As a drummer, Ari Hoenig's success has been unprecedented. Growing up in Philadelphia, his parent's influence exposed Ari to a variety of alternative musical experiences. His father is a conductor and classical singer, his mother a violinist and pianist. Accordingly, at six years of age, Ari began studying the violin and piano. He began playing drums at age twelve and by age fourteen, he was honing his skills with other young jazz musicians at Philly clubs such as Ortlieb's Jazz Haus.
Ari attended the prestigious University of North Texas for three years, where he studied with Ed Soph while playing with the "One O'Clock" Lab Band. Wanting to be closer to New York City, in 1995 Ari transferred to William Patterson College in northern New Jersey. He soon found himself playing for legendary Philadelphia organist Shirley Scott and working regularly in New York City.
Shortly thereafter, Ari moved into Brooklyn, and since, has found himself playing extensively with variety of groups, including Jean Michel Pilc Trio, Kenny Werner Trio, Chris Potter Underground, Kurt Rosenwinkel Group, Joshua Redman Elastic band, Jazz Mandolin Project and bands led by Wayne Krantz, Mike Stern, Richard Bona, Pat Martino, Dave Leibman, and Bojan Z. He has also shared the stage with such artists as Herbie Hancock, Ivan Linz, Wynton Marsalis, Toots Theilmans, Dave Holland, Joe Lovano, Pat Metheny, and Gerry Mulligan.
The Ari Hoenig Quartet was formed at the end of 2002 while playing steadily every Monday night at the New York Village jazz club Fat Cat. The band featured Jacques Schwarz-Bart, on tenor sax, Jean Michel Pilc on piano and Matt Penman on bass. They released two records on the Smalls Records label: "The Painter" (2004) and the DVD "Kinetic Hues" (2005)
Both records received rave reviews and Fanfare Magazine listed "The Painter" as one of the top 5 records of 2004. Interviews and articles featuring Ari himself have appeared in numerous publications, including Jazz Times, Modern Drummer, Jazzman, Bateria, Citizen Jazz, Philadelphia City Paper, All About Jazz, Philadelphia Weekly, Rim Shot, Drummer, Jazziz, Relix and Downbeat, which included Ari in the article "13 Drummers for the Future." Ari's quartet was filmed live at Fat Cat by Arte (French) television as part of a concert series "Jazz in New York." They appeared on the show "After Hours" on MSNBC and toured extensively worldwide, drawing strong audiences and critical acclaim wherever they played.
In 2006 Ari signed a multi record deal with Dreyfus Records and released his first record for them, "Inversations." Inversations features Jean Michel Pilc, Johannes Weidenmueller. The fall of 2006 kicked off a long CD release tour, taking the group through Spain, Italy, and Finland, as well as various cities in the U.S.
Currently Ari leads two bands which both play his original music. Ari's Quartet, a.k.a. "Punk Bop," features Will Vinson on alto, Jonathan Kreisberg or Gilad Hekselman on guitar, and Matt Penman on bass. Ari looks forward to his next Dreyfus release on which "Punk Bop" will be joined by Chris Potter on tenor. Ari's other group is a trio that he co-leads with longtime partner pianist Jean Michel Pilc. After playing in each other's trios for some time, Ari and Jean Michel formed the Hoenig Pilc Project in 2006 to meld their two trios into a single, uniquely bold musical statement. Ari plays often with these two groups at his regular Monday night gig at Smalls in the Village. He also uses this gig to present other side projects and experiments he is working on at the time.
Both of Ari's self-produced solo drum CDs, "Time Travels" (2000) and "The Life Of A Day" (2002), document his exploratory nature. They represent an ambitious tribute to the melodic possibilities of the drum set. Ari continues to build on the concepts of these two records by playing largely improvised solo concerts using a regular four piece drum kit and no percussion. In January and Febuary of 2007, Ari played solo drum concerts in the Opera House in Leon France; in New York City's 55 Bar; and for a live broadcast on Philadelphia radio station WRTI.
Ari is also a composer, arranger, and pianist/keyboardist. His compositions and arrangements are included in the repertoires and recordings of Kenny Werner, Jean Michel Pilc, Jazz Mandolin Project, the R & B band "Good Results," and Bojan Z's group. In 2005, in affiliation with the National Endowment for the Arts, Ari was awarded a "Meet the Composer" grant to perform his compositions with his own group.
As an educator, Ari teaches privatly at the New School for Social Research in New York. He gives clinics and lectures at music schools and universities worldwide, and writes a regular educational column for Modern Drummer magazine. In collaboration with bassist Johannes Weidenmueller, Ari has finished a book on metric modulations due out in 2007(Mel Bay Publishing).
weblinks:
www.arihoenig.com
www.myspace.com/arihoenig

