Shai Maestro Trio was formed in July 2010 in Brooklyn after playing at maestro’s practice studio. The trio members are Peruvian bassist Jorge Roeder and Israeli drummer Ziv Ravitz. All reside in Brooklyn.

“I met Ziv in Boston at the 5 week program. At the time he was a full time student at Berklee and he is the one who later on organized this session with Jorge at my studio. I remember him saying ‘Man, you have to hear this bass player, you are going to love his playing!’. And indeed, that session had this magic, this ’click’ that you rarely feel – the very basic feeling of understanding of each other.

Since that session it became official. Shai Maestro Trio was formed.

The trio went into the studio to record only a few months after it’s beggining. their first album simply called “Shai Maestro Trio” for the French label “Laborie Jazz”.

The album was received amazingly well. Intense tours started immediately after and the trio began playing around the world in festivals, concert halls and jazz club,  receiving incredible responses from audiences, peers and the media everywhere they go. In 2012 they shared the stage with Chick Corea’s group, Tigran Hamasyan’s quintet, Esperanza Spalding group and Diana Krall’s band“…As if to prove that the piano trio remains one of the most versatile and exciting formats for jazz today Israeli pianist Shai Maestro (pictured above) lit up the Halle 2 stage for a late-night set on Saturday that showed just how much he’s grown as a solo artist since his formative days alongside Avishai Cohen. While the rhythmic complexity of his former boss’s music remains, Maestro’s shimmering chords and dynamic build ups – always capped by whizzing piano and drum cross-currents from Ziv Ravitz – highlighted the pianist’s impassioned, emotionally rich compositions…” -Mike Flynn, Jazzwise Magazine

“…Shai Maestro, obsessed with pacing, offers us dynamic music. The notes scroll in a continuous burst, his dialogue with his drummer is explosive, going from a ballad to offensive punk. Carefully avoiding engaging a riot of immature virtuosity, aptly named, Maestro imposes his style on the this thin line, sometimes romantic, but never in excess.”  -Louis Michaud, Les Inrockuptibles

Yet again, the album was received incredibly well, immediately making iTune’s top 5 best jazz albums in France, Israel and other countries.

“The trio is constantly evolving. The music that we play is a reflection of who we are as human beings. Our mission is to blur the differences between life and music, and to try to express the rawest form of our being. I keep learning that music can contain everything:  the beauty of our being, but also our “ugly” side.For me, it’s about presenting a full picture of the musician, unfiltered. I don’t wish to develop a career of presenting only beautiful pre-meditated music to the audience on the way to success. The three of us, Ziv, Jorge and myself are more interested in exploring the essence of our being, and to present that. Unedited, raw”. says Maestro.

“ We have been playing together for quite a while now, but it really feels like it is just our beginning as a band… there is so much to do and the options are endless. I’m very curious to see where all this is going to..”

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US Tour Dates

3/23 @ Jazz Gallery – New York, NY

New Shai Maestro Release on Motema August 28; Release Parties in California + NYC

‘Untold Stories’ is the newest album from pianist Shai Maestro, set to be released August 28, 2015 via Motéma. The trio album features the musicians Shai Maestro on piano, Jorge Roeder on bass, and Ziv Ravitz on drums.

CD RELEASE CELEBRATIONS:
AUGUST 8 @ THE BLUE WHALE, LOS ANGELES, CA
AUGUST 9 @ THE SAN JOSE JAZZ FESTIVAL, SAN JOSE, CA
SEPTEMBER 29 @ THE JAZZ STANDARD, NYC

“Maestro’s classical touch retains an expressive delicacy whatever the mood . . . His solo career is going to be one to watch.” **** – John Fordham, The Guardian

“Thoughtful and melodic” – Nate Chinen, The New York Times

Shai Maestro is a creator of moods, a shaper of atmospheres and a sculptor of sound. The pianist doesn’t merely play music; he creates a world that is distinctly and intimately his. On his new recording, Shai Maestro Trio – Untold Stories, available on Motema Music on August 28, 2015, Maestro, and his trio featuring Jorge Roeder (bass) and Ziv Ravitz (drums), explores a touching and poetic universe of music. Untold Stories contains all that is great in modern jazz today, and truly displays the camaraderie and brotherhood in music that this trio possesses.

Pre-Order the album here

The music on Untold Stories was recorded live and in studios in Brooklyn and Paris, offering the listener a complete picture of the Trio today (“Maya’s Song”- studio-Paris, “Treelogy”, “Painting”, “Elusive” & “Looking Back (Quiet Reflection)”-live-Paris, “When You Stop Seeing”, “Endless Winter” & “Shades”-studio-Brooklyn).

While he was only 19 years old, Shai Maestro began a five-year stint recording and touring with bass player Avishai Cohen, and is now based in Brooklyn. When not leading his Trio, the pianist can be found performing and recording with international artists such as Theo Bleckmann, Donny McCaslin, John Patitucci, Mark Guiliana, Avishai Cohen (trumpet), Anat Cohen, Jorge Rossy, Ari Hoenig, Myron Walden, Gilad Hekselman, Jonathan Blake, Clarence Penn and many others.

New Shai Maestro Release, Tour Dates

” . . .You owe it to yourself to discover the beauty that Maestro, Roeder and Ravitz make.” – Peter Hum, The Ottawa Citizen
“Maestro’s classical touch retains an expressive delicacy whatever the mood . . . His solo career is going to be one to watch.” – John Fordham, The Guardian
“Thoughtful and melodic” – Nate Chinen, The New York Times

Shai Maestro is a creator of moods, a shaper of atmospheres and a sculptor of sound. The pianist doesn’t merely play music; he creates a world that is distinctly and intimately his. On his new recording, Shai Maestro Trio – Untold Stories, available on Motema Music on August 28, 2015, Maestro, and his trio featuring Jorge Roeder (bass) and Ziv Ravitz (drums), explores a touching and poetic universe of music. Untold Stories contains all that is great in modern jazz today, and truly displays the camaraderie and brotherhood in music that this trio possesses.

As a pianist and composer Maestro has been chasing down beauty his entire life, looking to capture meaningful phrases that are refined, and clearly communicated. With Untold Stories, the third album from his trio, Maestro has turned the page and entered a new phase, taking time, fearing less, daring more, accepting the occasional stumble, and allowing the music to change and be a representation of who the members of the trio are as people, for good or bad. Maestro elaborates, “What happened to us on the road in the last few years is basically a shift in our state of mind. What I want to do today (and also to hear from other musicians as well) is to express who I am, and who we are as human beings. Being human is a complex thing to say the least, and there are many sides to our personalities. Not all are beautiful. So music can and should contain everything; beauty, ugliness, love, violence, etc. So Untold Stories is a point in time of us, an entry into a different journey, one that is much more raw and honest then what I have done so far.” The music on Untold Stories was recorded live and in studios in Brooklyn and Paris, offering the listener a complete picture of the Trio today (“Maya’s Song”- studio-Paris, “Treelogy”, “Painting”, “Elusive” & “Looking Back (Quiet Reflection)”-live-Paris, “When You Stop Seeing”, “Endless Winter” & “Shades”-studio-Brooklyn).