Israeli-born pianist and composer Ari Erev started playing the piano at the age of 4. His first teacher was his amateur-pianist father and he later studied under Mrs. Silvia Cohen of Tel-Aviv. At the age of 17, after forming and leading a number of contemporary music bands, the exciting sounds of jazz hooked him. Over the years, he studied jazz and improvisation with Dr. Zvi Keren, one of Israel's premiere teachers of musicians and composers, pianists Nahum Perperkovich and Arik Strauss, and with arranger and composer Ilan Mociach at the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel-Aviv.
Throughout his performance career, Ari has worked and cooperated with many Israeli artists, including pop/rock singer Gali Atari and composer Yael German. Jazz musicians with whom he has performed include saxophonists Robert Anchipolovsky (Phil Woods) and Ofer Shapira, bassists Yorai Oron (“Noa”), Arie Volinez (Dave Liebman), Udi Kazmirski, Vinnie Venkov and Kobi Hass, drummers Gideon Pasahov, Ori Raz, and Yoav Zohar, guitarists Dan Adler and Inbar Fridman, vocalists Julia Feldman, Dalia Shpiegel/Pinkus and Mel Rosengerg, and he currently performs regularly with vocalist Tami Kelly (partial list).
Ari plays and performs in Israel’s top jazz clubs, including "Yellow Submarine" in Jerusalem, "Milestone" in Binyamina, "Shablul Jazz" and "Calif Jazz Club" in Tel-Aviv, as well as on Israeli radio and TV. He composed music for the documentary “Bokito” (directed by Reuven Hacker and Shalev Vaynes), has played in a few theater plays, and has served as the musical director for a number of vocalists' jazz productions. He also teaches piano jazz improvisation.
For the past several years, Ari has led a jazz trio performing a tribute program to the music of Bill Evans. Some musical samples from this program, entitled “Jazz From the Heart,” can be found here.).
Ari released his debut album, “About Time”, a jazz trio production, in 2008.
It was recently selected for digital distribution, by the label “Art of Life Records”.
More information and music samples can be found on the “About Time” page, on this site.
