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The World And Its People

by Yosef-Gutman Levitt

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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Comes in a beautiful gatefold card case, with artwork by Yosef Gutman. Packaging images to be displayed shortly.

    Includes unlimited streaming of The World And Its People via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days

      $12 USD or more 

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Yosef Gutman Levitt presents ‘The World and Its People,’ an album exploring chamber-jazz and newgrass, inspired by ‘The Goat Rodeo Sessions.’ This vinyl features Levitt’s compositions alongside Tal Yahalom, Omri Mor, and Yoed Nir, with production by Gilad Ronen and mixing by Richard King. The work encapsulates a fusion of jazz, country, and folk, reflecting on spiritual and human connections.

    Includes unlimited streaming of The World And Its People via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 30 days
    edition of 100 

      $25 USD or more 

     

1.
Awakening 04:17
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2.
My Soul Thirsts 03:35
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3.
Shifting Sky 04:15
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4.
The World And Its People 03:52
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5.
B'nei Heichala 04:49
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6.
Dancing Together 03:14
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7.
The Sheperd 05:23
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8.
Morning Star 04:36
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9.
Nigun Tzemach Tzedek 03:57
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10.
David's Harp 04:41
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11.
Purim Lanu 04:18
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about

In an absorbing follow-up to Soul Song, his recent collaboration with guitar great Lionel Loueke (“a scintillating and sun-struck combination of ringing, gentle jazz and percussive African highlife that can only make you smile” — freq.org.uk), bassist and composer Yosef Gutman Levitt of Jerusalem is back with a new and invigorating release: The World and Its People, available from Levitt’s recently formed Soul Song imprint. Leading a drum-less, chamber-jazz-newgrass foursome influenced in part by The Goat Rodeo Sessions (with Chris Thile, Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer and Stuart Duncan), Levitt draws from deep within his soul on a collection of beautiful melodies, in deeply felt renderings from all involved.

The tracks are Levitt originals cowritten and arranged by producer Gilad Ronen, with sterling contributions from Levitt’s close musical associates Tal Yahalom on nylon- and steel-string acoustic guitars, Omri Mor on piano and Yoed Nir on cello. Yahalom and Levitt have made two captivating duo albums, Tsuf Harim and Tal Yasis; Mor released his own Soul Song title earlier in 2023 called Melodies of Light and appeared with Levitt on the 2022 trio release Upside Down Mountain. “Everybody worked so hard in bringing creative ideas to this session,” Levit recalls of The World and Its People. “The music is very much inspired by our prior interactions—I feel excited about taking our conversation into different styles and opportunities to connect and communicate.”

The album was mixed by Richard King, whose Grammy-winning work on The Goat Rodeo Sessions has served as an inspiration to Levitt and his colleagues. “The musical color that those musicians bring to the world is something pure and delicate and honest and lovely and luscious and warm,” Levitt remarks of Goat Rodeo. “These are the qualities I wanted to surround myself with: creating a classical crossover, dipping into country, using tools of the language to bring a light, bouncy, folky aspect to the music that I typically play, which is improvised jazz.”

As on previous releases, Levitt imbues The World and Its People with the sound of upright bass as well as his unique five-string acoustic bass guitar (built by Harvey Citron, Steve Swallow’s luthier), on which he’s developed a signature voice: a warm, singing, bell-like high-register tone with a focus on simple, direct, expressive melodies. The solos and unison passages on the two advance singles, “Awakening” and the title track, cut through the ensemble with a singing legato that is emotionally rich, intense yet delicate. “It’s very precious music,” Levitt says. “It’s very alive when I listen to it—I feel a magical sense of life and humanity and relationships, and I hear the depth and excitement of the other players in the room.”

“Awakening” evokes not only Levitt’s writing process (waking up first thing and improvising melodies into a voice recorder), but also the inner meaning of the Aramaic phrases itaruta diletata and itaruta dile’eyla, “awakening from below” and “awakening from above.” “Awakening from below,” Levitt explains, “can mean making a space for hearing a friend, paying attention to the world around us, inviting the world around us in, which is the idea behind the album.”

Levitt launched the Soul Song label with a set of core principles and values in mind: “The goal is to create music, and to create a label that stimulates others to do the same—to make their soul song. To create music that’s intimate and honest, improvised, and Jewish if you will. What makes Jewish music, to me, is a profound honesty, stripping away anything that’s not needed. That’s the work I want to do with the artists on this label—whether they’re Jewish or not is not important. What’s important is that the music is inspired by something higher. I want to work with artists who are interested in getting to that place.”

credits

released February 9, 2024

Cellist: Yoed Nir
Pianist: Omri Mor
Guitarist: Tal Yahalom
Upright and Acoustic Bass Guitarist: Yosef Gutman Levitt
Original Pieces Composed by: Yosef Gutman Levitt together with Gilad Ronen
Arranged and Produced by: Gilad Ronen
Mixed by: Richard King
Mastered by: Marc Theriault
Recording Location: Jerusalem, Israel
Executive Producer: Yosef Gutman Levitt

© 2023 Soul Song Records
All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized duplication, reproduction, or distribution of this recording is prohibited by law.

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Yosef-Gutman Levitt

Yosef Gutman’s modest, soulful playing radiates a thoughtful beauty, a bright colored land of sound. A sound that’s drawn by the quill of the soul, tradition and world music influences, something completely unique and ever changing. A music that is rooted in Jerusalem but draws on global inspirations. ... more

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