Itamar Borochov at Rochester International Jazz Festival at Christ Church

Raised in the cosmopolitan port city of Jaffa, now a significant presence on the New York jazz scene, Borochov is creating a new musical hybrid - bringing the sacred sounds of his upbringing to a classic jazz quartet setting.

His latest release “Blue Nights” (Laborie Jazz 2019) is a nine-track multi-cultural joyride of enchanting lyricism, exotic motifs, anthemic builds and virtuosic expression.

Borochov first heard Sephardic music in his local synagogue and absorbed these ‘maqams’ (modes) of the greater Middle East and North Africa alongside a range of other musical influences, including the Mizrahi and Ashkenazi musical flavors that are his birthright. He began playing trumpet at the age of eleven and immersed himself in the discovery of jazz, inspired by the jazz trumpet lineage of Louis Armstrong, Clark Terry, Miles Davis, Kenny Dorham, Lee Morgan, and Booker Little through to Wynton Marsalis, and citing the influence of Ben Webster for his assured yet wistful warm airy tone. In 2007 Borochov relocated to New York, where he was taught by Barry Harris and studied at the New School. ...

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Raised in the cosmopolitan port city of Jaffa, now a significant presence on the New York jazz scene, Borochov is creating a new musical hybrid - bringing the sacred sounds of his upbringing to a classic jazz quartet setting.

His latest release “Blue Nights” (Laborie Jazz 2019) is a nine-track multi-cultural joyride of enchanting lyricism, exotic motifs, anthemic builds and virtuosic expression.

Borochov first heard Sephardic music in his local synagogue and absorbed these ‘maqams’ (modes) of the greater Middle East and North Africa alongside a range of other musical influences, including the Mizrahi and Ashkenazi musical flavors that are his birthright. He began playing trumpet at the age of eleven and immersed himself in the discovery of jazz, inspired by the jazz trumpet lineage of Louis Armstrong, Clark Terry, Miles Davis, Kenny Dorham, Lee Morgan, and Booker Little through to Wynton Marsalis, and citing the influence of Ben Webster for his assured yet wistful warm airy tone. In 2007 Borochov relocated to New York, where he was taught by Barry Harris and studied at the New School.

His deep knowledge of these various musical disciplines is incorporated organically into his original jazz writing, building a bridge between the near-East and the modal styles of Miles Davis, John Coltrane and others. “I have to be real. If John Coltrane was informed by his father being a preacher I had to do the same thing. Lee Morgan brought gospel and I’m bringing Sephardic synagogue music. This is who I am.”

Borochov has toured across four continents and performed at prestigious venues such as Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, SummerStage at Central Park, Blue Note NY, Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, Bimhuis, Flagey and international festivals including Roskilde, Montreal Jazz Festival, Ottawa Jazz Festival, London Jazz Festival, Moscow Jazz Festival, Tel Aviv Jazz Festival, Red Sea Jazz Festival, Jazz à Liège & Shanghai World Music Festival.

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