In Light of a New Moon by Asaf Yuria — Out Today

Today, we release In Light of a New Moon, the new album by tenor saxophonist Asaf Yuria.

Seven tracks, two days at the legendary Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, and a band of masters: George Cables on piano, Omer Avital on double bass, Billy Hart on drums, with Joe Magnarelli guesting on trumpet. Cables and Hart were both Yuria’s teachers, which gives this session something you can actually hear — not nostalgia, but transmission, between musicians who have every reason to trust each other.

Five years ago, Yuria released Exorcisms on JOJO RECORDS, leading a sextet through a program of his own compositions. In Light of a New Moon charts a different course: a repertoire of tunes he has carried with him for years, several of them written by the men playing alongside him. Nothing here was picked at random. John Hicks’ “After the Morning” has been in his book since his very first gigs. “EVC” he first played decades ago at Cables’s house, back when the pianist was still his teacher. “Praise of Shadows,” the album’s lone original, started out as a ballad and became something else entirely. Around them stand Hank Mobley, Dizzy Gillespie and Jimmy Van Heusen — the hard bop tradition Yuria has made entirely his own.

At the heart of the record are two duo ballads with George Cables alone: “Polka Dots and Moonbeams” and “Con Alma,” which closes the album as a last conversation between former student and teacher. In his liner notes, T.J. English calls the result a fever dream of an album, made by musicians whose love of jazz, and of each other, is audible throughout.

“I’d been dreaming about this record for more than a decade.” — Asaf Yuria

With liner notes by T.J. English, photographs and design by Dan Balilty.

🎧 Listen: https://fanlink.tv/InLightOfANewMoon
🛒 JOJO RECORDS: https://www.jojorecords.com/in-light-of-a-new-moon
💿 Bandcamp: https://jojorecords.bandcamp.com/album/in-light-of-a-new-moon