by Sean Powers for the "Vermont Standard," July 28, 2005 (Volume 152, Number 30).
One listen to "Minsarah" and you find saying that the jazz trio of Florian Weber (piano), Jeff Denson (bass), and Ziv Ravitz (drums) met at Berklee College of Music somehow less fitting than saying they were fused there. The seemingly innate oneness they display throughout the recording is highlighted by their ability to progress simultaneously through diverse musical landscapes. The textures they create blend moods of contemplative introspection, playfulness, and lyrical expression which span a spectrum of near blackness, through muted grays to subtle blues to an occasional glowing white. A casual listener becomes attentive, nearly entranced by the journey on which these young musicians embark.
Should one member take the forefront, the others do not become secondary, as can happen when three highly skilled musicians come together. Rather, they remain evenly paced, intricately lacing subtle accompaniments which maintain the communicative interactions. As soloists, each is a skilled interlocutor with their individual instruments. Together, they become collectively consumed by the forward motion of the music, be it rollickingly playful, as in "Say What?", or delicately meditative, as in "Shadows." In "The Flow," the trio allow themselves to be swept together within a textured melody, inherently certain that they will remain interconnected as they follow the current. "Without You" carries the notion further as the trio develops a sensuous melody and molds it richly before they all but dispose of it as they build a carefully crafted chaos, then return to the sensuousness to reflect. Even as they become more experimental with their techniques, Minsarah remains as one. Each musician composed an equal third of the nine tracks on the album, and an introspective tone transcends them all. The musicians lead the listener through a maturely molded journey which is well worth the trip.