Itamar Borochov talks about his recent release BOOMERANG

In our interview section today we have a World-renowned Jazz trumpet player, Itamar Borochov with us. He recently released a music album ‘BOOMERANG’. Lets have a chat with him.

Twist Online : First of all tell us about the start of your professional career?
Itamar Borochov : My first recording session was when I was 14 years old. My older brother Avri had a band and they composed music for a modern-dance show by a deaf choreographer. They brought me to the studio to lay down trumpet tracks, it was long enough ago that the studio didn’t have a computer, and we recorded to a tape machine. I got a stomach virus the day before and showed up at the studio feeling terrible. My mom brought me some pills for my stomach, and I popped one in the control room while assembling my horn. The assistant engineer, who looked like Johnny Depp portraying Hunter S. Thompson in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, wanted to pop one too, thinking it’s a trip… When I said it’s for my stomach he said “ok, we’ll need two mics, one for your horn, and one for your ass!”

I just had recording session in Tel-Aviv last week, and the sound engineer was Uri Wertheim, that same guy, I told him this story and we laughed. That was my first professional job.

Twist Online : Who or what inspired you to get into music industry?
Itamar Borochov : My dad is a musician, and so is my brother, my 2 uncles, and 3 of my cousins. My grandfather played the violin, and my great-grandmother from Bukhara (Uzbekistan) played the Doira (Bukharian frame drum). Music is my life. I hear it in my head, and feel it in my heart.

Twist Online : Tell us about your recently released album ‘BOOMERANG’?
Itamar Borochov : The members of the quartet and I, we put a lot of thought, focus, and dedication in this album, and we really did our best to make it special, and I’m proud of that. I’m proud that as a band we brought about a sound that is about the emotional and spiritual aspects of the music. That’s just the vibe we’re in.

Twist Online : Any particular track(s) of the album that’s your favorite?
Itamar Borochov : I like Tangerines.

Twist Online : What kind of response you have received from the release?
Itamar Borochov : I played a gig a couple of weeks ago, and an audience member came to me and said that she had a traumatizing year and that this record has helped her in overcoming this experience. The interesting thing is that so many people have contacted me saying similar things, especially with overcoming experiences with this record, and hearing it many times over. I am very grateful for it.

Twist Online : What attracts you more, performing on stage or working in studios?
Itamar Borochov : Both. On the road I feel free. At the studio you can face a lot of demons, but the outcome is worth it. I like recording in good sounding live rooms, live, with no headphones, and no amps. That’s how we did Boomerang too. It’s more rare to find a big enough and good sounding rooms for that, and sound engineers that will go with it, but it’s so worth it. That’s a part of the magic we get on the record, we play live.

Twist Online : What’s your favorite music genre?
Itamar Borochov : I don’t care for genres much you know?  I’m in to unity, not so much division.

Twist Online : Have you set some target to achieve as a music artist?
Itamar Borochov : Michael Jackson said it best: heal the world, make it a better place.

Twist Online : Are you currently working on any other project?
Itamar Borochov :  I’m recording a new quartet record in Paris in March, and we’ll have some special guests on it, yes indeed!. Also we’ve started recording an album for Borochov Dynasty – a project with my Dad and Brother of sacred Bukharian music, remixed to the max. Our family originates from the city of Balkh in Afghanistan with 7 generations of Kabalists and a rich history of mystic music. We’re taking this music and putting it on a spaceship. I look to keep the tradition alive, so to study the roots as much as possible, but not for the purpose of documentation and preservation alone, but to keep evolving. To take the timeless principles and to live them in today’s times. A tree grows in both directions, dig? With that being said I also have a 3rd project in store, which IS about documentation, of the lost  Sebtian Gnawa repertoire. I’m producing a record of it, but I can’t tell you all about it just yet.