Oran etkin biography template

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Oran Etkin has been described as “Ebullient” by the New York Times, and voted #1 rising star clarinetist in DownBeat Magazine’s Critic’s Poll. His music can be heard on concert stages worldwide and on numerous recordings, including a Grammy Award Winning compilation. He is on the faculty of The New School University and has also appeared as a guest lecturer at Harvard University. French newspaper Libération chose his Paris concert as one of the top 6 musical events of the year, hailing it as ”a concert of weightlessness, class, spark, inspiration and sharing. Magic uninterrupted... for such is the music of Etkin: sensitive to the exchange with the audience.”


Indeed creating connection is at the core of all of Etkin’s musical endeavors. With his Open Arms Project, Etkin flipped the traditional tape-then-tour model. He took time off during his tours to create new music with traditional mbira musicians in Zimbabwe, Roma musicians in Czech Republic, legendary songwriters in Rio de Janeiro and innovative composers in São Paulo. Now on tour, Etkin’s band deconstructs and recomposes fresh music based on the melodies, rhythms and motifs that he recorded around the world. Incorporating electronics derived from stems of the original recordings, the live show tells a story of an opening and connected world, rooted in its traditions, yet forging a fresh path forward. On the upcoming Open Arms album (Jan 2024 - Ground Up Music), the original collaborations recorded on location are intermingled with these modern electronics-infused compositions that pay homage to the people and places Etkin connected with on his journey.


Etkin feels a strong responsibility to uplift the next generation, passing on the rich musical traditions of this world and instilling a sense of curiosity and openness to other cultures. Etkin's Timbalooloo program has created a paradigm shift in music education, empowering children to express themselves by making instrumen

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    Spreading it around, together

    Oran Etkin is in the lineup of the forthcoming winter version of the Red Sea Jazz Festival in Eilat (February 9-11).

    By BARRY DAVIS
    Oran Etkin is one well-rounded musician. Running an eye over his bio reveals that the thirty-something, Israel- born, US-bred reedman has accrued training, as well as bandstand and studio time, in numerous areas of musical and cultural creation.He is in the lineup of the forthcoming winter version of the Red Sea Jazz Festival in Eilat (February 9-11), where he will play with a high-profile quartet of drummer Matt Wilson, vibraphonist Steve Nelson and pianist Adam Birnbaum.IT ALL started for Etkin as a child, with one of the pioneers of modern jazz, the saxophonist and bebop founding father Charlie Parker. But the youngster was not drawn just to the compelling fire power of the art form – he was instinctively grabbed by the emotions the music evoked.“I remember when I was a small child, I danced to a record by Charlie Parker in my bedroom,” he says. “I was in a good mood and I started to dance. The next day, I cried to the same music.”That is a lesson that informs his approach to music – and life – to this day.His Kelenia album, which came out on the Motema label in 2009, exudes positive energies and a sense of abiding love that carried over to his charming child-oriented Wake Up Clarinet! release, which came out the following year and forms part of his “Timbalooloo” project for the junior crowd.“It’s not always happiness that comes out of my music,” he observes. “There are all sorts of feelings in there. I’d call it the feelings of life. At the end of the day, life is sometimes hard and sometimes joyful, and other things too.”That certainly comes across in Etkin’s music.“The music can draw something out of my soul, whatever I’m feeling at the time,” he continues. “You ca
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    “…no mistaking the energy and soulfulness of Etkin’s work…quirky,
    funky rhythms and buoyant melodic invention…”Chicago Tribune
    “Ebullient swing rhythm…” New York Times

    Acclaimed Bandleader/Composer/Clarinetist Oran Etkin Salutes
    Benny Goodman and The Launch of the Swing Era on
    What’s New? Reimagining Benny Goodman Featuring
    Sullivan Fortner, Steve Nelson, Matt Wilson and Charenee Wade

    Oran Etkin moved from Israel to the United States at age four. Surrounded by classical and Israeli music, he heard Louis Armstrong at age nine and became entranced by the trumpeter’s soulful sound, swing and melody. Armstrong inspired Etkin to search for a way to express himself through music with honesty and integrity. Etkin’s search led him to Benny Goodman, a musician also raised in a Jewish immigrant home and transformed by hearing Armstrong.

    Like Goodman, Etkin is a clarinetist and bandleader who calls upon classical, Jewish and African-derived music traditions. Described as “a composer of eminent individuality” by his mentor Yusef Lateef, Etkin’s unique sound emanates from an openness to discovering the world in himself and exploring it through his music. On this imaginative tribute to Goodman, Etkin taps into the melodicism of Armstrong and the bandleader statesmanship of Goodman while remaining true to his own creative voice. Etkin is riding a career high with this unique recording, which follows three previous award-winning Motéma Music releases.

    What’s New? Reimagining Benny Goodman (September 25, 2015) is inspired by two historic moments when Goodman used music to transform American society. The first was Goodman’s famous concert at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles on August 21, 1935, a show cited by historians as launching the Swing Era. Shares Etkin, I see the Swing Era as a spiritual awakening in the midst of the Great Depression. Through his clarinet, Goodman brought the swingi

  • Etkin is a clarinetist and bandleader