Gilad Hekselman has been developing a reputation as one of the most promising guitarists in New York since his arrival in 2004. After only a few years this native Israeli has shared the stage with some of the greatest artists in the New York City jazz scene including Chris Potter, Mark Turner, John Scofield, Anat Cohen, Ari Hoenig, Esperanza Spalding, Sam Yahel, Jeff Ballard, Gretchen Parlato, Avishai Cohen, Jeff 'Tain' Watts, Tigran Hamasyan, Aaron Parks and Greg Hutchinson.
Gilad has played all major jazz clubs in New York City including the Blue Note, The Jazz Standard, Dizzy's Club and Smalls. He is constantly touring world-wide and has played most noteworthy jazz festivals including Montreux (Sui), North Sea (Ned), Montreal (Can) & San Francisco (USA).
Gilad is the winner of the 2005 Gibson Montreux International Guitar Competition. He opened for guitar legend Paco de Lucia at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2006, which led to a string of performances at the IAJE Conference and at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola in New York.
That same year Gilad released his debut album SplitLife (Smalls Records) recorded with bassist Joe Martin and drummer Ari Hoenig. It received rave reviews from the press as did his second album, Words Unspoken (LateSet Records), recorded and released in 2008 with Joe Martin, drummer Marcus Gilmore and tenor saxophonist Joel Frahm.
In 2009, Gilad recorded three tracks for Walt Disney Records, one of which was included in the record Everybody Wants To Be a Cat (2011). The album features versions to Disney songs played by a top-shelf lineup of musicians including Dave Brubeck, Joshua Redman, Esperanza Spalding, Diane Reeves, Roy Hargrove, Kurt Rosenwinkel, The Bad Plus and many other jazz legends.
In the spring of 2010 Gilad recorded his third album, Hearts Wide Open, with Joe Martin on bass, Marcus Gilmore on drums and world-renowned saxophonist Mark Turner, a project that Gilad defined at the time as his "best recorded work so far". The record received rave reviews globally and was featured in many Best-of-2011 lists such as New York Times, Amazon and iTunes.
*Gilad performs on handcrafted guitars made by Victor Baker.
In April of 2013, Gilad released his fourth album, This Just In, under the JazzVillage label of Harmonia Mundi. Recorded and engineered in New York by Michael Cisneros Perez, the new album features Gilad Hekselman, Joe Martin, and Marcus Gilmore also showcases Mark Turner on three titles.
Born in Israel in 1983, Gilad studied classical piano from age 6 and began studying guitar at the age of 9. From age 12 to 14 he performed regularly with the band of a weekly children's television show. He attended the prestigious Thelma Yellin School of Arts, graduating with excellence from the jazz department at age 18. Gilad received the America - Israel Cultural Foundation Scholarship for studies abroad to attend The New School in New York, where he completed his BFA in performing arts in 2008.

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Joe Martin is one of the most sought-after bassists on the current New York City jazz scene. Known for his warm sound, facile ear, harmonic flexibility, and lyrical solos, he has performed with a diverse range of musicians including Andy Bey, Vinicius Cantuaria, Bill Charlap, Billy Drummond, Art Farmer, Aaron Goldberg, Jon Gordon, Ari Hoenig, Joel Frahm, Ethan Iverson, Guillermo Klein, Ivan Lins, Lionel Loueke, Bill McHenry, John McNeil, Brad Mehldau, Mingus Big Band, Ben Monder, Jane Monheit, Chris Potter, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Jaleel Shaw, Edward Simon, Mark Turner, and many others. He has performed on dozens of recordings as a sideman and has two critically acclaimed recordings as a leader, "Not By Chance" (Anzic) featuring Chris Potter, Brad Mehldau, Marcus Gilmore, and "Passage" (FSNT) which features Mark Turner, Kevin Hays, and Jorge Rossy. Continuous musical dialogue amongst great musicians is a major source of inspiration for Joe. Composition is another indispensable component to Joe's musical world.
Born in Kansas City in 1970, Joe grew up surrounded by music in Pella, Iowa. His father, a
retired music history professor, was clarinetist with the Des Moines Symphony for 28 years, and his mother, a librarian by profession, is an amateur violinist. His younger brother Phil is a drummer who resides in Chicago. He listened regularly to his parents' extensive classical music collection, which also included records by Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, Miles Davis, and George Shearing. His grandfather was a jazz pianist who played nightclub and dancegigs in Joplin, Missouri. On family visits, his grandfather taught him many of the great American standards. Growing up in this nourishing musical environment gave Joe his deep love and respect for all music.
Joe began his musical studies on cello at age seven. He also played trumpet in his school band. At age fifteen he picked up the electric bass and with encouragement from his parents, band director, and Des Moines bassist Susie Miget, took the instrument home for the summer. He felt an immediate rapport with the bass, playing by ear and learning bass lines he heard on the radio. Initially drawn to progressive rock, he also listened to fusion and funk players like Stanley Clarke, Ralphe Armstrong, Larry Graham, and Jaco Pastorious, By the end of high school he had also begun playing the string bass and listening to Ray Brown, Paul Chambers, Scott LaFaro, and Ron Carter. Joe attended DePaul University in Chicago on an academic scholarship, but continued his bass study with Larry Gray, with whom he studied both classical and jazz. After two years he craved a more intensive jazz environment and transferred to William Paterson College in New Jersey, where he studied with Todd Coolman, Rufus Reid, and Harold Mabern. During this period he frequented New York City jazz clubs and heard veteran bassists like Ron Carter, Charlie Haden, Ray Drummond, George Mraz as well as younger players like Bob Hurst, Larry Grenadier, ChristianMcBride, and Peter Washington. Joe earned a Bachelor of Music degree magna cum laude in 1994 and subsequently moved to New York City. Since then, the experience he has gained performing with jazz legends, as well as his contemporaries, continues to further his growth and maturity as a musician.
weblinks:
www.joemartinbass.com
www.facebook.com/joemartinbass

Gilad Hekselman

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Ari Hoenig Quartet