Asaf Yuria was born in June 1985. He started playing the saxophone at the age of nine and began playing at local clubs in Tel Aviv while still a teenager. By the time he reached high school, Asaf was performing with some of Israel’s finest musicians including Arnie Lawrens, Jess Koren, Amit Golan, Amos Hoffman, Ofer Ganor and Harold Rubin, to name a few.
Since he graduated from the renowned New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in 2012, Asaf performed with a variety of musicians including Jimmy Cobb, Kirk Lightsy, Billy Kaye, Joe Magnarely and Eddie Henderson.
Most recently, Asaf has become an indispensable feature of jazz maverick Omer Avital’s world-renowned quintet – an achievement that signals his arrival at the pinnacle of the jazz world. He is currently living in New York, where he leads his own quintet, performing his original music and had just released his first Album 'Papa Wawa' with ZAMZAMA records.

Being great within a tradition for a long time can lead to being overlooked, and the jazz pianist George Cables has some experience with that. Mr. Cables, Brooklyn-born, now 69, was a first-call jazz sideman in the ’70s and ’80s, with groups led by Art Blakey, Woody Shaw, Joe Henderson and Art Pepper, among others; he’s long been a presence, though not often a high-visibility one. This year he made a deeply beautiful record as a leader, “Icons and Influences” (HighNote), which recognizes some old masters and some old friends, including Mulgrew Miller and Cedar Walton, who both died last year. But it also makes a case for Mr. Cables himself as a significant leader and arranger of the jazz trio. Time to focus on him. He made a memorable live record at the Village Vanguard as Pepper’s pianist in 1977; from Tuesday to Sunday he’ll work at that club as a leader, with the bassist Essiet Okon Essiet and the drummer Victor Lewis. (178 Seventh Avenue South, West

Born in Panama in 1955, Santi moved to New York at age four. His father, a Panamanian pianist- composer, sparked Santi's early interest in music. By 9, he was studying classical bass in a New York City school for gifted children. In junior high school he switched to guitar, playing regularly with a jazz-rock group. At age 14 he heard his first live jazz, a Billy Taylor Trio school show. Santi was an instant convert: jazz was the music he wanted to play.
At Union College he led the school's jazz workshop, playing both guitar and bass, and taking his first composition lessons. A year at the New England Conservatory brought Santi back to full time bass playing. An offer to tour with Archie Shepp cut short his studies; he played with Archie for the next four years.
In 1981 Santi moved to Paris where he played with Sam Rivers and led his own groups. Most notable was one with Chico Freeman, Billy Hart and Kenny Werner. That group was also the first major group to feature his originalsthe begining of an ever-deepening commitment to composing.
Returning to the New York scene in 1985, Santi was soon playing and recording regularly with giants like Don Pullen, Pharoah Sanders, Louis Hayes and Arthur Blythe. Within a couple of years he was again leading his own groups, including an innovative double bass quintet and Euforia, a Brazilian-flavored trio playing his and Paul Meyer's compositions.
Playing and touring actively in the early 90s, Santi also started graduate studies at Wesleyan in ethnomusicology and world music. Out of these interests grew his current band, Circlechant, combining influences and musicians from Brazil, Israel, Belize, Cuba and Panama. At the same time, his academic career is flourishing: he is currently Assistant Professor of Jazz Studies at UMass.
Santi continues to compose prolifically and to play with greats of jazz like Hank Jones, Larry Coryell, Randy Weston, Freddie Hubbard and Cecil Taylor.
Since his first record date in 1987, Santi has appeared on over 100 recordings, including eight as leader. His previous Mapleshade CDs are Jazznost with Walter Davis Jr., The Offering with David Murray and Euforia.

Hart was born in Washington D.C. on November 29, 1940.His first steady gigs of note were with Shirley Horn and Buck Hill. In the 1960's he toured with Jimmy Smith, Wes Montgomery, Eddie Harris, and Pharoah Sanders. In 1970 he joined Herbie Hancock's Sextet, and after that band broke up in 1973 he joined first McCoy Tyner (two years) and then Stan Getz (four). In the 1980's Hart was a regular with many bands and leaders: Gerry Mulligan, Billy Harper, Clark Terry, The New York Jazz Quartet, the Jazztet, Mingus Dynasty and most extensively with Quest (with David Liebman, Ritchie Beirach, and Ron McClure). In the 1990's Hart was a member of the Charles Lloyd, Joe Lovano, and Tom Harrell groups, and in 1999 he began performing with the Three Tenors (Liebman, Lovano, and Michael Brecker). He is on about 500 hundred records as a sideman.Billy Hart's own records include: Enchance (1977, A&M Horizon) with Dewey Redman, Marvin Hannibal Peterson, Eddie Henderson, Oliver Lake, Don Pullen, Buster Williams, and Dave HollandSuch Great Friends (1983, Strata East) with Billy Harper, Stanley Cowell, and Reggie Workman.Oshumare (1985, Gramavision) with Steve Coleman, Branford Marsalis, Didier Lockwood, Kenny Kirkland, Bill Frisell, Kevin Eubanks, Mark Grey, and Dave HollandGreat Friends (1986, Evidence) with Sonny Fortune, Billy Harper, Stanley Cowell, and Reggie WorkmanRah (1987, Gramavision) with Dave Liebman, Kenny Kirkland, Eddie Henderson, Ralph Moore, Kevin Eubanks, Bill Frisell, Mark Grey, Eddie Gomez, Buster Williams, and Caris VisentinAmethyst (1993, Arabesque) with John Stubblefield, Mark Feldman, David Fiuczynski, David Kikoski, Marc Copland, and Santi DebrianoOceans of Time (1996, Arabesque) with John Stubblefield, Chris Potter, Mark Feldman, David Fiuczynski, David Kikoski, and Santi DebrianoSince the early 1990's Billy Hart has devoted a lot of time to teaching.He spends considerable time at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, but he is also adjunct faculty at the New England Conservatory of Music and Western Michigan University.He also teaches private lessons through The New School and New York University,and often contributes to the Stokes Forest Music Camp and the Dworp Summer Jazz Clinic in Belgium.Billy Hart plays Pearl Drums and Zildjian cymbals.Weblinks:www.billyhartmusic.com

Asaf Yuria

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Asaf Yuria Quartet