“If you visit a big city like New York or London, you realise that there are more and more restaurants that feature flavours from all over the world, which are then combined to create new dishes. Well, that’s what I try to do with my music.” This is how Avi Lebovich, 36, describes his perpetual search for new sounds and he goes on to explain the reasons why in 2003 he decided to form a new band made up of 13 very talented musicians, all of whom are under 40, “to find new common paths where political solutions continue to fail. I’m not a talent scout,” says Lebovich, “but I try to do for others what the great Slide Hampton did for me in New York: he saw a young talent and provided him with the opportunity to play for an audience.”
The new Israeli alternative music scene immediately narrates the vitality and the tensions of its young people who dream, create and make plans. Avi Lebovich and the Israeli Jazz Orchestra propose a repertoire that features an improvisational tradition of Afro-American origin along with Middle Eastern echoes, Arab sounds, traditional rhythms from the Mediterranean region, Yemenite melodies and unique instruments like the oud, but also pages from Radiohead, classic jazz pieces as well as funk, jungle and salsa music. Lebovich, a virtuoso musician who is one of the most talented pupils of the legendary trombone player Slide Hampton, boasts an already brilliant international career and has worked with some of the world’s most renowned jazz musicians, including Milt Jackson, Chik Corea, James Moody, Tom Harrell, Manny Oquendo, Chico O'Farrell, Claudio Roditti and many others. Pianist Larry Willis, who heard Lebovich play at the Smalls Jazz Club, was so impressed with his abilities that he immediately provided him with the opportunity to record his first CD, Shades of Brass with Jimmy Cobb, Slide Hampton and Willis himself. That was the turning point for his career. “I was invited to play with Incognito,” continues Avi, “a very popular group from London and I ended up staying in the City for two years, during which time I had the opportunity to create arrangements for Phillip Bailey of Earth Wind and Fire for two of the group’s singles. London gave me the chance to explore funk and pop music. Upon my return to New York I cut my second album, Constant Chase with contributions from Antonio Sanches, Claudia Acuna, Louis Perdomo, Avishai Cohen, Dafna Mor, Raffi Malkiel, Alex Norris and Kim Smith. And then... other albums and… much more, up to this evening’s concert, at which I will be accompanied by Alon Farber, Amit Friedman, Lior Levin and Tal Varon on saxophones, Roy Harmon on the trumpet, Yaron Uozan on the trombone, Ziv Reiner on guitar, Mickey Whashai on base, Ron Almog on drums, Arthur Krasnobaev on the trumpet, Maya Belsitzman on the cello and Ekaterina Toobool on piano and keyboards”.



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