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Sam Yahel

One of the more distinctive voices among a new breed of Hammond B-3 organ players on the jazz scene, Sam Yahel has earned the top spot in Down Beat's annual International Critics Poll as a Talent Deserving Of Recognition for the past four consecutive years.

Since moving to New York in 1990, Yahel has worked with a string of notable jazz artists including tenor saxophonists Joshua Redman and Eric Alexander, former James Brown sideman and alto sax great Maceo Parker, guitarists Peter Bernstein and Bill Frisell, trumpeters Ryan Kisor and Jim Rotondi, vocalists HYPERLINK Norah Jones (on her Grammy-winning Come Away With Me), Lizz Wright, and Madeleine Peyroux.

But it has been as a solo artist in his own right that Yahel has made his most personal statements as both composer and player.

On Truth and Beauty, his fourth outing as a leader, Yahel joins with longtime colleagues Joshua Redman and drummer Brian Blade in rekindling the potent chemistry they generated as Yaya3, a collective group that was an outgrowth of a residency they had at Small's nightclub in New York. "I'm proud of that record. I like Yaya3 (which was released by Warner Bros. in 2003). But at the same time I was always thinking about doing something purely of my own."

And while Yahel had previously released three recordings as a leader -- 1998's Searchin', 1999's Trio and 2000's In The Blink of an Eye -- his current outing is his strongest to date. "This record is not so much about the straight-ahead swinging undercurrent of the rhythm section," says Sam. "These days I feel like jazz has absorbed more world music influences. I hear Brazilian, African and Cuban music elements starting to seep into the mainstream jazz scene and I find myself drawing from those influences more. And for me, the organ is the perfect instrument to implement that kind of thing because you can really get rhythmic and percussive on it, you can evoke images and sounds just as easily as swinging. And although I'm a big fan of straight ahead swinging music and I still play it with pleasure, I think that this record is more of a foray into the other side."

With Truth and Beauty, Yahel once again stakes out his own territory on the Hammond B-3 organ while taking another important stride as a bandleader and composer.

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Liner Notes

Ryan Kisor: Awakening

Read "Ryan Kisor: Awakening" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan


A man of few words, Ryan Kisor chooses to let his horn do the speaking and obviously it has said volumes over the years when you consider that the trumpeter is one of a select few musicians who has managed to sustain a viable career past the heydays of the jazz renaissance of the '80s and early '90s. Even when given the opportunity to elaborate on his most recent musical endeavors, Kisor states quite simply, “I'm pretty much just doing ...

6
Album Review

Laila Biali: Your Requests

Read "Your Requests" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


While the jazz pipeline produces plenty of artists who pay no mind to an audience's interests, those types--figures with tunnel vision, in many if not most ways--rarely reach their full potential. Instead, it's the musicians who make it a point to communicate who tend to forge the strongest bonds with those on the receiving end. Laila Biali is one such figure. This JUNO-winning gem of a vocalist, pianist, arranger and songwriter always manages to connect. Biali has a keen awareness ...

5
Album Review

Will Bernard: Ancient Grains

Read "Ancient Grains" reviewed by Kyle Simpler


In the culinary world, ancient grains is a term used to describe grains that have been virtually unchanged for centuries but are often used in modern recipes. Will Bernard uses this idea as a metaphor in his album Ancient Grains. The basic concept is that the instruments used in this recording, such as guitars, organ, amplifiers and drums, are vintage in different ways. Some are actually vintage instruments while others are based on designs of vintage instruments. As with the ...

244
Live Review

Sam Yahel Trio: New York, NY, July 17, 2011

Read "Sam Yahel Trio: New York, NY, July 17, 2011" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Sam Yahel Trio The Village Vanguard New York, NY July 17, 2011 The world has changed in numerous and startling ways since pianist Bill Evans recorded Sunday At The Village Vanguard (Riverside, 1961) a half century ago, but two things remain as consistent as the rising and setting of the sun: The Village Vanguard still presents the best that jazz has to offer, and boundary-pushing piano trios are still an important part of the mix that ...

390
Album Review

Sam Yahel: Hometown

Read "Hometown" reviewed by J Hunter


Sam Yahel has made the grade. His signature Hammond B3 sound--appearing on both his own work and on recordings by Joshua Redman, Bill Frisell, and Norah Jones--has identified him as one of the players that will take Jimmy Smith's favorite instrument deep into the 21st century. So what does Yahel do on Hometown, his fifth disc as a leader? He puts the organ in the closet and does a piano-trio record, which believe it or not, is a good move. ...

453
Album Review

Sam Yahel Trio: Truth and Beauty

Read "Truth and Beauty" reviewed by Celeste Sunderland


Sam Yahel's Hammond B3 organ has been paired with stars like Norah Jones, Madeleine Peyroux, Maceo Parker and Bill Frisell, but with his fourth album as a leader, the organist reveals his own voice. It's confident, clever and gleefully vibrant. With saxophonist Joshua Redman and drummer Brian Blade, two stars in their own right, Yahel has formed an album that hovers in the most supple, downy realm of jazz. The trio embarked on a musical expedition together several ...

