Animal of sax
... With an atypical route and his brilliant talent, the saxophonist David El-Malek asserts himself as a symbolic musician of the current jazz...
ZURBAN
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The saxophone tenor play with energy and requirement, it is David El-Malek...
Beauty of the sound, intelligence of the ideas, originality of the compositions, the quartet of the saxophonist tenor David El-Malek is a big thing arrived here at the music...
TELARAMA
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About "Talking Cure"
"We explore that which cannot be understood by the intellect... using the known to know the unkown. In that is mystery and clarity. We are practitioners of the aesthetic arts. Our medium is Music.
There are many modes of communication which stand out more or less in a given music... such as sound, rythm, melody, harmony, craftsmanship, composition/form, context/juxtaposition (of vocabulary, culture, history), instrumentation/orchestration, history (reproduction of, deconstruction of, insight into) just to name a few.
Music is through us (musicians and listeners) used by the unknown to speak to anyone in a form she/he can understand. A given music becomes unique and powerful when it is consistent within its own aesthetic. In otherwords, it is ever emerging as a language understood on its own terms.
Where does David El-Malek fall in all of this? Well, I feel he and his music deeply exemplilities of an aesthetic arts practitioner.His music presented here seems to be developing its own syntax.Craftsmanship, composition and meticulous attention to detail seem the most powerful tools of expression. Of course, one must decide for oneself.
Listen, discover, and enjoy.
David invites you."
Mark TURNER
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About "Organza"
"I remember hearing David El-Malek before I even knew who he was. I was returning to NY on an Air France flight after a tour in Europe. Out of boredom, I tuned in to the Air France jazz audio programming and I heard part of a very beautiful sounding tenor and a lovely melody. I only caught the last minute or so but was patient because I knew the audio program would repeat in about an hour. I tuned back in later to hear more of this tune. The song was, "Toro tsvia lanou moché" and I think I listen to it at least two more times before my flight landed in NY.
It was only a few short months later that I would actually meet David in France. His CD was playing in a club and of course I recognized the tune I had heard months before.
Organza is a perfect example of David's excellent command of the saxophone and his solid writing and arranging. The record has many moods and styles yet David burns consistently through it all.
Of course, I'm very fond of the opener, I also really dig the unison lines of "Pression" - his full tone and relaxed approach on "Organza" - even the drum n' bass tune "Gentleman" David plays some killing stuff through there. I also enjoyed David's take on Wayne Shorter's, "Children of the Night" from Wayne's modern classic High Life. Alot of people feel comfortable dealing with Wayne's older music - I always appreciate a player with the courage (and wisdom) to deal with Wayne's modern and beautiful music. And thank you for the hidden track at the end of the disc. A great encore to an equally great record.
I am truly inspired to have met David and to have become familiar with his music. He is a true talent - a strong saxophone player with beautiful music and forward thinking concepts. The music scene needs more people like David El-Malek."
Ravi COLTRANE
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" The first one of " Music From Source " with the National Orchestra of Lyon upset us … "
JAZZMAN. Vincent Bessières
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Tired of all these saxophonists produced in the kilometre by the schools of jazz? Then David El-Malek is for you. Come late (at about 20 years, he has 34 today) in the saxophone, this quasi-self-taught under influence Coltrane-Rollins-Shorter managed to impose in some years a flame, a radiant sound, a sense of developments which make rare, on beautiful compositions often rooted in the Hebraic music. This third album, recorded with an impeccable trio is a pure happiness.
LE NOUVEL OBSERVATEUR
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David El-Malek, the sax which has roots
During more than two hours, the quartet of the saxophonist David El-Malek maintained a beautiful complicity with the spectators of the palace of Congrés de Perros-Guirrec.. The quartet that it forms with Pierre de Bethmann, pianist, Darryl Hall, bassist and Franck Agulhon, drummer, navigates between emotion, improvisation and overflowing energy. In the final, one discovers a "sound" El-Malek, really signature of a musician.
OUEST-FRANCE
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A matured sound, a gout of the melody and one generosity in the expression so many reasons for loving the saxophonist David El-Malek.
ADEN
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One had noticed it for some years, beside the pianist Bruno Angelini or beside the singer Laïka Fatien, then in the head of the own quartet, where one finds some of the best musicians of the new generation. One appreciates its original phrasé, just as much as its very personal choices in directory, until its loans in the traditional music of Israel, where he crossed a part of his childhood. Of competition bravely taken away in noticed commitments, from an album to the other one, one hears also the saxophonist asserting himself, and harvesting finally fruits of a work been incensed on the instrument, approached relatively late - at the age of twenty years. A musician today in full maturity, absolutely to discover.
