Home » Jazz Musicians » Omer Avital

Omer Avital

Since October 1995, The Omer Avital Group has quickly become one of New York's most acclaimed jazz bands. The New York Times said of the group: "Expressive, powerful and well-informed, the sextet doesn't have a weak link".

Avital was born in the small Israeli town of Givataim to parents of Moroccan and Yemenite descent. His formal training began at age 11, when he entered the Givataim Conservatory to study classical guitar. It was upon entering Talma Yalin, Israel's leading High School for the Arts, that Avital's interest switched towards jazz. He switched his focus to the acoustic bass, and soon became the leader of the school's jazz ensemble for which he wrote all the arrangements. During his senior year, at the age of 17, he began playing professionally in various jazz, pop and folk bands, and performed regularly on national television, radio and in numerous jazz festivals.

After spending a year in the Israeli army playing in its orchestra, Omer made his way to New York in search of a more promising jazz setting. His talent was instantly recognised and he became hotly sought after as a sideman. He began performing, recording and touring internationally with such jazz legends as Antonio Hart, Bill Saxton, Nat Adderley, Jimmy Cobb, Steve Grossman, Jimmy Lovelace, Walter Bishop and Frank Hewitt, as well as the younger Peter Bernstein, Brad Mehldau and Larry Goldings amongst others.

In recent years, Omer has found a home for his music at Smalls, in New York City. Having played there steadily ever since its opening night in 1994, both as a leader of his own band as well as in the Jason Lindner Big Band, The Charles Owens Quartet, and numerous other groups, Omer has become one of the staples of this immensely popular and acclaimed jazz institution.

It is in these settings that Avital was able to hone an individual style that Toronto's Now Magazine described as "...an extraordinary struggle between sending music into warp speed to rearrange its deep structure and an irrepressible melodic thrust he keeps close enough to the surface to be tantalizingly perceptable. His virtuosity is obvious."

He lists his major influences the older founders of jazz such as Oscar Pettiford, Ray Brown, Paul Chambers and Sam Jones, as well as more contemporary musicians such as Scott LaFaro, Eddie Gomez, Charlie Hayden and Ron Carter.

At the age of 24 he founded the Omer Avital group, featuring bass, drums and four saxophones, which alternately includes Mark Turner, Greg Tardy, Charles Owens, Joel Frahm and Myron Walden, as well as drummers Ali Jackson and Joe Strasser.

Read more

Tags

8
Album Review

Yes! Trio: Spring Sings

Read "Spring Sings" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


With over twenty albums as leaders between them and two previous trio recordings including the widely acclaimed Groove Du Jour (jazz&people, 2019) the Yes! Trio--drummer Ali Jackson, bassist Omer Avital, and pianist Aaron Goldberg--light it up bright on Spring Sings!. An old school trio session, Spring Sings! is a jumpy (in a non-anxiety ridden way), spiky (ditto) and punchy (not punch drunk) affair that gets the ball rolling from the start with Jackson's most Ahmad Jamal-like title track. ...

11
Album Review

Omer Avital Qantar: New York Paradox

Read "New York Paradox" reviewed by Edward Blanco


Israeli bassist and composer Omer Avital and his group Qantar, offer their second album, New York Paradox, producing a musical sound in a unique, splashy and audacious style which is quite riveting. The uniqueness here extends to the members of this quintet who have formed a special bond which is quite evident when they are performing. All five players are Israeli-born and live in the Bed-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. For Avital, this is his twentieth-plus recording as leader ...

12
Album Review

Omer Avital/Qantar: New York Paradox

Read "New York Paradox" reviewed by Fiona Ord-Shrimpton


The world in its collective viral neurosis is in a cold sweat. What to do? Store shelves are empty, hands have never been cleaner, and if all goes wrong, salaries may soon rise for those who will work. In these trying times, some days you simply must “Avital"—Omer Avital understands this. Thanks to his latest album, New York Paradox , you can, that is you can eavesdrop on the newly broken horizons made through the “rhythmic and harmonic vocabularies underpinning ...

1
In Pictures

Omer Avital Quintet at Alba Jazz Festival

Read "Omer Avital Quintet at Alba Jazz Festival" reviewed by Antonio Baiano


Photos from the Omer Avital Quintet “Quantar" concert at the 13th Alba Jazz Festival, Alba, Italy, in Ferrero Square on June 9th. Featuring Alexander Levin, Asaf Yuria, Eden Lavin and Ofri Nehemya. ...

