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Shai Maestro

Shai Maestro (1987) is one of the most promising and talented pianists of his generation. Since his debut with his own trio in 2011, Shai has shaped a strong and unique personal identity and has portrayed an incredible musical fluidity, making Shai and his band one of the most powerful and harmonious groups in the jazz today.

2018 marked an important year for Shai, signing with major jazz label ECM and recording his first album “The Dream Thief” there, featuring his trio, but also him as a solo-pianist. Introspective, lyrical, virtuosic and differentiated.

In its review of ‘The Dream Thief’, All About Jazz spoke of “a searching lyrical atmosphere, emotional eloquence and communal virtuosity that serves the music.” All of which also applies to ‘Human’, Shai’s latest release on ECM, where Maestro’s outgoing, highly-communicative band with fellow Israeli Ofri Nehemya on drums and Peruvian bassist Jorge Roeder becomes a quartet with the inspired addition of US trumpeter Philip Dizack. Shai’s expansive pianism is well-matched by Dizack’s alert, quick-thinking approach to improvising. And, as ever, Maestro is taking the music forward while also respecting its sense of tradition. ‘Human’ was recorded at Studios la Buissonne in the South of France in February 2020, and produced by Manfred Eicher.

Shai Maestro began playing classical piano at age five and graduated with honors from the Thelma Yellin High School of Performing Arts in Givataim, Israel. After winning the National Jazz Ensembles Competition “Jazz Signs” in 2002 and 2003 and receiving excellency scholarships 2004-2010 from the America-Israel Cultural Fund for jazz piano, Maestro attended Berklee College of Music’s Five-Week Summer Performance Program in Boston, where he was awarded a full scholarship to attend Berklee full-time—an offer Maestro ultimately declined.

Maestro’s intuitions proved right: just a few weeks later, he received a phone call from bassist Avishai Cohen, known for his long-time collaboration with Chick Corea as well as for his successful band-leading career. The bassist called to invite Maestro to join the Avishai Cohen Trio with drummer Mark Guiliana. Maestro recorded four albums with the Avishai Cohen Trio, including two on Blue Note Records: Gently Disturbed (2008), Sensitive Hours (2008), Aurora (2009), and Seven Seas (2011). The trio toured the world and played at some of the world’s most renowned venues and festivals.

In July 2010, Maestro formed his own trio and just a few months later, recorded their well-received first album, ‘Shai Maestro Trio’, for the French label Laborie Jazz. The trio began an intense schedule of touring the world, playing up to 80 concerts a year and sharing stages with groups led by Chick Corea, Tigran Hamasyan, Esperanza Spalding, and Diana Krall. In 2012, the trio released their second album for Laborie Jazz, entitled ‘The Road to Ithaca’, making an even more personal and intimate statement, going back to the essence of their being: unedited and raw.

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Album Review

Mark Guiliana Jazz Quartet: The Sound Of Listening

Read "The Sound Of Listening" reviewed by Chris May


There is something tantalisingly out of reach on the Mark Guiliana Jazz Quartet's The Sound Of Listening. It is not “difficult" music, but it is cryptic. After multiple replays the code remains unbroken. It seems something important is going on but... what exactly? It is rather like encountering Guiliana's fellow New Yorker, tenor saxophonist Oded Tzur for the first time. The music is not alien, but there is something deeply different about it. Coincidentally, Guiliana's pianist on ...

Live Review

I Poeti del Piano Solo 2021

Read "I Poeti del Piano Solo 2021" reviewed by Neri Pollastri


I poeti del piano solo Musicus Concentus Firenze Sala Vanni 1-3.10.2021 Seconda edizione della rassegna fiorentina I Poeti del Piano Solo, organizzata da Musicus Concentus con la direzione artistica di Stefano Maurizi, ancora una volta articolata su tre appuntamenti in giorni successivi e per l'occasione dedicata a pianisti trentenni, già ben affermati e di grandi prospettive. Ha inaugurato la serie, venerdì 1 Ottobre, il romano Enrico Zanisi, che si è presentato con ...

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Interview

Shai Maestro: Human, All Too Human

Read "Shai Maestro: Human, All Too Human" reviewed by Scott Krane


ECM recording artist and erstwhile pianist for bassist, Avishai Cohen, Shai Maestro is both a firebrand and a lightning rod. Human, his sixth record as leader and second for ECM, features Jorge Roeder on bass, Ofri Nehemya on drums, and, making his debut in Maestro's combo, Philip Dizack on trumpet. Creamy and richly layered, Human flirts with free-time and soulful, yet dynamic, piano expression. The man of the hour showed up for the virtual interview wearing a grey ...