Jazz à La Villette
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The saxophonist David El Malek will benefit exceptionally from the support of the ropes of National Orchestra of Lyon. This blazing saxophonist (who one did not stop savoring the multiple facets of the improviser's immense talent this summer in Vienne), a beautiful sound, burning and determinedly brilliant possesses.
he reveals all the intensity of it and the wealth on the album " Talking Cure". Alternately sticker, seducing, quietly "ballader", David El Malek conjugates certain classicism to a mastered extravagance, with this omnipresent sense of the surprise which is imperative itself with a remarkable evidence today.
The National Orchestra of Lyon conducted by Wayne Marshall offers an unhoped-for echo to David El Malek's directory, a saxophonist in full ascent, inhabited by the memory of the Jewish folklore, John Lennon's recollection (And I love her) and the temptation of the bosses (Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter).
LE PROGRES DE LYON
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David El-Malek Quartet
With Coltrane, Rollins and Shorter as guides, this saxophonist tenor has just signed "Talking Cure" (Cristal / Harmonia Mundi), one of the albums of jazz among the most alive, the most coherent produced in France recently. And his rhythmic is for nothing in this success: Pierre de Bethmann on piano, Rémi Vignolo on double bass and Franck Agulhon on drums …
LE NOUVEL OBSERVATEUR
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DAVID EL-MALEK
Talking CureThe second opus for David El-Malek, one of the most beautiful sounds of sax tenor! The music tightens around a more defined weft; some reasons in it: the musicians who accompany him follow him for already two years and the pianist and the drummer are others than Pierre de Bethmann and Franck Agulhon. (…) One of the most solid rhythmic which are (…). The accent is put on colours and melody what makes of this disc an album very pleasant tolisten to (…)
BATTEUR MAGAZINE
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Tribute to Woody Shaw
David El-Malek and Stéphane Belmondo quintet" … Praiseworthy project, which advances a duet sax tenor-trumpet among the best of moment … "
ZURBAN
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David El-Malek and Stéphane Belmondo quintet
" Two major blower of the scene jazz team up to honour the magnificent hard Bopper whom was Woody Shaw disappeared too much early in 89 … "
Duc des Lombards
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Tribute to Woody Shaw
Stéphane Belmondo and David El-Malek quintet
" Together with the band of a fantastic trumpeter and a brilliant saxophonist … "
LE FIGARO
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David El-Malek - Talking Cure
It will not have been necessary a lot of time to this young musician, David El Malek, who has grows in Israel to surround the scene jazz Parisian.
It is he, and the music inspired by the folkores of Israel, that Fip in chooses this week to open the broadcast " jazz to FIP ". His album " Talking Cure " is a true small jewel.
JAZZ A FIP
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David El-Malek - Talking Cure
The second opus for David El-malek, one of the most beautiful sounds of sax tenor! The music tightens around a more defined weft; some reasons in it: the musicians who accompany him already follow him for two years and the pianist and the drummer are Pierre de Bethmann and Franck Agulhon. Three men know well because the pianist steers them in his Ilium Quintet. Rémi Vignolo completes this forming and forms with Agulhon one of the most solid rhythmic which are. The directory consists of originals with the exception of some fragments of the traditional folklore of Israel, where from El-Malek is native. Be that as it may, the accent is put on colours and melody what makes of this disc an album very pleasant to listen to. Agulhon uses the box clearly without the stamp on a certain number of fragments. To note for us drummer, his intro on N°3, and a bonus at the end of the CD: a very beautiful duet sax-drums.
BATTEUR MAGAZINE. Jean-baptiste Perraudin
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David El-Malek - TALKING CURE
Since his last disc, Organza, we know that David El-Malek is a saxophonist with whom it is necessary to count. With this new album, he proves it once again. Rhythmic impeccable, lyric and articulation always implemented with an unmistakable sense of the song and the expressiveness. However, it is the recording or the personal evolution? The dense and warm sound (…) Left place with a tone closer to Wayne Shorter and to Éric Alexander, tenser, more linear also (…). This album is of very good behaviour (…): it is good, produced well (…).
REPERTOIRE
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Café-Jazz
David El-Malek; the sax tenor forms the square.The value does not affect the number of the years, especially when we are endowed with a natural talent and with a hard-working temperament. (…) Considered by the specialists as one of the sax the tenors the most endowed with his generation, (…) The spontaneity and the originality of this ovni of the scene jazz have indeed fast recognized by the public, the criticisms and the juries (…).
