(Photo by Reuben Radding)
Primary Scene: Brooklyn/New York
Before moving to New York City in 2010, Jerusalem-born tenor saxophonist and composer Yoni Kretzmer was an active member in the growing Tel Aviv nu-music scene leading various groups such as “New Dilemma” (chamber/free jazz string quintet) and “Far From Home” (free/folk quintet with two acoustic guitars). For the premier of “New Dilemma” (Jerusalem/Khan Theater) Tel Aviv Jazz Festival Producer Barack Weiss wrote for NANA “It has been a long time since I have last experienced such a sincere and impressive performance, in its willingness of the artist to expose the full force of his most inner feelings.” Kretzmer has been a sideman for Albert Beger, Harold Rubin and performed and curated many shows and festivals including October Jazz Fest, Red Sea Jazz Festival and Tel Aviv Jazz festival.
Yoni attended the American School of Modern Music (Paris, France) and has studied with Rick Margitza, Matthieu Donarier, Ellery Eskelin and Assif Tsahar. He currently leads his own 2-Bass Quartet (Sean Conly, Reuben Radding, Mike Pride) and “66 Boxes” (Daniel Levin, Eyal Maoz, Andrew Drury) and has released five CDs under his own name: New Dilemma, One Afternoon (Jacoby, Fershtman), Nevertheless (Ajemian, Pride), Overlook (Levy, Ran, Peskoff) and Protest Music (Niggenkemper, Walter). New Dilemma and Weight were rated as top 10 albums of the year by Ha’aretz. Kretzmer actively runs the record label Out Now Recordings.
“In the past few years Israeli jazz has advanced in leaps and bounds, but nothing prepared the ear for this fantastic album. Yoni Kretzmer is a young musician, and passion and daring virtually burst out of his saxophone. Although, together with that, Kretzmer has maturity, depth and the experience of a veteran jazz musician. He is an outstanding composer, a wonderful melodist, an amazingly accurate player and together with the fine group that he assembled for the album he has created an inspired meeting between written and improvised music and jazz and contemporary music.” Ben Shalev – Ha`aretz, September 2009
“In my humble opinion, Kretzmer is one of the finest contemporary saxophonists of the genre. He knows how to create wonderful melodies and licks that are surrounded by, what seems to be, a controlled chaos. Which allows breathing room for each player to have their moment under the sun.” – Matthew Ditullo – This Shape of Jazz to Come, August 2012
Kretzmer, Yoni