4
Radio & Podcasts

Omer Avital Qantar Live at BIMHUIS Amsterdam

Read "Omer Avital Qantar Live at BIMHUIS Amsterdam" reviewed by BIMHUIS


Qantar is the new quintet of composer and double bassist Omer Avital, who is known to lead his bands with such fervor that Downbeat has already compared him to the legendary Charles Mingus. In his music Omer Avital plays a captivating blend of jazz and middle-eastern influences, drawing from his Jewish and Arabic heritage. The result is an urban mixture of cultures, from eastern melodies to intoxicating North African desert blues. Omer Avital is part of ...

Live Review

Omer Avital Quintet al Teatro Manzoni di Milano

Read "Omer Avital Quintet al Teatro Manzoni di Milano" reviewed by Paolo Peviani


Omer Avital Quintet Aperitivo in Concerto Teatro Manzoni Milano 05.02.2017 Dopo qualche anno di assenza, torna a Milano il contrabbassista Omer Avital, tra i maggiori esponenti di quella scena musicale israeliana -con forte presenza/residenza a New York -che negli ultimi anni si sta rivelando tra le più attive ed interessanti a livello internazionale. Lo abbiamo ascoltato con il suo nuovo quintetto, che lo vede affiancato da un nucleo di giovani e ...

Album Review

Omer Avital: New Song

Read "New Song" reviewed by Neri Pollastri


Non a tutti noto in Italia, Omer Avital è uno di quei musicisti che, oltre vent'anni fa, avviarono l'onda di jazzisti israeliani nel jazz statunitense, assieme tra gli altri all'oggi affermatissimo contrabbassista Avishai Cohen. In questo lasso di tempo Avital ha collaborato con molti musicisti di primo piano e ha messo a punto una sua poetica piuttosto personale, che rimanda da un lato alla tradizione ebraica yemenita, dall'altro a quella araba marocchina, essendo quella l'origine del padre. Tutto ...

Read more articles
1

Recording

Yes! Trio: with Ali Jackson, Aaron Goldberg and Omer Avital release 'Spring Sings'

Yes! Trio: with Ali Jackson, Aaron Goldberg and Omer Avital release 'Spring Sings'

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

Four years after the success of Groove du Jour, named best album of the year in 2019 by the French Academie du Jazz, Yes! Trio is finally back! Strengthened by their differences, these musicians, who never seemed predisposed to meet—a drummer, scion of the great African-American jazz family; a hippie bassist with Yemenite and Moroccan roots; a bon ton Bostonian with a Harvard degree pianist—united by thirty years of love of swing continue to embrace jazz with the same happiness, ...

1

Recording

Bassist/Composer Omer Avital Delves Into The Culture Of His Homeland Through Jazz On His New Recording, "New Song," Available On Motema Music

Bassist/Composer Omer Avital Delves Into The Culture Of His Homeland Through Jazz On His New Recording, "New Song," Available On Motema Music

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

NYC CD Release Celebration! January 13 & 14, 2015 @ The Jazz Standard “One of the most exciting musicians to come onto the jazz scene in the last 20 years" —DownBeat Magazine “Duke Ellington made Far East Suite in 1966. Omer Avital's Suite of the East was recorded in 2006 but not released until now. The differences between the two albums reveal how the jazz art form evolved over 40 years. Far East Suite is sophisticated orchestral American jazz with ...

1

Recording

Bassist/Composer Omer Avital Delves Into The Culture Of His Homeland Through Jazz On His New Recording, New Song, Available On Motema Music - November 4, 2014

Bassist/Composer Omer Avital Delves Into The Culture Of His Homeland Through Jazz On His New Recording, New Song, Available On Motema Music - November 4, 2014

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

NYC CD Release Celebration! January 13 & 14, 2015 @ The Jazz Standard Omer Avital went on to cast a wide net of influence in NYC and beyond with a consistently creative and prolific output (releasing nine albums of original music since 2001, and at least eight others as a co-leader), and a steady stream of influential live performances at the finest jazz venues and festivals around the world. Avital also recorded and toured with Wynton Marsalis, Kenny Garrett, Brian ...

Interview

Israeli Jazz Musicians Make Mark

Israeli Jazz Musicians Make Mark

Source: Michael Ricci

Some two decades ago, bassist Omer Avital stepped off a plane from his native Israel and into a jazz scene in Manhattan’s West Village that was nearly devoid of his countrymen and their music. It was a lonely time, he said, and when he set up shop in Smalls, a dark and slightly tattered basement club that was, like Avital, struggling to build a reputation, he inevitably found his bands populated by Americans and his sets dominated by well-worn standards. ...