"Talking Cure", a jewel chiselled with the complicity of Pierre de Bethmann (member pianist of Ilium), Franck Agulhon ( drum kit)) and Rémi Vignolo ( bass) (…)
LIBERTE DE L'EST
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David El-Malek - Talking Cure
The first recording (…) had revealed us an already mature saxophonist in the fluid and solid sound. (…) He returns force with the second album there. (…) The sound of the tenor is always generous, at the same moment circle with a point of aggressiveness in attacks. (…) But he knows alsohow to go away from references to find his own voice. (…) To councillor without restraint.
ZICLINE
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...The confirmation of the ease acquired by David El-Malek, who having crossed all the Parisian jazz clubs, could indeed convince number of festival ...
JAZZMAN, Alex Dutilh
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DAVID EL-MALEK
Talking Cure
Incisive one motive for bass ( Rémi Vignolo) doubled by the left hand of the pianist (Pierre de Bethmann) give of brief but persuasive impulses while moving on luxurious harmonies, whereas tenor's solo rises without leaning on any thematic statement, and we are immediately seized by a lyric and a sound of the whole senior form. Giving evidence of a ruler master of the instrument on the technical plans and meaning, David El-Malek controls and builds... That it is about its own compositions or about songs Jewish as Kol Hakavod, real melodic and rhythmic holiday on a measure in eleven times, the coherence of the comment and the commitment of four musicians do not stop captivating, until the conclusion by And I Love Her des Beatles, very " easy listening " but of a big correctness of feeling...
JAZZMAN, Nicolas Brémaud
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Jazz
David El-Malek
This saxophonist tenor possesses the gift, rare, dreamed about all the musicians: two notes are enough for recognizing him. He has a sound, a voice …
L’EXPRESS
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DAVID EL-MALEK
Talking Cure
… There is a good fury inside David El-Malek … He joins deliberately in an aesthetics néo hard bop … The sweetness of the sound, the expert of the detached notes, the flow of the game, the rhythmic requirement and the delicacy of the speach promise the support of a public loved about musicality …
JAZZ MAGAZINE
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Jazz Paris
David El-MalekBit by bit, the presence of the saxophonist David El-Malek asserts itself on the scene of the jazz in France. It thirty-year old in the composed look, the alumnus of Jean-Claude Forenbach, has ideas, breath, a musical personality who combines the big pages of the jazz (Rollins, Coltrane, Getz, Shorter) and an implanting in the Israeli folklores. To accompany the appearance of its second album Talking Cure (Cristal records), he knew how to surround itself with solid musicians, whose sense of the collective play is always a trump card for the soloists: the pianist Pierre de Bethmann, the bassist Rémi Vignolo and the drummer Franck Agulhon.
Le Monde
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David El-Malek Quartet
"Talking Cure", the new album of this saxophonist tenor, impeccably supported by Pierre de Bethman ( p ), Rémi Vignolo ( b ) and franck Agulhon (d), evokes Wayne Shorter or Joe Henderson, period Blue Note.
LE NOUVEL OBSERVATEUR
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DAVID EL-MALEK QUARTET
Of a penetrating sweetness with Ilium quintet of Pierre de Bethmann, the excellent Israeli-Parisian saxophonist David El-Malek cultivates a sound of much more powerful tenor in own sound quartet
TELERAMA
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David El-Malek Quartet
Supervised by the talented saxophonist, this band reunites the best of the french jazz, with nothing less that Pierre de Bethmann in the piano, which became famous with the group Prysm and more recently with its Ilium quintet, Gilda Boclé in the bass, omnipresent on the French scene, and finally excellent Franck Aguhlon on drum. David El-Malek as for him is simply considered as one of the youngest virtuoso in Europe … Often compared with bosses of the saxophone such Michael Brecker, John Coltrane or still Wayne Shorter, David El-Malek possesses a very personal language which makes of him a unique musician, with a delicate and warm tone. This quartet of dream will propose us a subtle combination of Jewish melodies inspired by the Israeli folklore, by the incisive be-bop, by the cotton ballads, while flirting by moment with the reggae, the jungle … Rhythmic one remarkable in the service of a mélodiste and a composer of exception: these is the success of the disc " Organza " appeared in 2001, what will make the success of "Talking Cure" released this month, and which will not miss to seduce even the most sceptic... "
Un Doua de Jazz
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Pierre Bethmann Ilium Quintet
Nancy Jazz Pulsation
… Among them, David El Malek, prodigious saxophonist thirty-year-old tenor, unanimously recognized by his peers...
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Talking Cure
Recently seen in Ilium Quintet, the saxophonist David El Malek makes us the enjoyment today take out an album as leader. Impressing by his long and regular speech, David knew how to surround himself of sidemen of confidence as Remi Vignolo in the bass, Franck Agulhon on drum and Pierre De Bethmann on piano...
