Label: Self released, 2025

Personnel - Ariel Bart: harmonica; Talia Erdal: cello; Arseny Rykov: piano.

After two albums under her belt, Berlin-based harmonica player Ariel Bart debuts an unusual bass-less, drum-less trio—active for the past three years—with cellist Talia Erdal and pianist Arseny Rykov, narrating heartfelt stories with uncanny musical empathy. In After Silence, she invites us to explore what lies beneath the surface, urging attention to detail and to what’s often hidden.

The title track, “After Silence”, sets the tone as a melancholy opening statement. “Wind From the North” leans on tastefully supportive piano anchored in a relentless odd-metered pulse, with Bart’s solo radiating emotional resonance at every turn. The whole piece carries a mesmerizing poignancy.

Cello and harmonica share parts of the melody on the captivating “Oath”, whose relaxing sonorities flow seamlessly into “Behind Windows”. The latter offers a fine piano solo and mellifluous cello-harmonica unisons. Lyricism abounds here, tinged with gentle romanticism and spiritual significance.

Erdal’s cello cries adorn “Seeds of Change”, in another profound reflection. And by listening to Bart’s solo on “One Warrior”, one can attest she’s a worthy voice in the chromatic harmonica lineage of Toots Thielemans and Gregoire Maret. She plays with striking fluency, supported by Rykov’s elegant comping. “Don’t Forget Us When the War is Over” follows as a plaintive chamber piece delivered with poise and command.

The Ariel Bart Trio crafts a unified sound and mood that extends across the album with intimacy and coherence. Meditative in nature yet rich in feeling, the music resonates with sheer emotion.

Favorite Tracks:
02 - Wind From the North ► 03 - Oath ► 05 - One Warrior

Label: Ropeadope Records, 2021

Personnel - Ariel Bart: harmonica; Mayu Shviro: cello; Moshe Elmakias: piano; David Michaeli: double bass; Amir Bar Akiva: drums.

The up-and-coming Israeli harmonica player and composer Ariel Bart has been getting noticed not only through salient New York collaborations - with the trombonist Steve Swell on his album The Center Will Hold (2020) and the bassist William Parker on Migration Of Silence Into And Out Of The Tone World (2021) - but also with her personal work. Wedding European jazz tradition and Middle Eastern particularities, In Between, her debut record, is more straightforward than oblique, showing the bandleader’s adherence to balmy musical contexts.

“Spiritual Wars” resulted in a gentle undulating flow permeated with beautiful folk melody. The harmonica commands our attention during the warmhearted improvisation, and then it’s the piano that colors things nicely before the mild effervescence of the snare drum becomes salient.

Bart is consistently expressive on “Colors Palette”, deserving a comparison with Toots Thielemans as she rides the crest of involving harmonic waves sustained by an attractive rhythm.

“Stranger on the Hill”, an emotion-filled waltz expressed with a mature language, includes sublime moments of multiphonic harmonica, pedaling and arco bass, and resolute percussion. In turn, the lulling “Deep Down”, equally coping with a triple meter, is concise, melodic and soulful.

Mayu Shviro introduces the title cut with unaccompanied cello, and that song concludes the album as a smooth, somewhat yearning Middle Eastern reflection in five.

In Between is the vehicle that transports us to Bart’s personal sonic world. It might not have the immediate thrills of the avant-garde scene but follows a coherent line of thought, signaling a promising future for her in the jazz universe.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Spiritual Wars ► 02 - Colors Palette ► 03 - Stranger on the Hill