Omer Avital

Omer Avital was a bassist on the verge in the late ’90s, before label shenanigans dashed his career hopes. Now firmly reestablished on the scene, he shows off a potent working band here—with saxist Joel Frahm, trumpeter Avishai Cohen, pianist Yonathan Avishai and drummer Daniel Freedman—synthesizing Israeli folk music and contemporary postbop, as on his stirring latest album, New Song.