Jazzcolor
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New wind
The young saxophonist did not need a lot of time to show his originality and become one of the most active jazzmen of the current Parisian scene. There is even of what to be amazed by this way of being imperative, with a fluid tone and a natural authority
ZURBAN
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Alex Jacquemin quartet
… The saxophonist tenor David El-Malek imposes by his presence of magic moments and interprets splendidly the compositions….
djaz51.com
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ORGANZA
David El-Malek, considered as one of the most respected among the young talents in Europe, collected around him musician of high holding to get us his fine emotion with his CD " Organza ".
Translated by German. jazz-network.com
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Alex Jacquemin, Story of…
... Made attention particularly with the perfection of the improvisations... The saxophonist tenor David El-Malek proves his great musical capacity by his presence and safety with which it is marvelously able to support the melodies. During its interpretations, the control of phrased sound expresses the ready wit of these compositions...
jazz-network.com
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PIERRE DE BETHMANN
ILIUM quintet
… An intimacy which he knew how to build by leaning on accomplices so sophisticated, excellent David El-Malek in the saxophone ... proves us again that it is indeed one of the best saxophonists of moment, with his chorus carnal and never talkative …
JAZZMAN. Félix Marciano
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PIERRE DE BETHMANN
ILIUM
…History of snack in of tasty opposition of sentences, vibration of tenor ( excellent El-Malek) …
JAZZMAG. Robert Latxague
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DAVID EL-MALEK
This young saxophonist (1970) started playing guitar; his musical technique is a wonder, full of virtuosity at creating melodies. As it often happens, he has his own band, although from time to time he meets other musicians. He is been said to be like grandson of Coltrane, one of his major influences.
Festival International de Jazz de Menorca
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ILIUM quintet
This new project… also reveals some new forces of the jazz hexagonal as the saxophonist David El Malek… whose delicious soloes are only transforming this disc of a masterpiece …
Jazzcolor
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ILIUM
The association of Fender Rhodes with tenor and guitar is not very new in itself but what make the musicians with their personalities returns the very attractive set. El-Malek is monstrous with his tenor (with Felderbaum, they remind me a little the tandem Rosenwinkel-Turner which I like) and the compositions are quite made a success.
Citizen jazz
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ILIUM
" ...And when they play structures and very complex tourneries, they are of an incredible efficiency. This, as the sound and the profound originality of the playing of Michael Felberbaum's guitar, as the energy and the incredible tune of David El Malek with his tenor, (touches me profoundly. I am more and more happy to confront with these very marked individualities. "
Pierre de Bethmann
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Comment
David El-Malek's " Organza " represents a small surprise. A surprise as for the execution of fragments and as for the subjects of the music. During this "Organza", El-Malek gives evidence of an excellent mastery of the sax tenor, which he puts in the service of a clear and translucent sound and of subjects among which are particularly remarkable the second reading of the popular classical classics of the Jewish folklore: " Tora tsiva lanou moché ", " Bashana haba' has " and specially magnificent "Hatikva". Throughout the disc El-Malek chooses not to exercise its mastery on the fast tempos, but exactly on the difficult art of the average tempos and the strolls. As for his musicians, all are perfected in their companions' roles …
José Francisco Tapiz
Pamplona, (translated by Spanish)
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Anne DUCROS : Close your eyes
… Toots Thielemans and David El-Malek (the french Rick Margitza, it is to say!) weave here or there a beautiful counterpoint …
François LACHARME (CLUB DIAL)
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Un poco agitato..... An interview of David-El-Malek by Yvan Amar on France Culture.
.....(music).....
Y.A : So, this evening you're performing at the Duc des Lombards, just for once...
DEM : Yes, we are. It will be at 21h30. People can come at 21h, it's better....
Y.A : What are we going to listen to ? You play the tenor saxophone, do you ?..... Only the tenor ?
DEM : At present, I play the tenor saxophone but I gradually turn to the soprano...
Y.A : Do you often use the high-pitched register ?
DEM : Yes, I like it and I work on it. I'll play with my new band with Pierre de Bethman, we've known each other for a long time.
There's also Franck Agulhon on drums and Rémi Vignolo on bass.
Y.A : Does Pierre play on Fender Rhodes on your record ?
DEM : Yes' he does but this evening he will play on accoustic piano.
Y.A : Is there any other band, Ilium ?
DEM : Yes, Pierre de Bethman's band with Franck Agulhon on drums, Vincent Artaud on bass instead of Clovis Nicolas who's
gone for the USA, and a guitar player Michel Felberbaum. We've just recorded the CD.
