Introducing Guitarist Ely Perlman

This article first appeared in Jersey Jazz Magazine.

After graduating from Israel's Thelma Yellin High School for the Performing Arts about four years ago, guitarist Ely Perlman came to the United States to attend Boston's Berklee College of Music. The summer before school started, he went to the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Academy, a music education program in Aspen, CO, directed by bassist Christian McBride.

"It was June 2021," the 26-year-old Perlman recalled, "during the last period of Covid. Christian was just forming his band, Ursa Major. About four or five months later, he offered me a chance to join the band. It was an incredible honor. We all got together in June 2022. We did a two-week run and since then we've been playing all over the world."

In addition to Perlman, the Ursa Major quintet, which will be performing at the Montclair Jazz Festival, includes tenor saxophonist Nicole Glover, pianist Mike King , and drummer Savannah Harris. When the quintet played at Britain's Love Supreme Jazz Festival in July 2024, UK Jazz News' Adam McCulloch described the young band members as "phenomenal and characterful musicians still in their 20s and early 30s. Each contributed delightfully contrasting solos: Nicole Glover has a thoughtful, dexterous narrative approach on tenor; Savannah Harris—who played gigs early in her career with Kenny Barron—brings huge flamboyance to the kit, a riveting presence; Michael King was virtuosic and imaginative; and Ely Perlman brought sonic landscapes through sustained chords and great lyricism to more boppy tunes."

In an interview earlier this year with WRTI Radio's Nate Chinen, McBride recalled meeting Perlman at the JAS program and said, "He just blew my mind." Perlman feels Ursa Major is "really an amazing platform because we play each other's music. Christian allows us to play our music. Every time we play as a band, it's an incredible honor. The other people in the band are really amazing. It's a real learning experience. It's unbelievable having a chance to play with Christian, a living legend."

Perlman picked up a guitar for the first time when he was 11 years old, and composing, he said, "has always been a big part of it—creating in addition to just playing the guitar itself. Creating and producing is really a huge thing for me." One of his compositions, "Elevation," has been featured in several of Ursa Major's performances.

His jazz guitar heroes are Pat Metheny and Kurt Rosenwinkel. But Perlman is also influenced by folk music and folk guitar, and one of his current favorites is Adrienne Lenker, a guitarist and singer/songwriter who leads an indie folk-rock band called Big Thief. "I also studied classical guitar for a bit," he said, "so I really try to mix all of these together."

The Utah Jazz Review, writing about one of Perlman's performances, compared him to one of his heroes, writing, "Guitarist Ely Perlman showed off incredible solo skills that reminded listeners of the gold standard musicianship of legendary jazz and jazz fusion guitarist Pat Metheny." Reviewing Perlman's performance at the Garana Jazz Festival in Romania, the Jazz Record wrote: "The newest name... guitarist Ely Perlman, was one of the primary takeaways from the festival. His solos kept arriving at striking original ideas. Watch for him."

Perlman is planning to self-produce an album, which he hopes will be released in the next few months. On it he will feature several musicians who he has worked with, including McBride. Others will be Israeli pianist Shai Maestro and saxophonist Braxton Cook. "It will be a mix," he said. "For a long time, I've tried to merge a sound, based in jazz but kind of with electronic and folk influences."

The 38-year-old Maestro attended the same Israeli performing arts high school as Perlman. "He's an incredible pianist," Perlman said. "He joined some of my shows with my band in Israel. I'm really excited about the track on my album that he will be featured on." On October 8, Perlman will be leading a band at Close Up, "a great club on the Lower East Side." Band members will be drummer Ofri Nehemya. bassist Yonatan Farhi, guitarist Tim Watson, and keyboardist Vittorio.

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