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Noa Fort

Israeli-born vocalist, pianist, composer, and music therapist Noa Fort is blurring the lines between written and composed, group and individual, inner and outer soundscape, giving and receiving; all on the path to healing, with music.

After a short stint as a biologist, researching bird migration in the Israeli desert, Fort decided to go back to her first love, music, and pursued a degree in Music Performance (first for voice, then for piano) at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance. She became involved in the music scene in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, leading a Jazz quintet as well as working as a side woman for several bands and projects. She also started volunteering with teenagers with special needs, and slowly realized what she’d always known - that music can be used for more than self- expression; it can be used to create a connection where words fail, a path to healing, and a terrain to explore the self in relation to others.

In 2013, Fort moved to NYC, to pursue both her performance career and to become a music therapist. She enrolled for a Master’s degree in Music Therapy at NYU, and interned at the Kings County Mental Health Units, using songwriting, improvisation, and singing as her main tools. Now a New York State-licensed creative arts therapist and board-certified music therapist, Fort is focused on finding ways in which music can be used to address the different needs of her diverse clientele. She is constantly expanding her listening practice.

While at school, Fort formed a trio, which later became the Noa Fort Quartet. The group developed a unique, cohesive, exploratory and fresh sound, playing frequently at noted venues Cornelia Street Cafe and Rockwood Music Hall. Aside from her work as a leader, Fort started collaborating and performing with greats such as William Parker, Hamid Drake, Ken Filiano, Francisco Mela, Michael Attias, Satoshi Takeishi, Mary Prescott, and Simon Jermyn, among others.

In 2018 Fort released her debut album as a bandleader and composer, ‘No World Between Us’. Critically acclaimed, its release led to bookings at the DC Jazz Festival and BRIC Jazz Festival. All About Jazz called it “an album of comforting originality on all fronts… lyrics brimming with timeless themes”.

In this new release, Everyday Actions, her second album as a leader and composer, Fort is using her voice and piano to draw abstract musical pictures. Abandoning lyrics almost completely, it is the timbre, tone and emotion in her voice that bring about the lyrical depth of the songs. Borrowing from her work as a therapist, Fort is giving space to the listener to bring his or her own meaning and interpretation to each piece.

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4
Album Review

Noa Fort: Everyday Actions

Read "Everyday Actions" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


Noa Fort is an Israeli-born pianist, vocalist and composer now living in New York City. She has worked as a music therapist and believes in using music as a healing force. That sentiment comes through in this CD of alternately stimulating and peaceful music. She sings on most of the tracks but only one has lyrics. On the rest her voice floats wordlessly over her piano and various combinations of trumpeter Josh Deutsch, bassist Dan Loomis and drummer Ronen Itzik. ...

4
Album Review

Noa Fort: No World Between Us

Read "No World Between Us" reviewed by Tyran Grillo


With No World Between Us, pianist, composer, and vocalist Noa Fort makes her leader debut in an album of comforting originality on all fronts. Her voice, in addition to its well-rounded intonation and emotional integrity, finds equal partnership in lyrics brimming with timeless themes. What separates her soul searching from those before her, however, is a suspension of self between past and future trajectories. By these she slows the here and now to a level at which it may be ...

3
Live Review

Noa Fort at Cornelia Street Café

Read "Noa Fort at Cornelia Street Café" reviewed by Tyran Grillo


Noa Fort Cornelia Street Café New York, NY March 19, 2018 In celebration of her debut album as leader, pianist and vocalist Noa Fort presented a concert of original songs at Cornelia Street Café. With trumpeter Josh Deutsch, bassist Dan Loomis, and drummer Ronen Itzik sharing the platform, Fort took her listeners on an intimate journey through lyrical and melodic shades of being. Because the set consisted of material both from and subsequent ...

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“Seamless marriage of piano and voice...slowly but surely persuasive, the original songs are understated and sprightly hiding their powers until Fort hits that certain note that certain way...the sound is all her own” - Tom Greenland, New York City Jazz Record

“Her voice is lovely and yet honest; she sounds like a real live human being instead of a mere studio creation...she is singing from her heart and she is telling you something about herself and what she's been through… It's a genuine pleasure to find a new contemporary jazz singer who is so quietly disarming with her musical counsel. The next time you feel angry at the world, or even just one person, take a listen to No World Between Us and let it straighten you out.” - Marc Phillips, Positive Feedback

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Primary Instrument

Vocals

Location

New York City

Willing to teach

Beginner to advanced

Credentials/Background

Piano and Voice teacher at the Brooklyn Conservatory Music Therapist Teaching reading, playing from ear, improvisation, theory of music

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Everyday Actions

ears&eyes Records
2021

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No World Between Us

Self Produced
2018

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