Y.A : Is there any musical feeling which distinguishes the 2 groups ?
DEM : Yes and no, the pieces are different. We don't write the same music but each of us play a sort of soloist part. Through this
music you have the choice to play forth or back. But when the boss changes the music changes too.
Y.A : I was told you were going to play just once in this place. Is it difficult to play for only once in a club ?
DEM : For me, it's extremely difficult because you've got to give the best of yourself, to be at your top..... It's something you feel
inside...
Y.A : Do you play better when you know you won't play the day after ?
DEM : Yes, I do. Presently, it turns out that I don't play much...
Y.A : Yes, indeed, we hear much more about you than about your saxophone, it's a pity ! So, let's listen to an extract of your
music....
Y.A : David, it's hard to say why one loves a saxophone player. As for me when I heard you on CD, I liked the voluble way you
play , it reminds me of Coltrane with his spirals and circumvolutions. And there's also a sweet sound which may derive more
from Getz especially when you play without striking too much. We don't know where the sounds come from. There's silence and
suddenly we realize there is the saxophone playing. It's just a sound coming from nowhere. It's part of your sensual tone.
Y.A : Is it something you've always felt in your relationship with the instrument ?
DEM : Yes, I think so, but anyway it's something I'm in search for.... You quoted Stan Getz and Coltrane...
Y.A : We don't usually associate these 2 people because they're different but we think of this double paternity when listening to
you....
DEM : I listened to Coltrane a little for the punch he had on the saxophone and then Getz for the soft and fine tone he had. Now,
I've put them aside, I try to develop my own sound. It's true that on my last CD the tone is a little softer...
Y.A : soft and sweet !
DEM : Today it's changing again. It's a little tougher. I also like this, I'm just a romantic guy (laughs )..
Y.A : Yes, you are ! and your music too!
DEM : Right, but I also like to play agitato !
Y.A : So you're a tough guy with a big heart, aren't you ? (laughs). Did you expect to go this way when you began music ?. Did
you take the right way when you started ?
DEM : Yes, I think so. I knew it, conscioulsy or not. It's a big chance to be able to go the right way . I go on looking for new ideas
but I feel as if I had followed the same direction as initially.
Eventhough you change...
Y.A : Is it very important to play for an audience, in terms of musical maturity ?
DEM : Yes, it really is. I worked so hard at home that now it's time to face the audience and express myself.... because it makes
me progress.
Y.A : so, will the apprenticeship be done through the audience or in the solitude of your studio ?
DEM : No, it's on stage that things happen !
Y.A : We've just listened to "Organza", a particularly slow piece. Is it difficult to play this tempo ?
DEM : It's very hard, especially for the sidemen. Each of us has his own melody in mind and is going to exploit a mass of
information. As for me, I should say : "do a little less, a little less again !"
Y.A : Is it more risky when you play slowly, when you happen to skip a note ?
DEM : yes, but as you play slowly you get more time to hear the next note to come, you can concentrate on it..
Y.A :Do you think more about the music when you play slowly ?
DEM : No, I don't think about it but I hear it better and I can anticipate better too. It enables me to integrate it completely and to
lead it wherever I want.
Y.A : Do you have any projects for a bigger band ?
DEM : I'd like to record a CD about the jewish traditional music with an orchestra.
Y.A : Did you spend your childhood in Israël ?
DEM : Yes I spent eight years there but I was born in Pantin I left when I was one year old and came back at nine.
Y.A : Is this music open to improvisation ?
DEM : It's not the most important matter. I take melodies and I say to myself that it's going to become something important to
deal with.
Y.A Is that why you would like to use a big orchestra ?
DEM : Yes, and it's almost done. I've collaborated with Christophe del Sasso who is a conductor, trumpet player and arranger.
I'll record with a symphonic orchestra, about 80 to 100 musicians according to the financial opportunities...
In fact I'd like to integrate my own quartet to the orchestra... (music)...
YVAN AMAR, France-Culture
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David El-Malek at the Duc des Lombards
A sax tenor has to discover immediately. All Paris of the jazz is amazed at his tone and at his inventions.
Télérama
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New year in the east …
… When in the jazz, I recommend for this new year to pay a particular attention on David El-Malek, with his album Organza (Crystal Records, France). It is about a French saxophonist Israeli installed in Paris, the sound of which calls back to me that, melancholic and intimist of Gary Bartz (although I can not confirm this fact because my " tornamesa " is decomposed. I shall extend more for a long time over El-Malek in another occasion, because his quality deserves him...
Reforma.com, Spain Translated by Spanish
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HEBRAIC BOP
David El-Malek 4tet.