310
Album Review

Sam Yahel Trio: Truth and Beauty

Read "Truth and Beauty" reviewed by John Kelman


Much as organist Larry Goldings, guitarist Peter Bernstein and drummer Bill Stewart have worked together for many years--specific direction resting with the name heading the marquis--so, too, have keyboardist Sam Yahel, saxophonist Joshua Redman and drummer Brian Blade been working together under a variety of monikers over the past five years. Whether it's the cooperative Yaya3, Redman's Elastic Band or the Sam Yahel Trio, what differentiates each group is who chooses/contributes the material and, in the case of Redman's Elastic ...

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Interview

A Jazz Pianist Who Has Honed His Style While Hiding in Plain Sight

A Jazz Pianist Who Has Honed His Style While Hiding in Plain Sight

Source: Michael Ricci

Sam Yahel played his own song “Truth and Beauty" around the middle of his early set on Tuesday night at the Village Vanguard. In the past hes recorded it on Hammond organ, in a different group, with saxophone and drums. Here he was playing it on the piano, with the bassist Matt Penman and the drummer Jochen Rckert, and it had a different personality: first more tense, with its crowded contrapuntal opening, then more permissive and abstract. Lots of space ...

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Performance / Tour

Sam Yahel Trio Live at the Village Vanguard - Tuesday, April 13th, 2010 thru Sunday, April 18th, 2010

Sam Yahel Trio Live at the Village Vanguard - Tuesday, April 13th, 2010 thru Sunday, April 18th, 2010

Source: Two for the Show Media

Pianist /Composer Sam Yahel will be performing with his Trio (featuring Matt Penman on bass, Jochen Rueckert on drums) at The Village Vanguard in NYC from Tuesday, April 13th, 2010 thru Sunday, April 18th, 2010.

Sam Yahel Trio:

Sam Yahel - Piano Matt Penman - bass, Jochen Rueckert - drums

The Village Vanguard- 178 7th Ave. South New York City

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010 thru Sunday April 18th, 2010

Set times- 9:00 PM & 11:00 PM ...

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Recording

Celebrate Posi-Tone Records Download Week: Free MP3s by David Binney, Sean Nowell, Mike DiRubbo, Sam Yahel and David Gibson

Celebrate Posi-Tone Records Download Week: Free MP3s by David Binney, Sean Nowell, Mike DiRubbo, Sam Yahel and David Gibson

Source: Michael Ricci

Download five free MP3s courtesy of Posi-Tone Record.

For All Intensive Purposes (06:52) Sean Nowell From: The Seeker Posi-Tone Records Nelsonian (07:25) Mike DiRubbo From: Repercussion Posi-Tone Records Everybody's Wonderland (05:34) David Binney/Alan Ferber From: In The Paint Posi-Tone Records Hometown (05:37) Sam Yahel From: Hometown Posi-Tone Records French Press (05:06)

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Radio

The Jazz Session #80: Sam Yahel

The Jazz Session #80: Sam Yahel

Source: Michael Ricci

Listen Sam Yahel is best known as an organist who has performed and recorded with Joshua Redman, Bill Frisell, Norah Jones, Lizz Wright, Ryan Kisor, Madeleine Peyroux and many others. He started as a pianist, though, a side he showcases on his new album, Hometown (Posi-Tone, 2009). In this interview, Yahel talks about his decision to make a piano recording, how his organ playing has added to his piano playing, and the influence of Malian singer Oumou Sangar (after whom ...

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Performance / Tour

Sam Yahel Trio with Lionel Loueke and Francisco Mela at the Jazz Standard, November 27-28

Sam Yahel Trio with Lionel Loueke and Francisco Mela at the Jazz Standard, November 27-28

Source: All About Jazz

Sam Yahel Trio Sam Yahel - organ Lionel Loueke - guitar (27th) Peter Bernstein - guitar (28th) Francisco Mela - drums The Jazz Standard New York, NY November 27-28th Sets at 7:30pm and 9:30pm $20

Free MP3 Download Saba Sam Yahel From Truth And Beauty 7:53 One of the most distinctive voices ...

"...Clearly one of the most promising new organists on the New York City and International scene..." --Michael G. Nascos, Jazziz
Matthieu Marthouret
organ, Hammond B3
Boaz Marva
guitar
Tal Klein
piano

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Your Requests

Empress Music Group (North America) / ACT Music (Europe) / CORE PORT (Japan)
2023

buy

Sea

Melech Music
2023

buy

Ancient Grains

Posi-Tone Records
2021

buy

The Optimist

Igloo Records
2019

buy

Hometown

Posi-Tone Records
2009

buy

Sea

From: Sea
By Sam Yahel

Bye Bye Blackbird

From: Your Requests
By Sam Yahel

2 Pilgrims

From: From Sun to Sun
By Sam Yahel

Saba

From: Truth and Beauty
By Sam Yahel

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