Inhale exhale and exhale: Amir Gwirtzman

Inhale exhale and exhale: Amir Gwirtzman

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Before leaving this earth it is imperative to experience the music and certainly a live performance of Amir Gwirtzman. At a recent recital at Pianos on Ludlow Street in Greenwich Village, Gwirtzman, of Tel Aviv, performed his woodwind magic playing many of his pieces from his latest album Inhale Exhale.

Although Gwirtzman demonstrates his genius talent on dozens of instruments from the flute to the soprano sax to the bagpipes, his magnificence lies in his unique live creation of a “band” that he weaves right before his audience’s eyes. He lays down a baritone saxophone track and records it and then digitally plays it back while he places the next layer with another instrument. He repeats this over and over again until he is jamming with a full musical group of himself. What’s better than one Gwirtzman? Five Gwirtzmans. And he delivers it. His music is a homogeny of Middle Eastern, Jazz, Irish, Native American, Pop, Rock and the blowing of a shofar battling with a soprano saxophone. Gwirtzman interjects his Israeli heart with quips and stories, but his ultimate charm is found in the nuance of his very body movement. While he plays 20 instruments his own feet can’t help from dancing.

Gwirtzman just completed touring America's southern museums and cultural centers as part of a Visiting Artists Program coordinated by the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life, which serves 13 Southern states. The Visiting Artists Program is meant “to build a bridge between Israel and the U.S.” His New York performance was sponsored by the Israeli Embassy.