This young saxophonist does not change objectives. He remains faithful to a music which is very personal him … Hebraic Influence, hard-bop and sentimental musing, El-Malek has a magnificent first disc which ruffles of vitality;
NOVA magazine
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LA ROCHELLE
Jazz entre les deux tours, 4 on October 13
… With the authority of his tenor, it is David El-Malek who assures splendidly the first part of the concert of opening delicately led and supported by rhythmic one infallible…
JAZZHOT. Lorraine Soliman
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The rich and sensitive jazz of the composer and the self-taught saxophonist David El-Malek, one of the best representatives of jazzmen's new generation, is a jazz on which it will be necessary to count for years to come...
Compilation Résonnances
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THE SOUND OF DAVID EL- MALEK
There are unmistakable signs. Prick your ears and you'll understand the musicality of David El-Malek's tenor saxophone.. On listening to the first tune, Organza, the first CD distributed by Cristal Records/Melodie, David wraps Torah Tsiva Lanou Moché in Coltranian curls. As for Hatikva, he plays it in A flat. "It was the music I heard every day as I was a schoolboy near Ashkelon. Back to France, after his military service, he thought of becoming a guitarist. But he was not ready to follow his teacher's advice. One day, as he was delivering ice-creams in the rue de Rome he fell in love with a saxophone he saw in a window. His brother offered it to him and since then, he's been exploring the instrument. "I first worked on my own for days and days,then I took lessons in the Montreuil conservatoire". He was awarded the third prize as a soloist at the Defense Contest and keeps on working ."I want to be able to play Debussy and Coltrane at the same time". He often plays with the new generation of musicians and has devoted his work to projects in which he can retrace his past. Almost self-taught he would like to work with a symphonic orchestra. There's still a long way to go. Meanwhile, follow him in a clever accompaniment, that is with Pierre de Bethmann (p), Jules Bikoko (cl), Garcia Bruno (bt).
L’ARCHE. Monique Feldstein
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JVC festival - Sunset
David El-Malek's route could look like a genius. Because this young man, been born in 1970 at Pantin, of parents Algerian -born French persons-, begins the music only at the age of 15, not to play the saxophone, his current instrument, but guitar. At the age of twenty, he changes and adopts this time the saxophone. he learns one year to Montreuil's conservatoire but especially, he locks itself at him, does his tunes. He will put five years only before leaking out, obtaining, in the Competition of The Defence, a second price of composition and soloist's third price. Nobody knows where he comes from. Influenced by Coltrane, he goes there where nobody waits for him, among be-bop Jewish colours and jungle. The author of noticed " Organza ", his album everything in sharpness, is sought by the other artists, the pianist Laurent Coq or the conductor Christophe Dal Sasso.
Young saxophonist was noticed in the competition of The Defence in 1995, David El-Malek waited for the age of the maturity to realize this first hopeful album. Surrounded with a rhythmic which embodies the flourish of the French jazz, its discretion is for the equal of its talent … Please, Hurry.
JVC festival
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VERY MODERN jazz
David El-Malek 4tet
For JVC jazz festival, Sunset emphasizes the promotion of the young confirmed talents. And this saxophonist deserves to be presented. El-Malek is filled with talent and with brilliant ideas. Accompanied of rhythmic one very solid, he plays his jazz, without borders and full of surprises.
NOVA magazine
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Jazz in Toulon
…David El-Malek ( s ) was supported by Pierre de Bethmann ( p ) amazing, Clovis Nicolas ( b ) always sober and perfect, and Franck Aghulon ( DM), attentive, in the tempo of steel, who knows how to weave the appropriate rhythmic figures. El-Malek is a sophisticated saxophonist, mélodiste and a delicate composer, being notably inspired by Jewish traditional melodies…
JAZZHOT
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David El-Malek
Organza
We had heard with pleasure the leader within the quintet of the singer Laïka Fatien. Influenced by Joe Henderson and the jazz from Coltrane (Woody Shaw, Wayne Shorter), David El-Malek has the capacity to take off a song, notably with the complicity of Daniel Garcia Bruno ("Pressure", " Organza "). Three fragments evoking the music of its previous history (he comes from Israel) indicate an interesting way. It is maybe even in this register which he convinces best and establishes a sincere dramatic tension (" Tora Tsiva Lanou Moché ") .Il is fashionable to evoke the seventies with Fender Rhodes, what is done with good taste and discretion ("Impulse", " Children of the Night " in reggae) but without bringing really to the music the other thing than colours which sometimes dominate the enthusiasm. The last song (…) the only and short defect of this disc is (…). The warm tone of the leader goes to the emotion (" Fast for Booker "). An excellent first disc revealing an original personality without being superficial.