10

Performance / Tour

Bassist/composer Omer Avital Announces His New Band And An Upcoming Residency At Smalls

Bassist/composer Omer Avital Announces His New Band And An Upcoming Residency At Smalls

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

OMER AVITAL & His Band of The East In continued celebration of his new recording on Anzic Records, Suite of the East, bassist & composer Omer Avital announces his new band and a residency at Smalls Jazz Club in NYC, June 12, 19 and July 3, 10. June 12 - Featuring Greg Tardy - Tenor Saxophone, Itamar Borochov - Trumpet, Nadav Remez - Guitar, Omer Avital - Bass, Daniel Freedman - Drums June 19 - Featuring Greg Tardy - Tenor ...

23

Recording

Bassist/Composer Omer Avital Offers an Album of Celebratory & Expressionistic Music on Suite of The East

Bassist/Composer Omer Avital Offers an Album of Celebratory & Expressionistic Music on Suite of The East

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

Anzic Records to Release Suite of The East on April 24, 2012, featuring Omer Avital, Omer Klein, Avishai Cohen, Joel Frahm & Daniel Freedman Bassist/composer Omer Avital defines the words creative and prolific, with more than a half dozen new recordings of original music released over the past several years. Suite of The East, Avital's latest creation, to be released by Anzic Records on April 24, 2012, is the end result of a month-long residency at Smalls (in Greenwich Village, ...

102

Performance / Tour

The Omer Avital Group - "Free Forever" (Part 2 of 4 Part Series)

The Omer Avital Group - "Free Forever" (Part 2 of 4 Part Series)

Source: AAJ Staff

OVERVIEW: For those looking for a quick synopsis of Free Forever, and they don't get much pithier than this, I can satisfy your curiosity in three words: Go Get It. This album has so much to offer. When I looked at the release date, I was a bit shocked to see 2011; I've seen most of the “Best of 2011 Jazz Albums" posted online, but don't recall even seeing this mentioned. A quickly google search confirmed my suspicion. Ok, maybe ...

98

Recording

The Omer Avital Group - "Asking No Permission" (Part 1 of 4 Part Series)

The Omer Avital Group - "Asking No Permission" (Part 1 of 4 Part Series)

Source: AAJ Staff

Lately I've been listening to a recording by Omer Avital that has piqued my interests. Although I own three recordings with Avital as leader, one in particular has been getting the most play while the other two sit neglected. I was trying to decide which one to review first. Reviewing his newest release would help keep the site feeling fresh and up-to-date and would perhaps benefit more readers who are still on the fence over purchasing it. Reviewing his older ...

162

Recording

Flutist/Composer Itai Kriss Releases New CD "The Shark" Featuring Aaron Goldberg, Omer Avital, Eric McPherson, Avashai Cohen, and John Ellis.

Flutist/Composer Itai Kriss Releases New CD "The Shark" Featuring Aaron Goldberg, Omer Avital, Eric McPherson, Avashai Cohen, and John Ellis.

Source: Two for the Show Media

Flutist/Composer Itai Kriss releases new CD “The Shark" featuring Aaron Goldberg, Omer Avital, Eric McPherson, Avashai Cohen, & John Ellis. Backed by a hard-grooving rhythm section and stellar special guests Itai Kriss explores the junction of swinging Hard-bop, Caribbean rhythms and funky beats in the first record as a leader from the virtuoso flutist and composer. Itai Kriss is a dynamic flutist whose musical style encompasses Jazz, Latin and Middle Eastern sounds. Born into a musical household in Israel, to ...

389

Performance / Tour

Aaron Goldberg's Trio with Omer Avital and Eric Harland in Harrisburg on Sunday, February 20th

Aaron Goldberg's Trio with Omer Avital and Eric Harland in Harrisburg on Sunday, February 20th

Source: Michael Ricci

The Central Pennsylvania Friends of Jazz are proud to present the Aaron Goldberg Trio with Aaron Goldberg (piano), Omer Avital (bass) and Eric Harland (drums) on Sunday, February 20th, beginning at 6 PM. Opening at 5 pm will be the Bucknell University Jazz Band, under the direction of Barry Long. The concert will take place in the small ballroom at the The Hilton Harrisburg located at 1 North 2nd Street, Harrisburg PA 17101. Phone: 717-233-6000. Tickets are always available at ...

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Spring Sings

Jazz&People
2024

buy

Sea

Melech Music
2023

buy

New York Paradox

Jazz&People
2020

buy

Across The Sea

Jando Music/ Via Veneto Jazz
2019

buy

New Song

Motéma Music
2015

buy

Omer Avital: Free...

Unknown label
2011

buy

Sea

From: Sea
By Omer Avital

Videos

Similar

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.