The Artistry of… Gilad Hekselman
He’s a guitarist who makes his instrument sound like a voice, defying the instrument’s mechanics and allowing the listener to be carried away on a unique sonic experience. It sweetly distracts my ear. There are so many sounds the guitar affords the artist. It is a richness of a musical palette, from a depth of soulful warmth to a brash and brilliant brightness and then even a percussive based driven playscape.
Words from a New York Times review describe Gilad Hekselman’s guitar playing this way: “[He] has a vision of modern jazz that’s harmonically fluent but not averse to simple melody.”. A Portland Mercury review uses these words: “A fine balance between his attention to melody and his unique strumming method — Hekselman plays with noise in unique ways.” It is that very playing with noise, sound, voice and melody that, like the singer, toying with lyrics and bend of note, means the listener is in for an adventure of, and in, a musical landscape that displays an artistry of warmth of tone, clarity of sound, and fearlessness in the throes of improvisation. Gilad Hekselman’s guitar voice defies the instrument’s mechanics, and my ear is happy to be so sweetly distracted.
