GALO: What particular piece of music resonated with you when you first began composing and playing and has continued to influence you through its timeless presence in the contemporary day?   

AY: Not a particular one. I have a lot of music in my head, not just one piece. I do have special feelings for Brahms 4th Symphony.

GALO: You started playing professionally in Israel at a very young age. I know you had a jazz trio previously, but I also found several notes in a few online publications that illustrated that you had played as a trio with your parents in Costa Rica? This struck me as peculiar as nothing of this sort is explained on your site or in other research – is there any truth to this?

AY: Played in a trio with my parents? No, that’s a mistake. My mother would have a good laugh if she heard that. That’s a good one. I had a jazz trio when I lived in Costa Rica with my family — that’s different. In any case, I started playing the piano when I was five-years-old with a teacher. Little before that, I would go to the piano and try things out, I doubt they were coherent, but I loved the piano from first sight. There was a piano in the house before I was born. My mother used to play piano when she was younger, and my father bought her a piano as a present when they got married.

GALO: What fascinated you about this particular instrument? Was it its grandiosity, or perhaps its versatility?

AY: I am not sure; I was too little to remember what exactly drew me to the piano. We also had a nylon strings guitar. I used to spend many hours playing it. I guess I chose the piano as my main instrument for life.

GALO: When you moved to New York was the move partially due to the enclave of venues and renowned artists made available to a young musician that is at a prime moment in his career?

AY: I moved to Costa Rica when I was about 22, then to Boston in 1993, when I was around 24, and in 2000 or 2001, I moved to NY. Of course, NY has so much to offer. Here is where I started performing regularly with Paquito D’rivera.

GALO: Between 2009 and 2010, you moved back to Israel to not only teach at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, but to also pursue your own Master’s degree in music composition, where you also received your Bachelor’s degree. What prompted you to continue your education? Do you feel that without it, your newest recordings wouldn’t be as colorful and vibrant in sound?

AY: I am interested in developing my skills in composition. It definitely helped and influenced some of my writings in the last album.

GALO: Teaching has been a big part of your career. Presently you are a professor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.  What do you find most challenging about teaching other musicians?

AY: Teaching is challenging, period. Finding ways to reach other musicians’ hearts and minds and making them love playing music, or writing music, developing their passion and acquiring musical skills is challenging and fascinating.

GALO: Is an education in the arts just as important as one in the sciences or business or is it only a small supplement to the foundation of talent, creativity, and passion that flows through the veins of most artists?

AY: Musical education is not a supplement to talent. It is necessary in order to develop it. If we are specifically talking about music education, in my eyes, everybody should have access to some level of music education regardless of what they are going to do for a living. Music is a being; music has healing and liberating powers, any music! I can tell you what wonderful things it does to my kids to be close to music. It has saved a lot of lives, including mine.

GALO: And don’t connections via networking also play a dominant role in any artist’s career? Doesn’t it always come down to the people you know?

AY: Networking is important, not only in music. And what it gets down to in my eyes, at least in music, is that you have to be skillful, be yourself, and be able to adjust and be flexible to do different things [such as]: playing, arranging, writing, teaching, recording, accompanying singers — anything that will make you a better musician.

GALO: The Jazz Gallery in New York and the Village Vanguard are quite popular amongst fellow jazz musicians. Do you ever visit these venues to listen to today’s jazz artists or perhaps even partake in surprise shows yourself?  Are such venues important for artists who are just starting out?

AY: I do go to listen to music at those venues. And yes, these venues are good for any musician who wants exposure, and a place to play their music. But there are a lot of places to hear great music in New York, not just these famous clubs.

GALO: Despite just having released an album, you already have another one in the plans – this time a solo project. Can you reveal a bit of what listeners might expect to find on it next year upon its release?

AY: It’s too early to say what people should expect from the solo piano album at this point. I am gathering ideas.

Alon Yavnai will be playing with his big band and special guest Dave Liebman at Joe’s Pub located at 425 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10003, on May 8 at 9:30 p.m. For more information or ticket sales visit http://www.joespub.com/ or call 212-967-7555. For information on Jazzreal: A Festival of Israel Jazz and World Music 2012 visit http://www.israelfm.org.

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