Matti Caspi - Duets (NMC 2000)

Caspi has written songs for countless singers, and even performed some of these songs himself, partly in the albums"Side A Side B" and its later twin "Side C Side D".in “Duets” Caspi chooses a different approach - songs he’d written for himself and for others are performed here for the first time as duets. Another interesting choice is the performers’ identity - they are artists who (some of them) have collaborated with Caspi before, only this time they perform songs they’ve never performed in the past.

Matti has chosen not to maintain a solid line in this album - sometimes the performance and arrangement resemble the original version (like in the opening song for example: “My Girl”), and sometimes there is a significant change (like in “Like a Wheel”). In a large part of the recordings, Caspi’s influence is shown also in the singing itself. Aviv Gefen, for example, has never been heard more accurate than in the song “Like in a Song” (lyrics by Raquel Caspi). The level of love the performers have for Caspi’s wonderful music is notable in the entire album, from the warmth of the singing of the one and only, Hava Alberstein in “Birds” (“I’ve Got Birds in my Head”) and to Yehudith Ravitz’s touching and powerful performance of “A Journey Day”, who is also second to none.

The album provides many surprises for all who already know Caspi’s other albums: seven songs were written especially for this album, and others get a special new arrangement. An example of the fresh taste the album offers is the song “The Day will Come” performed by Leah Shabbat and Matti Caspi. The vocal improvisations of the two in the end of the song make an innovation on top of the known composition, which also gets a jazzy makeover.

One of the new songs in the album, “Tax”, probably the first salsa Caspi has composed, was recorded as a duet with one of the best singers in Israel - Matti Caspi: “one of the new songs is a duet with myself, but you can’t tell the difference because I sound the same…”. The cry “bring me some energy” is worth alone the album’s price…

The album also unites three generations in Israeli music - Shoshana Damary, Caspi himself, and his daughter Suyan in the song “It’s Allowed to Dream”. Damary sings a separate duet with Caspi in the song “Mystery”.

Other notable songs in the album are Caspi and Danny Litany’s great performance of the song “Heat Wave Nights”, Gally Atary with the song “Lost Melody” which has a full and rich arrangement here, very different from the original version in the album “One to One”. The opening piece, the song “My Girl”, was chosen by Rammy Kleinstein who has testified his admiration towards Caspi’s composing and this song specifically many times.

Matti says it was his dream “to work with fellow singers and let their personality take over the studio, so I could adjust my style into theirs. I’ve sat with each artist separately. Some came voluntarily, and to some I offered to participate first”.