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Shai Maestro: Human, All Too Human
by Scott Krane
ECM recording artist and erstwhile pianist for bassist, Avishai Cohen, Shai Maestro is both a firebrand and a lightning rod. Human, his sixth record as leader and second for ECM, features Jorge Roeder on bass, Ofri Nehemya on drums, and, making his debut in Maestro's combo, Philip Dizack on trumpet. Creamy and richly layered, Human flirts with free-time and soulful, yet dynamic, piano expression. The man of the hour showed up for the virtual interview wearing a grey ...
read moreShai Maestro: Human
by Mike Jurkovic
That pianist Shai Maestro dreams music is an understatement: With an intense romanticist's heart, he also plays in said dream state. And it is re-affirming to know that, after the hellish year the world has been dragged kicking through, that we can all dream too. Human dreams broadly with sunrises, sunsets and all the vulnerability in-between. Amid his steadfast and quick-witted rhythm section-- drummer and fellow Israeli Ofri Nehemya and Peruvian bassist Jorge Roede--Maestro adds the equally impassioned ...
read moreShai Maestro: Human
by Chris May
After paying his dues with Avishai Cohen, with whose Trio he recorded four well received albums, pianist Shai Maestro cut loose on his own, debuting with Shai Maestro Trio (Laborie) in 2013. Human is Maestro's sixth own-name album and his second on ECM, followingThe Dream Thief in 2018. The new disc is elegant, expansive, emotionally charged and beautiful. It contains ten Maestro originals and one cover, a playful version Duke Ellington's “In A Sentimental Mood." This time ...
read moreShai Maestro Trio At BIMHUIS Amsterdam
by BIMHUIS
Shai Maestro began playing classical piano at the age of five an,d after discovering Oscar Peterson at the age of eight, he fell in love with jazz. After turning down offers from prestigious American music schools, at 19 he joined the band led by bassist Avishai Cohen featuring Mark Guiliana on drums. With that trio he toured with great success all over the world. A few years back he moved to Brooklyn, where he formed his own trio in 2011. ...
read moreShai Maestro: The Dream Thief
by Mike Jurkovic
Having built a considerable reputation with fellow Israeli, bassist Avishai Cohen, on his fully realized, fulfilling ECM debut, The Dream Thief, pianist Shai Maestro readily creates a searching lyrical atmosphere, a unique blend of chamber improvisation, emotional eloquence, and communal virtuosity that serves the music and its grand moment of creation. Maestro sets off with a delicate, spontaneous solo reading of the evocatively haunting “My Second Childhood," by popular Israeli composer (and Maestro's teacher) Matti Capsi. Built on ...
read moreShai Maestro Trio: Untold Stories
by Dan Bilawsky
Hearing the Shai Maestro Trio is like awakening to a new world: a world of wonders, excitement, beauty, and uncertainty. Sounds of intrigue, expressions of joy, introspective thoughts, and heightened intensity all come to the fore at one time or another as Maestro, bassist Jorge Roeder, and drummer Ziv Ravitz open up and share themselves through the music. Right out of the gate, these three men establish themselves as high energy players and shrewd sculptors of rhythm ...
read moreShai Maestro: Music as a journey of being a human
by Urszula Orczyk
This article was originally published in the Polish magazine JazzPRESS Shai Maestro, talented 27-year-old pianist and a composer, has earned his spurs being a part of Avishai Cohen's band. Now he has a band of his own--Shai Maestro Trio (although he says it's not “his" band but “theirs": Shai, Jorge Roeder and Ziv Ravitz). The group has released two albums so far--in 2012 Shai Maestro Trio and in 2013 The Road to Ithaca. In this interview, taken at ...
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