We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Uri Gurvich. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Uri below.

Uri, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

One of the most meaningful projects I have worked on is an album I did in 2013, called BabEl, which was released on John Zorn’s label, Tzadik Records. BabEl happened at an important point in my life of exploration and growth, both musically and personally. This project brought together my multi-national Quartet with Leo Genovese on piano from Argentina, Peter Slavov on bass from Bulgaria and Francisco Mela on drums from Cuba and a special guest, the Moroccan multi-instrumentalist, Brahim Fribgane, who played oud and percussion on the album. This project was a culmination of several years of research and working to find ways to create original music which blends several musical elements from the Middle East, where I grew up, with elements of contemporary improvised music who are dear to me, without jeopardizing the integrity of any of these aspects. With this project I tried to learn the essence of folklore and what it means to portray one’s identity and passion through sounds. I am still learning and working on that, but BabEl, was some sort of a turning point for me, musically speaking, and allowed me to dig deeper into the music I love both in the studio and in live settings. On a personal level, sharing sounds and spirits with Brahim Fribgane, an Arab musician, meant a lot to me as an Israeli and a Jew. This collaboration was an inspiring and uplifting experience that taught me a great deal and I cherish since then.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I am a saxophonist, composer and educator, originally from Israel, and been living in New York City for the past two decades. I came originally to the states to attend Berklee College of Music where I studied with such artists as Joe Lovano, Ed Tomassi, Dave Liebman and others. I started music at a very young age, and got into it pretty seriously in high school. After that I served as a saxophone player at the Israeli Air Force Big Band and following that moved to the states where I have been residing since then. I work mainly within the “jazz” world but get to play all kinds of music. Been leading my own band, The Uri Gurvich Quartet, since 2008 and released with the Quartet three albums: The Storyteller, BabEl and KINSHIP. In addition, I get to work often as a sideman and was fortunate to collaborate with many different and diverse ensembles in the U.S., Europe and Latin America. With all of these collaborations I try to serve the situation in the best way possible, and hopefully contribute some of my musical and personal world in an authentic and humble way. During my career as a performer and composer, I have always kept a busy teaching schedule and find it to be an integral part of being a musician and a fulfilling way to share the deep experience of music creation. I have taught in several schools in my home country, Israel, and in NYC where I have been residing since 2005, with students ranging from a very young age, through Jazz at Lincoln Center education program, to college students in the U.S., Europe, Latin America and Asia.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Well, I think that being a musician is itself a journey of resilience. As artists, we struggle daily within society at large, and as we all know, artists live in the fringes of society, which makes it difficult to sustain a long-term, life long career. For me, being a musician is more of a life mission rather than a ‘career’ per se. The artistic musician life manifests itself, at least for me, more as a slow-burn rather than a meteoric quick success or fast achievements. The life of a musician is totally encompassing and it is something you devote yourself to. With that being said, as a husband and a father, I do always strive to make a living as a musician and always put focus on being versatile and prepared. Putting emphasys from a young age on being versatile, musically and mentally, allowed me to be involved with different musical genres and collaborations, and with music education, ultimately widening my income resources, but mainly enriching my musical landscape.

In addition to the music journey, I am an immigrant to the U.S.A and had to deal with immigration, working visas etc. for many years, eventually leading me to become a U.S. citizen last year after almost twenty years living in the states.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I think the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is being able to do it! With everything going on in the world and with life itself, it is not easy to make art or to be involved with an artistic ecosystem. Art creation exist in the fringes of society and it’s not often a celebrated or main stream endeavor. For me, just being able to be a part of an artistic community, being involved with creative people and try to contribute a small part to that melting pot is the reward itself. Of course, some artistic pursuits get more noticed or have more ‘commercial’ success than others, but a lot of that is not in the hands of the artist itself. I believe that the real reward is being able, mentally and physically, to make true art the way someone sees it in an honest and humble way.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.urigurvich.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/urigurvich
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/urigurvichmusic
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/urigurvich
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/aravamusic

Image Credits
Simon C.F. Yu, Clara Pereira, Amir Rubinstein, Pinacoteca de Radio