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Eyal Vilner
Eyal Vilner has become one of the leading new voices in the New York and global swing scene. Born in Tel Aviv, saxophonist, clarinetist, flutist, composer and bandleader Eyal moved to New York in 2007 and started his big band the following year. The Eyal Vilner Big Band has been performing widely in New York City’s landmarks such as Lincoln Center, the Guggenheim, Birdland, Dizzy's Club, Smalls, Minton’s Playhouse, Harlem Jazzmobile and Central Park SummerStage.
Internationally, Eyal has performed on Israel's most prestigious stages such as the Red Sea Jazz Festival, Tel Aviv Museum, Jerusalem Theater, Tel Aviv Jazz Festival as well as the historical La Bellevilloise, Le Duc des Lombards, and Caveau de la Huchette in Paris, France.
The big band performs Eyal's original compositions as well as his new arrangements of jazz classics. Their music, which derives from the tradition of jazz, swing and the blues, strives to bring a unique voice to this beautiful art form.
Eyal's interest in the exchange between sound and movement within the jazz idiom inspired his musical journey and yielded collaborations with acclaimed dancers and choreographers. Among these projects are theater productions, dance festivals and competitions such as the International Lindy Hop Championships, Midsummer Night's Swing, and the celebrated SW!NG OUT show at the Joyce Theater (co-creator and musical director). This show, which the New York Times has called "Groundbreaking," has toured throughout the US, in venues such as the Jacob’s Pillow and the LA Music Center.
The big band’s first six albums: Introducing the Eyal Vilner Big Band, Almost Sunrise, Hanukkah, Swing Out!, Live in Washington Square Park!, and The Jam! received rave reviews and made it to the Top Jazz Radio Charts of the US and Canada.
The Eyal Vilner Big Band has collaborated with some of the top jazz legends of our time including NEA Jazz Masters Frank Wess, Jimmy Heath and Jimmy Owens, and pianist Junior Mance.
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Eyal Vilner Big Band: Swingin' Uptown
by Jack Bowers
Even though he was born and raised in Tel Aviv, Israel, composer, saxophonist and educator Eyal Vilner is well-versed in the origins and history of American jazz, especially as they pertain to the Swing Era, big bands and the largely black jazz experience in Harlem and elsewhere. Those interests converge on Swingin' Uptown, on which Vilner's excellent big band swings its way through sixteen impressive charts, several of which were inspired by Harlem's remarkble jazz narrative. Besides ...
Continue ReadingThe Jazz Defenders, Joe Henderson, Tim Lin & Eyal Vilner
by Joe Dimino
Straight from the UK, we begin the 858th Episode of Neon Jazz with The Jazz Defenders with material off their 2024 album Memory in Motion. In honor of their influences, we move into a recent reissue of Horace Silver's LP Late Night. From there, we hear new music from Julieta Eugenio, Flávio Silva and Lenny Marcus and reissues from legends Joe Henderson and Cannonball Adderley. There is also a great new album from the late Chick Corea and Béla Fleck. ...
Continue ReadingEyal Vilner Big Band: The Jam!
by Jack Bowers
Simply leading a big band in 2022 is cause for celebration. Leading a big band as sharp and talented as Eyal Vilner's New York- based ensemble is cause for far more than that. Vilner, an Israeli-born composer, arranger and woodwind specialist, formed the band in 2008, one year after arriving in New York City. He has been busy since then shaping its identity and refining its style, and his persistence pays off big-time on the band's second album, The Jam! ...
Continue ReadingEyal Vilner Big Band: Swing Out!
by Jack Bowers
Eyal Vilner's fourth album as leader of his impressive New York-based big band is a throwback to the kind of concert dates audiences no doubt derived great pleasure from during the storied Big-Band Era well over half a century ago when groups not far removed from this one in spirit traveled cross-country by bus, car or train to ply their trade in nightclubs, concert halls, schools and any other accessible venue. Vilner spices the menu with blues, ballads, boogie and ...
Continue ReadingEyal Vilner Big Band: Hanukkah
by Jack Bowers
Although a goodly number of seasonal big-band albums have passed through these portals over the years, this is the first one to our recollection devoted to Hanukkah, the eight-day-long festival of lights that commemorates the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem during the time of a successful Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Empire. As leader Eyal Vilner was born in Tel Aviv before relocating to the States and making New York his home, that is hardly surprising. Also unsurprising ...
Continue ReadingEyal Vilner Big Band: Almost Sunrise
by Jack Bowers
Suddenly, it seems, the state of Israel has become a focal point and incubator for contemporary jazz. A new wave of world-class musicians led by the three Cohens (not to be confused with Broadway's three Cohans) has crossed the ocean to plant the Israeli flag firmly in the midst of what was once considered an unassailable American stronghold. Among the more recent and impressive arrivals is Eyal Vilner, a composer / arranger / saxophonist from Tel Aviv who came here ...
Continue ReadingEyal Vilner Big Band: Introducing The Eyal Vilner Big Band
by Hrayr Attarian
Most contemporary big band music is either of the heavily arranged, progressive jazz variety or the light-swing, Glenn Miller orchestral type played mainly for the benefit of nostalgic dancers. It is therefore refreshing to hear an ensemble that embraces the exuberance of mid-20th Century large groups and simultaneously delivers a bop-ish and elaborate sound. Introducing the Eyal Vilner Big Band opens with trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie's boisterous “Woody'N You." The musicians, driven by Yonathan Rosen's propulsive drumming, weave ...
Continue ReadingEyal Vilner Big Band Live at Iridium Jazz Club! Saturday July 31!
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Eyal Vilner
Ladies and gents! The Eyal Vilner Big Band is going up Broadway for a show at the Iridium Jazz Club! After two years of music collaboration where Greenwich Village was our home base, we are going up town to be featured on a special series presented by the Iridium entitle New Faces After Midnight. I'm happy and proud to invite you to join us for a night full of music and joy. We will be performing new arrangements of beautiful ...
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“Eyal Vilner's skills as a musician are unquestionable, but his talents as a composer, arranger and bandleader are what's truly on display on Introducing The Eyal Vilner Big Band, a remarkable debut recording from a group poised to take their place among the major big bands of the East. Vilner offers clever charts, excellent musicianship and an exciting new sound in the finest tradition of contemporary big band music.” ~Edward Blanco, All About Jazz
“With multiple lyrical lines and harmonic boundaries shattered with alarming regularity The Eyal Vilner Big Band is scoring their own arrangement that should soon have them at the pinnacle of big band success. While keeping one foot firmly in the history and a keen lyrical eye on the present, Eyal Vilner is a formidable force to be reckoned with in the big band idiom.” ~Brent Black, Critical Jazz
