Yaron Herman duo
Yaron Herman (piano) & Ziv Ravitz (drums)
Pianist and composer Yaron Herman is widely regarded as one of the leading musicians of his generation. Despite his young age he has toured every continent, presided over the Jury of the Montreux Jazz Festival Competition, headlined television broadcasts in 39 different countries, collected numerous awards including the Victoires du Jazz, iTunes Choice Award, New Talents Trophy, Adami Jazz Talent, Choc Jazzman, Disque d’émoi Jazz. He was the first ever jazz pianist to play in the Forbidden City in Beijing.
2015 saw Yaron’s debut on the prestigious Blue Note label with the release of Everyday. This album was almost entirely conceived by Yaron and his musical alter ego, drummer Ziv Ravitz. In addition to many original works, it includes the duo’s unique conceptions of a Scriabin Prelude and Retrograde by James Blake. The track Volcano features Icelandic singer Helgi Jonsson.
Yaron Herman was born on 12th July 1981. He started out on a promising career as a basketball player on the Israeli national junior team but that was cut short by a serious knee injury which quashed his sporting ambitions. He only decided to take up playing the piano, at the age of 16. His teacher was the renowned Opher Brayer, famous for his methods based on philosophy, mathematics and psychology. Yaron was soon giving his first performances in the most prestigious concert halls in Israel.
At 16, Yaron left for Boston where he planned to enroll at the Berklee College School of Music. He found it didn't satisfy his craving for knowledge and discovery and decided to return to Tel Aviv. On the way back he stopped over in Paris. That evening he met some musicians during a jam session and was given a contract the very next day. He hasn't left Paris since.
His enthusiasm and talent meant that, shortly after moving to Paris, he became the pianist that everyone was talking about with admiration and stupefaction. He was awarded the Sunside New Talents Trophy by unanimous vote. At 21 he recorded his first album, Takes 2 to know 1, on the Sketch Label alongside Sylvain Ghio. He developed a theory of musical improvisation called "Real Time Composition" which earned him the chance to give a series of lectures at the Sorbonne and at TED Conferences later on.
In October 2005 he recorded his first piano solo album Variations on the brand new LaBorie Jazz Label on which he presents his Variations concept. Thus each tune, each theme in our collective memory can serve as an excuse for playful, creative innovation, improvisation and invention. Amazingly original and lyrical.
The album received particularly good reviews and Yaron started to give his first solo performances in Europe, in South America, in the United States and in China where he was the first Jazz pianist to play in the Forbidden City in Beijing.
In 2007 he was elected Adami Jazz Talent by the French artistic community. There is the same astonishment each time he plays, his charisma, his enthusiasm and his lyricism leave the audience deeply moved. After more than a hundred solo concerts around the world, Yaron recorded his first trio album, A Time for Everything (launched in October 2007 on the LaBorie Jazz Label), along with Matt Brewer and Gerald Cleaver. The album is a subtle blend of jazz, pop and his own personal compositions. His very original version of Toxic by Britney Spears and his cover of Police's Message in a Bottle brought his music to a wider audience and rapidly won them over. The album received critical acclaim winning Choc Jazzman of the year and Disque d'émoi Jazz Magazine.
In 2008 the trio toured Europe, the United States and Brazil, visiting, to mention but a few: the Monterey Festival, the Montreal Jazz Festival, the San Francisco Festival, the Weiner Konzert-Haus, the Auditori in Barcelona, the Juan Les Pins Festival, the Vittoria Gasteiz Festival. At the same time Yaron Herman was working in collaboration with Michel Portal, Bertrand Chamayou, Lars Danielsson, Yael Naim and others, such as Dominic Miller, Gilad hekselman, Avishai Cohen (trumpet) , Hugh Masakela, Ambrose Akinmusire, Valgeir Sigursson.
In September 2008, Yaron won the award for best new instrumentalist of the year at the Victoires du Jazz. His Belgrade concert, in October, was broadcast live in 39 countries on the musical TV channel Mezzo – an incredible media event in the jazz calender. The trio returned to the recording studio after having done more than a hundred concerts together. In March 2009 they invited a string quartet, the Quatuor Ebène, sensational new artists from the world of classical music, to play on their album Muse on the LaBorie Jazz Label. The Muse record was nominated for 3 prizes of victoires du jazz and was chosen as album of the year on the iTunes choice awards.
Yaron has released 2 albums on the ACT label, the widely acclaimed Follow the White Rabbit in 2010 and, in 2012, Alter Ego featuring Emile Parisien. Both demonstrated Yaron’s virtuosity, evolution and his unique way of mixing influences ranging from his native Israeli roots to pop music.
In 2012 he gave a TEDx talk about his system of improvisation - Real Time Composition - at the EPFL in Lausanne and played at both TEDx CERN and TED Global.
Yaron was the president of the jury at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2012 and a member of the Montreux Jazz Academy Mentors in 2014 .
In October 2014 Yaron gave a TEDx Paris talk about his compositional process that furthered this new direction in the pianists multi faceted activities, speaking at conferences and giving inspirational talks, addressing the mysteries of the creative, and especially musical, process which Yaron manages to describe in his own particular way through a mix of mathematics, psychology and a multi dimensional / pluri disciplinary approach.
