Ohad Talmor

Jazz saxophonist Ohad Talmor was born in 1970 in Lyon, France, of Israeli parents. He grew up in Geneva, Switzerland in a house with classical music on at all times. At age five he started studying piano at the Geneva Conservatory. Upon moving to Florida in 1987 as an exchange student, Talmor took up the saxophone after falling in love with the marginal amount of jazz he heard before leaving Switzerland. Following his return to Europe, he moved along a path which led him first to study musicology at the University of Geneva in parallel to gigging around town. Eventually, performing took over studying as Talmor immersed himself into the European jazz scene. Parallel to his activities as a performer on the saxophones and clarinets, he took on a growing passion for composing and arranging, which eventually led him back to the U.S. in 1995 to the Manhattan School of Music on a full scholarship. He received his degree in composition in 1997, and since then continues to live in Brooklyn, N.Y., performing, composing, arranging, and sometimes acting, in different projects. Since his arrival back in N.Y.C., he has put together several diverse ensembles, including the News Reel Quintet, the Other Quartet co-led with trumpeter Russ Johnson, the M.O.B. Trio, the Deja Vus Septet, and Scent of the Morning Dew. For his most prominent collaborations, he has written distinctive repertoire as musical director of the Lee Konitz Nonet and the Steve Swallow Sextet. Talmor has also performed or recorded with Jason Moran, Dave Douglas, Paul Motian, Joe Lovano, Chris Potter, Billy Hart, the Carla Bley Big Band, Ray Anderson, Curtis Fowlkes, Jim Black, Bob Dorough, Joachim Kühn, John Hollenbeck, and Franco Ambrosetti. He also plays regularly with Roy Nathanson's Alphabet Lounge Big Band, Yannick Barman ensembles, the Brazilian Blue Seven Septet, and has arranged and composed pieces for the Brecker Brothers, the Matosinhos Jazz Orchestra, the European Broadcasting Ensemble, leading classical musicians such as pianist Martha Argerich, the Spring String Quartet of Austria, and the Axis String Quartet in New York. He is also actively involved in writing for new media, including music for National Public Radio, the SciFi television channel, the Random House and Penguin-Putnam audio books series, as well as writing music for films.
© Michael G. Nastos /TiVo