Zach Tabori will release his sophomore EP Ensemble on May 27 and could not have picked a better title for the release. The word “ensemble” describes everything Zach was going for with his new music, capturing the sound of a band playing together and the chemistry of performance.
Although Ensemble clocks in at 11 minutes and although it is comprised of only four tracks (“Lately It Feels Better Than Alright,” “Slick,” “Buy My Shirt” and “Lick,”) it was a time-consuming labor of love that has each song flowing into the next without even a second of silence…just like his live show. Recorded at Barefoot Recording in Hollywood and produced by Tabori, the Los Angeles native reveals that there was a “ludicrous level of scrutiny” applied to each take. As a result, it took over a month to get the recording and mixing just right in the studio, resulting in an EP that incorporates rock, funk, jazz and even cabaret into the succinct, innovative release.
Zach also managed to convince one of his musical heroes Tommy Mars to play on the EP. After a chance meeting and numerous hours-long conversations and coffee meetings, the Frank Zappa keyboardist/vocalist Mars agreed to be a part of the project, lending what Tabori describes as “the most amazing falsetto” and piano technique to the theatrical song “Buy My Shirt,” the tongue-in-cheek dissection of the Los Angeles music scene.
“I wanted the record to sound tight without sacrificing the ‘live’ feeling of what it would be like to see the band in concert,” Tabori explains. “I have always been fascinated by the chemistry of performance—to me, the live show is everything. So, even with the numerous overdubs, the core of each song is drums, bass, two guitars, and keyboards played together in the same take.”
When Zach Tabori isn’t making his own music, he’s collaborating with other artists—most notably co-writing and playing guitar on “Fire Dept” and “K” off Jaden Smith’s latest album, Erys. He also scores films, most recently the Cannes Film Festival contending short, Midnight.
Now that the EP is finished, Zach is busy booking gigs to showcase the songs the way in which they were meant to be listened: live. Tabori and his band will celebrate the release of Ensemble and will perform live….as soon as they can leave home and find cool masks.
