Career Chronology

Born May 3, 1978 in Jaffa, Israel, to Henri (born in Bulgaria) and Rachel (born in Iran).

Begins playing mandolin at age seven (1985) at the Jaffa Conservatory of Music with Eli Benakut, switching to saxophone at age ten (1988) under his first teacher, Jess Koren.

Attends Thelma Yellin High School of the Arts, performing on Israel’s jazz scene and earning consecutive full scholarships to the Berklee Summer Performance Program.

Receives a full scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston; after hearing him solo on Wayne Shorter’s “Yes and No,” his ensemble teacher gives him his lifelong motto: “You play old in a new way.”

Selected as one of six musicians worldwide on a full scholarship to the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance in Boston, directed by Ron Carter, studying and performing with Ron Carter, Benny Golson, Jimmy Heath, and Clark Terry and graduating with honors in 1999.

Invited at age nineteen by Herbie Hancock (on Ron Carter’s recommendation) to join the Herbie Hancock Sextet, touring the world for thirty months performing repertoire from Hancock’s Grammy-winning album Gershwin’s World.

Featured alongside Eddie Henderson, Ira Coleman, Terri Lyne Carrington, and Cyro Baptista on the concert DVD The Jazz Channel Presents Herbie Hancock; Hancock calls him “a rare find in jazz today” whose music “treads uncharted waters.”

Relocates to New York City (based there through 2013) and tours worldwide in Al Foster’s Quartet, recording on Foster’s live Village Vanguard album Love, Peace and Jazz! and DVD The Paris Concert (2008).

Releases debut record In the Beginning (2003) with Kurt Rosenwinkel, Aaron Goldberg, Ben Street, and Jeff Ballard; duo album One Little Song with Kevin Hays; and Emotionally Available (2006), receiving Israel’s Prime Minister’s Award for Jazz Composition.

Releases Live at Louis 649 (Anzic Records, 2008) with Gary Versace and Obed Calvaire, followed by his fifth record, Israeli Song (Anzic Records, 2010), uniting mentors Ron Carter and Al Foster with Brad Mehldau (DownBeat four-star review).

Receives the Landau Award for Jazz Performance (2011), becomes Artistic Director (with Dubi Lenz) of the Red Sea Jazz Festival in Eilat, moves home to Tel Aviv, and performs at UNESCO’s inaugural International Jazz Day at the UN General Assembly in New York (April 2012).

Releases Twelve (2013), Tea for Two with Alon Oleartchik (2015), and Cliff Hangin’ (2015/2016), earning a five-star “Masterpiece” review in DownBeat (August 2016).

Performs for President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House International Jazz Day concert alongside Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and Sting (April 2016), and establishes the Michael Brecker International Saxophone Competition (2017).

Appointed Head of the Jazz Studies Department at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance and releases Soul Station: A Tribute to Hank Mobley with pianist Tom Oren (winner of the 2018 Herbie Hancock Institute International Piano Competition), Tamir Shmerling, and Eviatar Slivnik.

Releases his ninth record, Henri and Rachel (Degibri Records, March 11, 2022), with Tom Oren, Alon Near, and Eviatar Slivnik, dedicated to his parents and family.

Records My One and Only Love, his tenth record, on January 11 and 12, 2023 in New York during a week-long run at Manhattan’s Blue Note Jazz Club with Tom Oren, Alon Near, and Eviatar Slivnik (produced by Eli Degibri; mixed and mastered by Adrian von Ripka).

Releases It Is the Same Love with Yoni Rechter (Helicon, May 2026), and launches The Road to Ten (degibri.com/the-road-to-ten) and the short documentary My One and Only Love: The Life of a Standard (degibri.com/the-life-of-a-standard).

Releases My One and Only Love digitally on November 3, 2026 via Degibri Records (preceded by singles on October 20 and October 27; vinyl to be announced), followed by the world premiere on Thursday, November 12, 2026 at the 40th Red Sea Jazz Festival in Eilat with special guest Jess Koren.