The Regatta Bar in Cambridge, Mass., is a dimly lit, homely and tight-fitting club tucked into the second floor of the famous Charles Hotel. It is the ideal setting for Israeli-American jazz collaboration Third World Love, which performed there before a sold-out crowd on March 12. On tour in celebration of their newest record and second U.S. release, New Blues, Third World Love riveted a mesmerized crowd with an organic combination of compositional forms that blend jazz, African, Latin and Middle Eastern music.

Band members Avishai Cohen (trumpet), Yonatan Avishai (piano), Omer Avital (bass) and Daniel Freedman (drums) showcased songs from their new album in the two-plus hour set, seamlessly meshing each of their seismic individual talents into free-flowing jam sessions that exemplified their emerging world-jazz sensibility. Band leader Cohen made sure each player had his moment in the spotlight. Highlights included spine-tingling solos from Avital and Freedman, who played off each other as if chatting through their instruments—à la Phish or the Grateful Dead during their spirited and extended live shows—with a series of unspoken winks and hand gestures between artists. Cohen genuinely seemed to enjoy ceding the spotlight to his band mates, stepping aside and bopping his head and shouting “Yeah!” and “All right!” while his boys got funky on their respective instruments.

And at just the right moment, toward the end of the jam, Cohen and his trumpet would step back into the mix without missing a beat and signal to everyone when it was time to wrap it up. His leadership was key, but you got the feeling that Cohen, Avishai, Avital and Freedman could play these sets blindfolded and always know what the other is doing. Third World Love’s blend of slow and fast beats, low and high notes and a loud and climactic grand finale left most of the mixed age crowd awestruck. Hearty praise was received from the Boston/Cambridge crowd, which has been known to be notoriously tough on musical acts because of the close proximity to the famed Berklee College of Music, which has nurtured successive generations of Israeli-born jazz players since the 1960s.

The musicians in Third World Love first came together in Barcelona in 2002, where, 30 seconds into a cover of Wayne Shorter’s 1964 song and album titled “Juju” (inspired by John Coltrane), the band felt an instant spark among them, and they have been together ever since. That meeting in Barcelona prompted their first album, 2002’s Third World Love Songs, followed by 2004’s Avanim and 2006’s Sketch of Tel Aviv. Third World Love has an avid following in Israel and in Europe, playing to sold-out crowds numbering in the thousands, most of which spend their time during the show dancing and parading in their seats, again evoking comparisons with the jam bands of yesterday.

Third World Love’s world tour, of sorts, continues in Israel in early April, where they will play with The Revolutionary Orchestra in Rishon LeZion and then in Jerusalem on April 8.

Their brand-new album, New Blues, is available online at anzicrecords.com and thirdworldlove.com. To listen to a small sampling of their songs, click here. And to enter to win one of five copies, click HERE.

Adam Marks is the Senior Marketing Associate for JVibe's publisher, JFL Media. His Hollywood crush is Natalie Portman and he's an unabashed fan of Josh Schwartz's new TV sensation Gossip Girl.