Anat Fort Trio

“Anat Fort has a charming way of dispensing pastoralism and an insightful way of lining that pastoralism with depth. Her trio has the kind of poise that lets her move from terra firma to the stratosphere.” - Jim Macnie, Village Voice.

Join Ars Nova Workshop for an evening with the Anat Fort Trio, featuring bassist Gary Wang and drummer Roland Schneider.  And If, released in 2010 by ECM, marks the first record by this exciting trio which recently celebrated its tenth anniversary.

Leader Anat Fort was born near Tel Aviv and studied classical piano as a child. Also improvising and writing her own tunes from an early age, she naturally gravitated toward jazz, although her pieces were also steeped in the colors and atmospheres of the Middle East.  In the mid-1990s she came to the USA to study jazz, wanting to balance a natural tendency towards freer playing with a proper understanding of the tradition. Her teachers have included jazz greats Rufus Reid and Harold Mabern and she also studied briefly with Paul Bley. In the last several years she has become an influential figure on NYC’s alternative jazz scene, but is also a highly regarded player in her homeland.  Bassist Gary Wang grew up in Boston and San Francisco, moving to New York in the late 1990s. As well as being Anat’s bassist for a decade, he has played in the bands of T.S. Monk, Stanley Turrentine, Matt Wilson and many others.  Heidelberg-born drummer Roland Schneider moved from Germany to New York in 1991 to study with Billy Hart and Bill Stewart, among others. Now a much in-demand player on the international scene, he has worked across the whole range of modern jazz, with musicians including Maynard Fergusson, Muhal Richard Abrams and Kenny Wheeler.