Ehud Asherie, “a master of swing and stride” (The New Yorker), is a jazz pianist who integrates the venerable New York piano tradition into his inventive style. Born in Israel in 1979, Asherie lived in Italy for six years before his family moved to New York. Though he began playing piano as a child, his passion for jazz came later—with a Thelonious Monk cassette tape—and his first visit to Smalls Jazz club in Greenwich Village. Largely self-taught, or rather, “old-schooled,” Asherie learned the ropes at Smalls, spending the wee small hours of his early teens becoming a fixture of the late-night jam sessions. Mentored by the late Frank Hewitt, Asherie began to develop “his virtuosity and his ear for clean, crisp lines“ (The Star-Ledger). Finding his home at Smalls, Asherie went from leading the Sunday night sessions to being featured, in 1999, with the Grant Stewart Quartet. Soon after, he headlined with his own trio, Trio 65, who went on to play a two-year engagement at the Rainbow Room, six nights a week.
Steeped in the jazz milieu, absorbing the work of his contemporaries, Asherie grew to revere the lineage he evolved from. Having branched backwards in time, from bebop to stride, Asherie views jazz as a living art form, an organic thing: each standard tune open to a constant reinterpretation. It is this philosophy that caught the attention of world-class saxophonist and collaborator Harry Allen, who called Asherie “…modern yet traditional at the same time…in the most wonderful way.”
From Smalls to the Rainbow Room, from Lincoln Center to The Village Vanguard, Asherie has worked with a broad range of musicians: Howard Alden, Eric Alexander, Roy Ayers, Peter Bernstein, Joe Cohn, Jesse Davis, Bobby Durham, Vince Giordano, Wycliffe Gordon, Scott Hamilton, Ryan Kisor, Charles McPherson, Jane Monheit, Bob Mover, Ken Peplowski and Clark Terry. Asherie has toured clubs and festivals around the world, including South America, Europe and Asia. He has released over ten albums, five as leader, including Organic (Posi-tone, 2010) and a solo album entitled Welcome to New York (Arbors, 2010). For a complete listing of albums, and more about Ehud Asherie, please visit www.ehudasherie.com
