YOTAM SILBERSTEIN

Yotam Silberstein, one of the leading jazz guitarists of his generation, has gained worldwide acclaim for a sound rich in bebop and blues as well as musical folklore from South America, North Africa and the Middle East, giving his music an increasingly global thrust. Fueled by a deep love of the jazz lineage and a joyful immersion in the Brazilian rhythms of choro, samba, frevo, as well as tango and other idioms, he approaches his wide-ranging influences with a meticulousness, conveying not just technical knowledge but also rich lived experience.

Yotam is also a member of the John Patitucci Trio; has toured extensively with the legendary Brazilian artist Ivan Lins; and has played with characteristic fire on Monty Alexander’s GRAMMY® nominated Harlem-Kingston Express; as well as on David Sanborn & Marcus Miller’s Time and the River. He has recorded and collaborated with some of the greatest figures in jazz including George Coleman, Charles McPherson, Jimmy Heath, James Moody, Roy Hargrove, Paquito D’Rivera, Toninho Horta, and Christian McBride and continues to tour all over the world.

Born in Tel Aviv and based in New York, Yotam was discovered at a young age by the great James Moody. Yotam has evolved into a highly influential artist of his day, hailed by JazzTimes for a musical output “struck through with passion and intimacy,” and by The New York Times as a player who “improvises in a cutting tone and writes heady original tunes that seem to tug the straight-ahead jazz tradition in new directions.” 

With his upcoming album Standards, Yotam is attempting something different. Known primarily for playing his own compositions on previous records, here he has turned almost exclusively to tunes written by others. With jazz veterans like George Coleman (tenor saxophone) and Billy Hart (drums), and contemporary masters like John Patitucci (bass) and Silberstein (guitars), there is little chance that the musical byplay will revert to cliché or nostalgia for the sake of itself. These are standards reconceived and brought to life by musicians whose entire careers have been devoted to playing jazz in a way that is spontaneous, inventive and fresh.