All In

Israeli-based guitarist Gil Livni comes from the tradition of George Benson/Grant Green with a dash of Wes Montgomery on this satisfying hard bop collection with his sabra team of Amit Friedman/ts, Yonatan Riklis/org and Yonatan Rosen/dr.

Most of the tunes are from Livni's pen, and he's got the gift of groove, double timing with Friedman and a humming Riklis on the nifty "Wonder Woman" and maniacal "Red Bird", with Rosen leading the boogaloo on the sprint of "Granted". Livni's lines are as clear as day, tasty along the poppish tones from Riklis on "Walk In The Park" and blending with some humming Hammond work on "I Thought About You". Riedman gets earthy on the blue "Since I Fell For You" and the band winds up and throws a fastball through a fantastically funky read of The Beatles' "She's So Heavy". A Bensen Burner.