Omer Avital
| Omer Avital | |
|---|---|
Omer Avital at Olympia, Paris
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| Background information | |
| Born |
May 13, 1971 Givatayim, Israel |
| Genres | Jazz, world music |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Double bass, oud |
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Labels | Fresh Sound, Smalls, Motéma |
| Associated acts | Third World Love, Yemen Blues, OAM Trio |
| Website | www |
Omer Avital (born May 13, 1971, Givatayim, Israel) is an Israeli-American jazz bassist, composer and bandleader.
Avital was born in the town of Givatayim to Moroccan and Yemeni parents. At age 11, he began his formal training, studying classical guitar at the Givatayim Conservatory. Upon entering Thelma Yellin, Israel's leading high school for the arts, Avital switched to acoustic bass and began studying and arranging jazz.
When he was 17, Avital began playing professionally in jazz, pop, and folk music bands, as well as performing regularly on national television, radio, and in jazz festivals. He spent a year in the Israeli Army Orchestra and then moved to New York in 1992 where he began playing, recording, and touring professionally.
After arriving in New York in 1992, Avital began playing in groups with Roy Haynes, Jimmy Cobb, Nat Adderley, Walter Bishop, Jr., Al Foster, Kenny Garrett, Steve Grossman, Jimmy Lovelace, and Rashied Ali. In 1994, he began collaborating with pianist Jason Lindner, with whom Avital began leading his own groups and big band during the after-hours sessions at Smalls Jazz Club in Greenwich Village.
In 1995 and 1996, Avital made an impact on the New York jazz scene with a series of breakout piano-less groups at the original Smalls Jazz Club, including a classic sextet with four saxophones, bass and drums, alternately included saxophonists Myron Walden, Mark Turner, Gregory Tardy, Joel Frahm, Charles Owens, Grant Stewart, Jay Collins and Jimmy Greene, and drummers Ali Jackson, Joe Strasser and Daniel Freedman. He was the subject of frequent features in The New York Times.
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