumentation enticingly bridges the chasm between East and West, thereby making the exotic tunes more easily accessible to a Western-cultivated ear. Additionally, the accentuated manners that Shachal fluently expresses these mysterious lexicons encompasses a number of flavorful, animated dialects from the Eastern Mediterranean regions. Sharlin prudently integrates his precariously edgy piano and accordian progressions and tune smithing that offer the Western listener some comfort with the commonality of the Western influences, though Uri continually presses the boundaries Eastward with the infusion of Eastern Mediterranean tonality, outside harmonization, and exotic melodies that he constantly weaves into and evolves out of the shifty baseline that his cunning key tones provide. The piano lines are at once seemingly jazz or contemporary, though the next bar fuses Eastern and Western lexicons bridging to a more strictly traditional Middle-Eastern tune in the subsequent bars, often reiterating or reinforcing the theme that Shachal voices on alto sax or clarinet. Vincent's bass work is sometimes finely blended to the background rhythm, though sublimely interesting to listen. That her bass work is so seemlessly woven into the exotic soundscape is in itself a tactful feat because Jennifer has assimilated the Mid-Eastern feel and adapted to the dynamic changes so well. At other times, Vincent brings her finesse with cello to the forefront demonstrating her own remarkable capabilities with the exotic Middle-Eastern tunes and nuances involved. All the while, Aran infuses an understated, discreet style of intricate percussion that unsuspectingly entrances the listener thereby making them more susceptible to the flowing lyricism that Shachal and Sharlin charm the listener.

Reflections of the Road is a highly entertaining musical effort from the aptly named Cardamon Quartet that delivers the sharply exotic flavors promised in their namesake. Fans of world music will enjoy this caravan-like adventure in Eastern Mediterranean and Arabic stylisms that is delicately sweetened with Western influences. Though the conducive accessibility of this music makes it appropriate for a general audience, musicians in particular may take a peeked interest in the captivating exhibition of Middle-Eastern, Arabic, Turkish, and gypsy lexicons and idioms that are craftily fused in the exceptional brand of world fusion contained on this album. Shachal and Sharlin demonstrate an impressive, virtuosic command over and genuine, comprehensive insight into the elements of these exotic musical lexis that serve as excellent illustrations of the genre. The quartet has achieved a superb equilibrium in striking the balance between the exotic and the lyrical, Middle-Eastern traditional and Western jazz / contemporary music, as well as progressive concepts and listener accessibility. Though seemingly subdued upon first listenings, the subtle approach the Cardamon Quartet cultivated on this effort steadily grows more pronounced in the psyche of the listener upon subsequent exposures, thereby ensuring sustainable listener enjoyment. This music contains numerous subtleties that require acclimation on the part of the listener to fully appreciate the significant talents of the quartet. But, much like a taste of Cardamon coffee or tea for the first time, what is at first alluringly strange, curiously unusual, and seemingly innocuous quickly becomes familiarly compelling and inescapably addictive. Avid followers of world fusion can nicely augment the Middle-Eastern section of their chic collections with this masterful, boundary-stretching collection of lyrical and exotic arrangements from the NYC-based Cardamon Quartet that comes with the highest recommendations for this genre.

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