Roni Ben-Hur | |
|---|---|
 Roni Ben-Hur | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Roni Bohobza [1] |
| Born | July 9, 1962 [1] Dimona, Israel |
| Origin | Tel Aviv, Israel |
| Genres | Jazz, Latin jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar |
| Years active | 1981–present |
| Labels | TCB, Reservoir, Motéma |
| Website | ronibenhur |
Roni Ben-Hur is an Israeli jazz guitarist who immigrated to the United States in 1985. His parents were Tunisian-Jewish from Tunisia.
Roni Bohobza grew up in Dimona, Israel. He is the youngest of seven children and one of two born after the family emigrated from Tunisia in 1955. [2] His surname was legally changed to Ben-Hur via ritual at age 10.
When he was eleven, he started playing guitar. He learned about jazz from a high school's friend's record collection. In Israel he performed in clubs and at weddings and bar mitzvahs until he had enough money to move to the U.S. He arrived in New York City in 1985, spending time at Barry Harris's Jazz Cultural Theater. He took lessons from Harris, then became a member of his band. [3]
Ben-Hur's experience as an educator dates back to 1981 in Israel. In the U.S. he started jazz music programs at Professional Performing Arts School, the Coalition School for Social Change, and at the Lucy Moses School. At the request of Bette Midler, he started a jazz program for New York City high schools. [1] Ben-Hur began a jazz camp in Saint-Cézaire-sur-Siagne, France, with Santi Debriano. With Nilson Matta, he began a jazz and Brazilian music camp in Bar Harbor, Maine, both intended for adult jazz amateurs. He is the founding director of the jazz program at the Lucy Moses School at Kaufman Center in Manhattan where he teaches.
His book Talk Jazz: Guitar (Mel Bay, 2004) includes a CD with a removable guitar track of Ben-Hur performing the exercises in the book with Tardo Hammer on piano, Earl May on bass, and Leroy Williams on drums.
His album Anna's Dance was named by The Village Voice one of the best jazz albums of 2001. All About Jazz called him "a virtuoso guitarist with impeccable swing". [4] In 2000, he won the Jazziz reader poll for "Best New Talent".
Ben-Hur lives in Teaneck, New Jersey, with his wife, singer Amy London, and their two daughters. [5]
David Fiuczynski is an American contemporary jazz guitarist, best known as the leader of the Screaming Headless Torsos and David Fiuczynski's KiF, and as a member of Hasidic New Wave. He has played on more than 95 albums as a session musician, band leader, or band member.
Rufus Reid is an American jazz bassist, educator, and composer.
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Victor Lewis is an American jazz drummer, composer, and educator.
Gene J. Bertoncini is an American jazz guitarist.
Santi Wilson Debriano is a jazz bassist.
Nilson Matta is a Brazilian bassist and composer. He has been based in New York City since 1985. He is also known for his work with Trio da Paz, Don Pullen African Brazilian Connection, Joe Henderson, Yo Yo Ma and Nilson Matta's Brazilian Voyage.
Duduka Da Fonseca, born Eduardo Moreira Da Fonseca is a Brazilian jazz drummer who is a founding member of Trio da Paz with Romero Lubambo and Nilson Matta. He leads the Duduka da Fonseca Trio, with David Feldman and Guto Wirtti.
Charles Davis was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Davis played alto, tenor and baritone saxophone, and performed extensively with Archie Shepp and Sun Ra.
Motéma Music is a jazz and world music record label in the United States. It was founded in 2003 in San Francisco Bay Area by label president and recording artist Jana Herzen. The label’s catalog spans various genres, receiving Grammy recognition for albums in jazz, Latin-jazz, reggae, and R&B. Motéma Music was the first to bring soul/jazz musician Gregory Porter to international attention with his Grammy-nominated first albums, Water and Be Good and his hit song "1960 What?" The label played a significant role in developing jazz piano star Joey Alexander, modern soul singer Deva Mahal, and Cuban musician Pedrito Martinez.
Café is the stage name of Edson Aparecido da Silva, sometimes credited as Edson da Silva or Café da Silva, a percussionist, singer, composer, and music producer born in Villa Maria, São Paulo, Brazil. He moved to the U.S. in 1985.
Kaufman Music Center's Lucy Moses School is a community arts school located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Founded in 1952 as The Hebrew Arts School for Music and Dance, it is now part of Kaufman Music Center, a performing arts complex that houses the Special Music School and Merkin Concert Hall. It is the largest community arts school in the city, and offers lessons to 3,000 children and adults annually.
Jana Herzen, is a singer-songwriter with folk, world, rock and jazz influences who founded Motéma Music, a Harlem-based record label focused on virtuosic jazz and world music. Prior to founding the label in 2003, she worked as a musician and as an art agent for Winston Smith, who designed the logo for Motéma. Herzen was instrumental in the publishing of Artcrime, Smith's 2nd volume of collected works on the Last Gasp publishing imprint.
Gilad Hekselman is an Israeli-born, NYC-based jazz guitarist. He has performed with Anat Cohen, Mark Turner, Dayna Stephens, Aaron Parks, Jeff Ballard, John Scofield, Ari Hoenig, Chris Potter and Joey Alexander.
Abraham Augustus Burton Jr. is an American saxophonist and bandleader.
Lisle Arthur Atkinson was an American jazz double-bassist.
Jeremy Pelt is an American jazz trumpeter.
Inner Urge is an album by guitarist Larry Coryell which was recorded in 2000 and released on the HighNote label the following year.
Monk, Trane, Miles & Me is an album by the guitarist Larry Coryell, recorded in 1998 and released on the HighNote label the following year.
She sang in the Tony Award winning musical City of Angels from 1989 to 1992 before moving to Teaneck in 1998 with her husband, the jazz guitarist Roni Ben-Hur, and their daughters Sofia, now 12, and Anna, now 9.
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