Shai Maestro

Israeli jazz pianist and composer Shai Maestro, born in 1987, began his international career in the mid-2000s as part of bassist Avishai Cohen’s trio, with whom he recorded Gently Disturbed (2008) and Aurora (2009) and toured extensively across Europe and the United States. Later based in New York, Maestro formed his own trio with bassist Jorge Roeder and drummer Ziv Ravitz, and later with Ofri Nehemya on drums, shaping a contemporary piano-centered jazz that blends melodic writing, collective improvisation, flexible rhythms and echoes of Near Eastern and classical music. His first albums as a leader were released in the early 2010s, before joining the ECM label with The Dream Thief (2018) and Human (2021), where he expanded the lineup into a quartet by adding trumpeter Philip Dizack. Active on club and festival stages in Europe, North America and Israel, Maestro alternates between trio projects, occasional collaborations and larger formats while developing a body of compositions rooted in the language of modern jazz piano.