14
Album Review

Shai Maestro: Human

Read "Human" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


That pianist Shai Maestro dreams music is an understatement: With an intense romanticist's heart, he also plays in said dream state. And it is re-affirming to know that, after the hellish year the world has been dragged kicking through, that we can all dream too. Human dreams broadly with sunrises, sunsets and all the vulnerability in-between. Amid his steadfast and quick-witted rhythm section-- drummer and fellow Israeli Ofri Nehemya and Peruvian bassist Jorge Roede--Maestro adds the equally impassioned ...

15
Album Review

Shai Maestro: Human

Read "Human" reviewed by Chris May


After paying his dues with Avishai Cohen, with whose Trio he recorded four well received albums, pianist Shai Maestro cut loose on his own, debuting with Shai Maestro Trio (Laborie) in 2013. Human is Maestro's sixth own-name album and his second on ECM, followingThe Dream Thief in 2018. The new disc is elegant, expansive, emotionally charged and beautiful. It contains ten Maestro originals and one cover, a playful version Duke Ellington's “In A Sentimental Mood." This time ...

24
Album Review

Ben Wendel: High Heart

Read "High Heart" reviewed by Mike Jacobs


If Ben Wendel's fifth outing as a leader High Heart shows anything, it's that the saxophonist is ever advancing. While this may seem a fait accompli for a card-carrying member of the shapeshifting collective Kneebody, Wendel's worthy solo efforts have been notably more in a traditionally-sounding vein and thus his innovations were perhaps a bit less readily evident to ears acclimated to that other side of his resume. And yes, by comparison to Kneebody, High Heart still tacks toward a ...

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Radio & Podcasts

Shai Maestro Trio At BIMHUIS Amsterdam

Read "Shai Maestro Trio At BIMHUIS Amsterdam" reviewed by BIMHUIS


Shai Maestro began playing classical piano at the age of five an,d after discovering Oscar Peterson at the age of eight, he fell in love with jazz. After turning down offers from prestigious American music schools, at 19 he joined the band led by bassist Avishai Cohen featuring Mark Guiliana on drums. With that trio he toured with great success all over the world. A few years back he moved to Brooklyn, where he formed his own trio in 2011. ...

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Performance / Tour

Camila Meza Appearing At Rockwood Music Hall - April 23 - With Shai Maestro, Kendrick Scott & Rick Rosato!

Camila Meza Appearing At Rockwood Music Hall - April 23 - With Shai Maestro, Kendrick Scott & Rick Rosato!

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

SATURDAY, APRIL 23, 2016 Vocalist/Guitarist/Composer Camila Meza Continues Her Celebration of Traces LIVE AT ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL (STAGE 3) at 11:15pm Camila Meza, Shai Maestro, Rick Rosato & Kendrick Scott Traces is available on iTunes, Sunnyside Records, Amazon CAMILA MEZA continues the celebration of her brilliant, critically-acclaimed new album, Traces, with an appearance at Rockwood Music Hall- Stage @ 11:15 PM on Saturday, April 23, 2016. Camila will be joined by Shai Maestro on ...

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Recording

Motema Music Proudly Releases "Untold Stories" From Pianist/Composer Shai Maestro

Motema Music Proudly Releases "Untold Stories" From Pianist/Composer Shai Maestro

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity

CD RELEASE CELEBRATIONS: SEPTEMBER 29 @ THE JAZZ STANDARD, NYC NOVEMBER 7 @ EXIT 0 JAZZ FESTIVAL, CAPE MAY, NJ “He's developed on the piano a fluidity and hot intensity normally found in molten lava, with rapid improvisatory ideas spewing as if shot out of a volcano. Maestro's third album as a leader, features his current trio of bassist Jorge Roeder and drummer Ziv Ravitz. The band is a welcome and entry into the hallowed hall of ...

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Concerts

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Higher Grounds

Outside in Music
2022

buy

The Sound Of Listening

Edition Records
2022

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Same Moon in the Same...

Outside in Music
2022

buy

Human

ECM Records
2021

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High Heart

Edition Records
2020

buy

Haven't Meta Yet

From: Same Moon in the Same World
By Shai Maestro

I Fall In Love Too Easily

From: Higher Grounds
By Shai Maestro

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