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One of the most unusual jazz bands the UK has ever seen, Gilad Atzmon's Orient House Ensemble, is disbanding this month. There can't be many groups whose leader proudly claims that he was awarded "Self-Hating Jew of the Week" by a respected periodical, but Atzmon, a saxophonist and clarinetist whose band carried off the Best Album prize at the 2003 BBC Jazz Awards, is quite unlike any other British jazz musician.
Calling him British may be stretching a point. He's resident here - although his heritage is, well, confused - but definitely Middle Eastern. He's an Israeli (and served in the army), but prefers to be called a Palestinian; a Jew who says he's an ex-Jew. He formed his Orient House Ensemble six years ago, and moved from being a fiery bopper to the most politically motivated jazz musician in the country.
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Politics must not obscure the talent of a remarkable British jazz band, says sholto byrnes
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Suffice it to say that his band, which combines Arabic and Jewish klezmer music with jazz, is unlikely to be on Ariel Sharon's iPod. Nor would the Israeli PM have felt particularly comfortable at the Orient House's gigs, given Atzmon's penchant for introducing numbers with long polemical statements. When the Orient House won its BBC gong, one leading critic stomped around the after-party proclaiming that the evening had been "hijacked".
The band's last outing is on January 14 at the Vortex in London. Whatever Atzmon, a pop producer; writer of mediocre, bizarre novels; former member of Ian Dury's Blockheads; and would-have-been pilot comes up with next is sure to be interesting. But it's sad to bid the Orient House farewell. Amid all the politics, I almost forgot to mention that they were damn good. 
FIRST
POSTED JANUARY 5
 Archive: uncool little Christmas
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