Israeli/Bostonian jazz guitarist Assaf Kehati was kind enough to send us his latest CD – A View From My Window – to listen to and review. “Inspired by the daily and trivial, yet wonderful and significant experiences of life”, Assaf’s music is influenced by a wide range of composers and performers.

A View From My Window was recorded in 2008 and just released in 2010. Featuring Assaf on guitar, Alon Farber on sax, Daniel Sapir on bass, and Udi Shlomo on drums, AVFMW is a nice, mellow ride with some interesting twists and turns to keep you on your toes.

Todidido, the CD’s opening tune, immediately sets the pace with a very nice melody and counterpoint line between Kehati and Farber. They quickly take it down a few notches for Kehati’s solo. Metheny’s influence on Kehati’s playing is apparent but not overdone or cloned. Kehati certainly has his own voice, of which some sprinklings of Metheny is evident.

Passover, and obvious reference and tribute to the Jewish holiday, straddles the line between a ballad and slow-tempo contemporary bop tune. A bit hard to describe, but it’s a great tune. Lots of thematic phrases in Kehati’s solo, hinting at the harmony and going outside just enough to let his hair down. Sometimes it’s hard to keep things fresh and keep the listener engaged when there is no polyphonic harmony going on behind the soloist; this is not a problem for Kehati.

Quit Now, the third track, is an up-tempo tune that starts right off with a sax solo, accompanied only by drums. The late-era Coltrane recordings immediately come to mind, and though it would be something of a stretch to compare Farber to Coltrane (with all respect to Farber, of course) it’s a great song-opener with excellent phrasing.

A quick head melody is played, and then right into Kehati’s solo. This is the highlight track of the CD for me. I think it’s the most interesting composition and showcases their best performances.

Reflections would have been the worst title for a song had this not been a ballad. Luckily, it is a ballad, and perfectly placed on the CD after the frenetic Quit Now. Nice chord melody work, with just a hint of delay on the guitar to fill in the spaces. My second favorite tune on the CD.

Sunshine Berale, though a perfectly fine song, is perhaps my least favorite on the CD. That’s not to say the song is bad by any means, but it didn’t resonate with me quite as much as the others.

A View From My Window was written by Kehati after seeing a snow-laden view of Fenway Park from his apartment. The Green Monster certainly provided some inspiration for the song, as it features overdubbed, counterpoint guitar solos. This is, perhaps, the most interesting part of the CD overall, though I’m still partial to Quit Now for overall song. Some more Metheny influence peeks its head here, with some hints of guitar synth and more nice chord melody playing to finish things up.

All in all, A View From My Window is a solid outing from Kehati, and I look forward to hearing his next release, which he says will be out sometime later in 2010.

For more information on Kehati and his band – currently featuring Billy Hart (Miles Davis) and Eli Degibri (Al Foster) – and to order the CD, please visit Assaf’s website.