Ize Trio

The story of Ize Trio begins in Boston at the Berklee Global Jazz Institute. This special program and community founded by Danilo Pérez brings students and mentors together from all over the globe to collaborate, innovate, and create global diplomacy through music. The three of us met through this community as students (and now professors) and became good friends. Our mentors Danilo Pérez, John Patitucci, Joe Lovano, Adam Cruz, and many more, opened the doors for us to explore music multiculturalism and social activism. Inspired, we officially began the Ize Trio in 2019, seeking to bring our musical backgrounds from the US, Cyprus, and Palestine to the table and connecting through concepts of improvisation and Global Jazz.

We began composing and playing together, learning about each other’s traditions and finding new ways to harmonize our musical personalities. We began playing local concerts and experimenting, but as fate would have it, our first recording was not in a studio together, but rather remotely in our individual bedrooms while on lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. We recorded our first single, Global Prayer, and released an animation video in collaboration with animator Annabelle Ponterdolph.

It took two years to properly reconvene and begin working on music again. Starting in 2022, we dedicated ourselves to further developing our musical repertoire and exploring how to authentically blend our diverse backgrounds—representing the US, Cyprus, and Palestine—into our collective sound. We also focused on social themes that were important to us and tied us together with a common vision. In 2023 we performed at the United Nations, NY, along with orchestra and the extraordinary Palestinian singer Sana Moussa. This was a historic event, the first time the UN formally acknowledged Nakba, the Palestinian crisis of 1948. In 2024, we performed in San Diego and succeeded in raising $15,000 for child victims of the earthquakes in Türkiye. We were joined by Turkish vocalist Heiraza who is also featured in our first album, "The Global Suites."

Awards

Ize Trio was awarded the Berklee recording grant in order to record two full length albums that will be released in 2024 and 2025. Additionally they were Arts Envoy artists for the United States Government where they served as ambassadors in Panama, performing at the Jazz Festival there and conducting classes and social outreach. Furthermore, they are recipients of the prestigious Jazz Road Creative Residencies Grant in which they have received funds to tour and work on new repertoire in Southern California.

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