Yosef Gutman Levitt: The World And Its People (digital outlets)

At a time when – despite easy access to reliable information – most people can't or won't make the distinction between Islam, Palestine and Hamas, or Judaism, Israel and Zionism, we need a bridge between peoples.

Aside from those political propagandists who deal in diatribes, certainties and polemic, most musicians see and feel a middle-ground where understanding and compromise make the most sense.

Music can soothe and explain, and create a place of rest for peoples of whatever persuasion. It is a cliché but no less true for that: music is a universal language.

Bassist Yosef Gutman Levitt makes such music on this album under a title which embraces rather than excludes.

That said – and given the times it could hardly be otherwise -- there is sadness and melancholy in some of the 11 pieces which sit between elegant jazz fusion, the creative edge of New Age, Jewish folk and classical music.

With acoustic guitarist Tal Yahalom, pianist Omri Mor and cellist Yoed Nir, Levitt and co-writer/producer Gilad Ronen make mostly quiet, meditative instrumental music which creates that place of rest (Morning Star), a space to let thoughts roam (the title track) but at times also has a celebratory quality which is life-affirming (the abstract busyness of the appropriately titled Shifting Sky).

Shifting Sky

There is a certain ominous quality to the undercurrents on Nigun Tzemach Tzedek based on a traditional Hasidic melody but what follows is the sprightly David's Harp where jazzy pianist Mor once again steps to the fore.

South African-born, Berklee-trained, based in New York for a while and now living in Jerusalem, Levitt is an orthodox Jew with six albums behind him and collaborations with the like of guitarist Lionel Loueke (of Herbie Hancock bands).

In one sense this album could be considered world music in that its obvious origins are from a specific place (the moving solitariness in The Shepherd), but it also transcends the limitations of that category into something more universal . . . as the title suggests.

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You can hear and buy this album at bandcamp here