Anat Fort Trio

For her third ECM album, Israeli pianist Anat Fort augments her long-established trio (bassist Gary Wang and drummer Roland Schneider) by inviting a special guest: Italian reedman Gianluigi Trovesi. Fort and Trovesi have made a number of appearances together in recent years to critical acclaim, and the new album Birdwatching, with its lively, bright music, takes their rapport to the next level. Since the release of her last album, And If, Fort has returned to Israel, living now in Tel Aviv, after a lengthy sojourn in Brooklyn. This ECM CD release concert marks her highly anticipated return to the Rubin Museum.

“[Fort is] quietly establishing herself as a composer of graceful beauty and an improviser of daring exploration.” – John Diliberto

About the Musicians

Anat Fort began studying music at the age of five and grew up listening to 80s pop and soaking up the diverse sounds of the Middle East, all of which nourished the rich kaleidoscope of colors and influences that would become her stylistic signature. Though a natural improviser from a very young age, it was not until her late teens that she discovered jazz. This fascination led her to study improvisation at William Paterson University and then move to New York to pursue her studies in composition with Harold Seletsky and in improvisation with Paul Bley. Paul Motian brought Anat Fort to ECM’s attention and played on her first album for the label, A Long Story (2004).

Gianluigi Trovesi was born in the small Alpine village of Nembro, near Bergamo, in northern Italy. He made his first ECM appearance in 1994 as a member of the Italian Instabile Orchestra on Skies of Europe and returned in 2001 with In cerca di cibo, the first of several improvisational witty discs with accordionist Gianni Coscia. Trovesi’s other projects on ECM include Vaghissimo Ritratto, on which he appears with pianist Umberto Petrin and percussionist and electronics player Fulvio Maras, and Fugace, a genre-hopping adventure by an all-Italian octet.

Gary Wang grew up in Boston and San Francisco, moving to New York in the late 1990s. As well as being Fort’s bassist, he has played in the bands of T. S. Monk, Stanley Turrentine, Matt Wilson, Ben Monder, and many others, and has worked with Geri Allen, Mark Turner, Kenny Werner, Roy Hargrove, Dianne Reeves, Jane Monheit, Eric Alexander, Bobby Watson, Howard Johnson, and more.

Roland Schneider is a Heidelberg-born drummer who studied in New York with Billy Hart and Bill Stewart, among others. Now a much in-demand performeron the international scene, he has worked with a range of modern jazz musicians, including Maynard Fergusson, Muhal Richard Abrams, Kenny Wheeler, and Ernie Watts. He has been working with Anat Fort since 1998.

Photo of Anat Fort by Shlomo Israeli.

Jazz at the Rubin is made possible with funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.