| Jazz |
In a quiet Toronto studio bathed in late-afternoon light, pianist and composer Noam Lemish sits at the crossroads of cultures, philosophies, and sounds. For him, music is not a matter of style but of spirit. His compositions, both structured and deeply personal, reflect a mind that draws from many wells: the precision of classical form, the improvisational pulse of jazz, and the restless questioning of poetry. Classical references surface here and there across his jazz compositions, not as ornament but as resonance, highlighting a melodic turn, a solo’s phrasing, a fleeting mood. As Lemish often suggests, jazz feeds on culture in all its forms; it is nourished, in this project, by the words of Fernando Pessoa, the Portuguese poet who saw the divine hidden in the most ordinary experiences.
This latest work by the Juno-nominated pianist and composer is a captivating creation that travels through an array of idioms: jazz, Himalayan folk traditions, Middle Eastern melodies, and contemporary classical language. Yet beneath the global palette lies an inquiry into meaning itself, a philosophical attempt to organize emotion, sound, and structure into a coherent reflection of the human condition.
Lemish’s encounter with Pessoa is not incidental. Literature enters his process as both muse and mirror. Pessoa viewed music as an inherently subjective art, one that could shift meaning depending on which of his many heteronyms experienced it. Lemish takes this multiplicity to heart. His music, like Pessoa’s poetry, invites us to ask what creation really means in the context of jazz today. For some, jazz is synonymous with freedom, spontaneity, or rebellion. For Lemish, form is equally vital. His compositions unfold like a carefully arranged book of poems, structured, hierarchical, and philosophically conceived, each page revealing another dimension of order within apparent improvisation. The surprises, in his work, come not from chaos but from architecture itself.
Over a quarter century of creation, Lemish has built a body of work that blurs boundaries as naturally as it transcends them. His transcultural identity, Israeli-born, Canadian-based, globally engaged, reverberates through his music. He has always sought to widen the circle of his exploration, erasing the deep divisions between genres, peoples, and traditions. A jazz artist and classical composer, an improviser and accompanist, an intercultural scholar and interpreter of contemporary music, Lemish embodies the fluid modern artist, unconfined by geography or convention.
Since settling in Toronto in 2010, Lemish has led or co-led several acclaimed ensembles, including the Noam Lemish Quartet, the primary vehicle for his original compositions since 2011, and a quartet with guitarist and oud virtuoso Amos Hoffman. His work as a composer extends further still: expansive pieces for jazz orchestra and choir that demonstrate his ability to translate personal vision into collective form.
There is an intellectual rigor to Lemish’s approach, yet it never feels sterile. Even the album’s cover art, dreamlike, reflective, understated, suggests a refusal of showmanship. Listening to his music is like reading a book: each track unfolds with the pacing of a narrative, inviting contemplation rather than command. Some pieces drift toward an oriental flavor, yet these are less exotic gestures than impressions from an inner voyage. The music feels like a timeless travel diary, each movement a stop along a road that leads nowhere and everywhere at once.
You, the listener, become a traveler too: seated perhaps at a table where someone pours sake or mint tea, sharing stories that rise and dissolve among the stars. The album’s movements, meticulously ordered within an apparent disorder, might perplex those who attempt to skip ahead or consume it in fragments. But this is a work meant to be experienced whole, n its simplicity, its unity, its singular sense of wonder. Lemish doesn’t just compose; he constructs spaces where thought and emotion coexist, where sound itself becomes a language of reflection. In an age of fleeting playlists, his music asks us, gently but insistently, to listen, and to linger.
Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief – Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, October 23rd 2025
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Musicians :
Noam Lemish – Piano et compositions
Sundar Viswanathan – Saxophones alto et soprano, bansuri
Andrew Downing – Contrebasse
Nick Fraser – Batterie
Track Listing :
Song For Rona
Aviv (Spring)
Song For Milly
Kadrin Gatshor (Gratitude)
It Was There All Along
San Francisco Is My Copenhagen
There’s Beauty Enough In Being Here
The Poignancy Of Now (Based On A Theme By Robert Schumann)
Kadrin Gatshor (Reprise)
Produced by Oded Lev‑Ari and recorded at Canterbury Music Company, the album is a moving testament to Lemish’s belief that beauty can be found in the moment – a deeply personal work that expands the language of the jazz quartet.