An impressive number of Israeli jazz performers have received widespread exposure and worldwide acclaim, creating music that melds aspects of American jazz with an array of Israeli, Jewish and Middle Eastern influences and other non-Western musical traditions. While each musician is developing their own approach to musical transculturation, common threads connect them all. In his new book, Transcultural Jazz: Israeli Musicians and Multi-Local Music Making, York University professor Noam Lemish studies jazz performance and composition through the examination of the transcultural practices of Israeli jazz musicians and their impact globally.
In this talk, professor Lemish will introduce the incredible music making activities of Israeli jazz musicians to enhance knowledge of modern Israeli society, culture, discourses and musical practices while simultaneously providing broad insight into the nature, role and politics of transcultural music making in contemporary jazz practice. His book and this talk are based on extensive fieldwork in multiple sites in the United States and Israel, and interviews with musicians, educators, journalists, producers and scholars.
Dr. Noam Lemish
Dr. Noam Lemish is a pianist, composer, scholar and educator with a Masters in Composition and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Jazz Performance. He has appeared in numerous performances, conducted workshops, and released multiple albums, including most recently the JUNO-nominated Twelve (2022) and Erlebnisse (2021). In December 2023, Lemish published his first book, Transcultural Jazz: Israeli Musicians and Multi-Local Music Making which studies jazz performance and composition through the examination of the transcultural practices of Israeli jazz musicians and their impact globally.
Lemish also leads “Sound and Sense: Jewish Music @ York,” a performance and lecture series dedicated to showcasing the multicultural diversity of Jewish musical expression as well as the ongoing intersections between Jewish and non-Jewish musical practices and communities