JAZZHOT. Jean Szlamowicz
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DAVID EL MALEK - A VIRTUOSO
The young tenor saxophonist has only practised music for five years when he is awarded a second prize for composition and another one as a soloist at the national "concours de la Défense" in 1995. The album "Organza", recorded in December 2000 (Cristal Records/Mélodie) shows his virtuosity with a subtle and original mix of jewish melodies (Tora Tsiva Moché, Hatikva, Bashana haba'a), inspired by traditional pieces he used to listen to when he was a child in Israël, and by an incisive form of bebop and soft ballads (Organza). He will play the repertory at the Duc des Lombards with the pianist Emmanuel Duprey, Jean Daniel Botta on acoustic bass and Laurent Robin on drums.
L’Express
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David EL-MALEK
Organza
He began playing the saxophone quite late,which has prevented him from getting into mimetic attitudes. His major influences are dissolved in a very articulate and perfectly detached way of playing with a very sharp sound,yet at one with itself. We really enjoy his deep and , architecturally speaking, fautless improvisations on a repertoire consisting of compositions (except one by Shorter) balancing between a thoughtful lyricism ( precisely like Wayne Shorter in the ballads) and some more tough exercises. The rythmic section led by the Prysm pianist is a remarkable one.
F.L. CLUB DIAL
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THE EDITORIAL
Fortunately we have jazz music ! Yes indeed, jazz music. The word "groove" has been used in jazz music, hasn't it ? Would David El Malek keep something secret ? David El Malek has simply followed the trend and has created modern tunes, adding some Fender Rhodes, a roaring bass and some jungle music breakaways.
KAMELEON KAON
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"JAZZ IN TOULON", thirteenth edition
... David El-Malek began playing the saxophone when the festival was born. Today, he is one of the best French saxophonist, very melodic, who will be surrounded by our famous Franck Aghulon on drums, Pierre de Bethmann on piano, and Clovis Nicolas on acoustic bass.
They will introduce David'sown compositions and, may be, some standards....The modern jazz lovers undoubtedly appreciated David El-Malek's personality and imaginative phrasing yesterday evening. He was well supported by Pierre de Bethmann on the Fender Rhodes and Franck Agulon on drums.
NICE-MATIN
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David El-Malek Quartet
A pure moment of jazz for the afficionados which already make turn his album Organza, in their platinum CD. When to the greenhorns, it is very attentive that they followed the concert of this young and impressive musician. Been born in 1970, David El-Malek puts himself in the guitar in the age of 15 years, and abandons this one 5 years later for the benefit of the saxophone. Fervently Parker, Coltrane, Hawkins, Shorter, he develops in the variety of each, a style indeed to him which is worth to him in 1995 a second price of composition at the same time as the soloist's third price and as the first prize of the " National Competition of the Defence ". We are in 2002 and David El-Malek shows his growing maturity in front of a conquered and absorbed public. A concert in its majority calms down with very intense moments.Playing with the best (Pierre de Bethmann " golden fingers " in the piano, and Frank Agulhon drummer in the astonishing sensibility), David El-Malek and the management of the Festival of Jazz in Toulon offers us a date bare or rediscovered by an artist with blow on there, in full ascent.
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ORGANZA
... a fluid phrasing, a docile and caustic sound... Indeed he owns all the qualities of an outstanding tenor, even if his singularity doesn't lie in this... a subtle and remarkable mixing of jewish melody, incisive bebop and soft ballads... a band which stands out thanks to a homogeneous and sometimes funky tone, served by a more and more inspired pianist, Pierre de Bethmann... You'll listen to Organza from one end to the other...
Jérôme Plasseraud. JAZZMAG
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DAVID EL-MALEK
Organza
For/against
This boy has a deep sound which mustn't mislead you : it is really a voice which goes through the tenor saxophone, a real individuality. David El-Malek is thirty-one, he was spotted at the contest of La Défense in 1995, playing in the "Quartet Est". In 1998 he created his first quartet which will record a self-producted album in which the last composition, Tora tsiva lanou moche is the first one to start "Organza". It's the sign of constancy... Bashana haba'a, Organza or Hatikva reveal a splendid phrasing articulation. Surrounded with musicians he chose judiciously (Pierre de Bethmann, Jules Bikoko, Daniel Garcia Bruno), Jean-Claude Forenbach's student has taken flight. You will have him to reckon with. Alex Dutilh. JAZZMAN
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DAVID EL-MALEK
Organza
For/against
Formally, there's nothing much to add : everybody is a the right place, maybe too much. But they play the game, in the service of a leader whose sound evokes the coloured lyrism of Gato Barbieri, then the bluesy touch of Coltrane, or the abstractions of Wayne Shorter. As for his compositions, they reveal a deep knowledge of jazz history, suggesting more a learned and new reading of probable future adventures... during the last three tracks... a rythmic, almost close to reggae music, then not far from the jungle border...
