Israeli tenor sax player and composer Albert Beger took his time before responding to the Israeli collective trauma of October 7, 2023. His eighteenth album, Astral Visit, begins with the simply titled piece, “October 7”. This piece processes the trauma of endless loss, pain, and grief into a most compassionate, spiritual statement. You can sense the whole emotional turmoil in the charged performance of Beger Quartet - the intense piano solo of Milton Michaeli, the propulsive drive of double bass player Asaf Shchori and drummer Nitzan Birnbaum, and Beger himself, who channels the lament into a powerful, deeply emotional, and life-affirming plea, celebrating life over apocalyptic, death-seeking vision.
Astral Visit is Beger’s eighteenth album and his most spiritual album to date. Its title immediately evokes the spiritual music of John and Alice Coltrane, but Beger has his own vision. The second piece is called “C major,” and it is a playful, fast, and acrobatic rhythmic piece that flirts with Ornette Coleman’s harmolodics and highlights Beger's profound camaraderie with his longtime comrades Michaleli and Shchori, as well as the new drummer Birnbaum. The following title piece begins with the sound of exotic bells before cementing Beger’s deep connection to the astral meditations of the Coltrane's, but, surprisingly, Beger thinks of this simple piece as his own perfect melody, just like Coleman’s “Lonely Woman”. He beautifully articulates the melodic theme with a commanding, soulful sax solo.
“Nobody Dies” was composed before Oct. 7 but relates to the horrors of this day. This piece rides on a hypnotic pulse, and Beger chants a quote from the Indian Vedantas and the mystical Jewish Kabbalah, “They say nobody ever dies, therefore nobody ever born”. Michaeli is the main soloist, transforming Beger’s opening, concise solo and the rhythmic pattern into a magnificent, astral tour de force, before Beger takes the lead again and brings this piece into a cathartic, liberating climax. The album ends with the ballad “Healing Song”, which was written during the COVID-19 pandemic and laments Beger’s departed friends, but, obviously, became more and more relevant. It is a gentle song, shining with its optimistic light. A beautiful conclusion for a great album.
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