Jacques Denis. JAZZMAN.DAVID EL-MALEK
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Organza
No doubt that this young saxophonist has listened to John Coltrane. However he displays lyrism and a sense of sound space which are welcomed with great pleasure. He never forgets that school must teach you how to get musicality and not only to achieve instruments feats. That's why you've got to trace him !Moreover, he is wonderfully accompanied by the pianist Pierre de Bethmann and the excellent drummer Daniel Garcia Bruno, among others. A good cd.
RÉPERTOIRE
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ORGANZA
Seen as one of the youngest saxophone prodigy in Europe, David El-Malek found great musicians to play with him in order to make us listen to "Organza", a cd which povides great sensitivity and rare emotions.
CRISTAL RECORDS
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David El-Malek is a prodigy. This young saxophonist was born in 1970 and started learning music very late, as he was around 15. He began playing the guitar but dropped it to learn the saxophone. He was 20 at that time. It didn't take him long to be honoured at the National contest of La Défense. (second prize for composition and a third one as a soloist). In December 2000, David records Organza, with a dream team.
The musicians were :
David El-Malek : saxophone tenor, programmation
Pierre de Bethmann : piano, Rhodes
Jules Bikoko BI Njami : accoustic bass, electric bass
Daniel Garcia-Bruno : Drums, congas
Alban Sautour : guitar
Laïka Fatien : singer (one tune)
David El-Malek is very influenced by John Coltrane and it shows as soon as you listen to the first tune which makes you immediately think of Alabama because of the melody and the emotion that emerges. However, even if he doesn't deny his saxophone masters (Parker, Coltrane, Hawkins, Shorter), David knows how to impose his own style , thanks to miscellanous compositions and a good choice of jazz standards which go from Shorter's compositions to rearranged israeli folk music. One can appreciate his large technique (not to say his virtuosity, exclusively directed to the melody). It is also pleasant to shift from pure jazz, slightly coloured with reggae music, then to accoustic jungle music performed in the very good "gentleman". It is true that all the musicians in the band are excellent, especially Pierre de Bethmann (Prysm) on the piano, but also on the Rhodes that he makes sound beautifully, and Jules Bikoko who embodies the groove, on the accoustic bass as well as on the electric bass. To conclude, I suggest you rush on this wonderful record which proves that there's an alternative to music schools and Conservatoires, since El-Malek began playing the saxophone ten years ago and as a self-taught man.
It's just amazing, and we only wish him to get the international career he deserves greatly.
Olivier Masson. CENTRAL JAZZ
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The first disc of the saxophonist David El-Malek shows itself completely surprising. His tune in the saxophone evokes that of the John Coltrane, but in a calmed version where the melody and the song irradiate. If the instrumental qualities of this musician are unmistakable, he delights us as well by the directory which he chose: ballads, revisited Jewish traditional music, be-bop... Pierre de Bethmann, who accompanies him in the piano or in the Fender Rhodes, shows himself so particularly inspired.
City Créteil
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ILIUM
Pierre de Bethmann wanted to play with the musicians he had met at his place and had appreciated. So he has gathered a new instrumental formation with, around the Fender Rhodes, a sensitive tenor saxophone, David El-Malek who plays with a lot of generosity (excellent, with a deep and warm sound) on ballads...
CITIZEN JAZZ. Sophie Chambon
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LAURENT COQ TRIO
An original choice of tunes, not so easy, which lets the musicians a large freedom of expression. The missing of any rythmic section bass/drums, is not a hindrance here, on the contrary, it gives the trio a great fluidity. The 2 saxophonists - David El-Malek ( excellent, with a deep and warm sound) and Olivier Zanot- each one sustaining the rythmic in their own style.
JAZZ BREAK
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Jazz sous les Pommiers
David El-Malek is a revelation. Within 5 years and in a self-taught way, he has come a long way from the first steps on saxophone to the award of La Défense. Delivering a delicate and deep melody which reminds the coloured touch of Gato Barbieri, the burning phrasing of John Coltrane or the tense lyrism of Wayne Shorter, David El-Malek also gets back to some compositions from the israeli folk music, a culture in which he grew up. Remember these initials : D.E.M., because this musician has a real talent.
La Semaine du Pays basque
