Ari Hoenig

ARI HOENIG BIOGRAPHY Born on November 13, 1973 in Philadelphia, Ari Hoenig, was exposed at an early age to a variety of musical experiences. His father is a conductor and classical singer, his mother a violinist and pianist. Accordingly, at 4 years of age, Ari began studying the violin and piano. He began playing drums at age twelve, and by age fourteen he was honing his skills with other young jazz musicians at Philly clubs such as Ortlieb's JazzHaus. Ari attended the prestigious University of North Texas for three years, where he studied with Ed Soph while playing with the "One O'Clock" Lab Band. Wanting to be closer to New York City, in 1995 Ari transferred to William Patterson College in northern New Jersey. He soon found himself playing for legendary Philadelphia organist Shirley Scott and working regularly in New York City. Shortly thereafter, Ari moved into Brooklyn and found himself started playing extensively with a variety of groups, including Jean Michel Pilc Trio, Kenny Werner Trio, Chris Potter Underground, Kurt Rosenwinkel Group, Joshua Redman Elastic band, Jazz Mandolin Project, and bands led by Wayne Krantz, Mike Stern, Richard Bona, Billy Childs and Pat Martino. He has also shared the stage with such artists as Herbie Hancock, Ivan Linz, Wynton Marsalis, Toots Thielemans, Dave Holland, Joe Lovano, and Gerry Mulligan, although he got kicked off the stage by security shortly thereafter. Both of Ari's self-produced solo drum CDs, "Time Travels" (2000) and "The Life Of A Day" (2002), document his exploratory nature and they represent an ambitious tribute to the melodic possibilities of the drum set. Today, Ari continues to build on the concepts of these two records by playing largely improvised solo concerts using a regular four piece drum kit and no extraneous percussion. The Ari Hoenig Quartet was formed at the end of 2002 while playing every Monday night at the New York Village jazz club Fat Cat. The band featured Jacques Schwarz-Bart on tenor sax, Jean Michel Pilc on piano, and Matt Penman on bass. They released two records on the Smalls Records label: "The Painter" (2004) and the DVD "Kinetic Hues" (2005) In 2006 Ari signed a multi record deal with Dreyfus Records and released his first record for them called “Inversations" (2006) which features the trio of Jean Michel Pilc and Johannes Weidenmueller. “Bert’s Playground” (2008), Ari’s second record for Dreyfus, features Ari’s Punk Bop Band joined by Chris Potter.

Highlights of this record include Chris’s solo on Moments Notice and Ari jumping around in red pants on the cover. Jonathan Kreisberg, Matt Penman, Will Vinson, Gilad Hekselman and Orlando le Fleming also represent on this one. The next record project was for “Smalls Live”, a record label set up in 2009 to document some of the music being performed at the “Smalls Jazz Club” in New York where Ari has had a residency since 2003. Ari chose his Punk Bop Band to make this live record “Punk Bop Live at Smalls”. The Punk Bop Band features Will Vinson on alto, Jonathan Kreisberg on guitar and fellow Jazz Mandolin Project alumni, Danton Boller on bass. Tigran Hamasyan is a special guest on 4 tracks as well. Ari's Quartet with Tigran Hamasyan, Gilad Hekselman, Orlando le Fleming and Chris Tordini released “Lines of Oppression” (2011) on the Naïve label. This record represents a culmination of Ari’s bandleading, composing and accounting skills. In 2016, Ari Released The Pauper and the Magician on AH-HA Records. It features the quintet of Shai Maestro on piano, Gilad Hekselman on guitar, Tivon Pennicott on Sax and Orlando Le Fleming on bass. On this record, Ari explores the link between story telling and jazz by creating a soundtrack to the improvised and sometimes twisted stories he tells his two small children. In 2018, Ari released a standards record called NY Standard on the Fresh Sound label. It is a tribute to playing standards in New York. The next record, Conner’s Days, is Also due to come out on the Fresh Sound label in 2019 and it features his current trio of Nitai Hershkovits and Or Bareket. Besides the quintet, Ari leads 2 other groups which play his original music. Ari Hoenig Nonet and Trio. The Nonet performs Ari’s original compositions arranged by Noam Wiesenberg and features various high caliber players in the New York area. The trio is with Gilad Hekselman and Orlando le Flemming and has toured extensively in Europe, Japan and South America. Ari also co-leads a variety of projects including Pilc, Moutin, Hoenig (“the three headed monster”), jazz electronica project “Nasty Factorz” with Gael Horellou and various duo’s with Chris Potter, Edmar Casteneda or Dan Weiss. In 2013 Ari won the prestigious BMW Welt (World) award in Munich, an international competition for best band led by a drummer. As an educator, Ari teaches privately and is on faculty at New York University and the New School for Social Research in New York. He gives clinics and lectures at music schools and universities worldwide, and writes a regular educational column for Modern Drummer magazine. In collaboration with bassist Johannes Weidenmueller, Ari released “Intro to Polyrhythms Vol 1”, and “Metric Modulations, Expanding and Contracting Time within Form Vol 2. (Mel Bay 2009, 2012) In 2011, Ari released two more educational products dedicated specifically to drumming. “Systems Book 1, Drumming Technique and Melodic Jazz Independence” (Alfred Publishing), and DVD “Melodic Drumming” (2011) on www.jazzheaven.com . In 2014, Ari released the 3 part video entitled “Rhythm Training” geared for all musicians who want to improve their time and rhythmic vocabulary. It offers a clear step by step approach and is available through www.mymusicmasterclass.com Since 2014, Ari has released many other educational videos on mymusicmasterclass.com and also on Patreon.com “The Ari Hoenig Songbook” (a book with the lead sheets of all of Ari’s compositions (not just the easy ones) is available for download at www.lulu.com) Ari currently resides in Brooklyn with his wife and 2 kids.

Awards

In 2013 Ari won the prestigious BMW Welt (World) award in Munich, an international competition for best band led by a drummer.

Show less

Andy Ezrin: I Was Here

Read "I Was Here" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
May 17, 2024

Pianist Andy Ezrin should be heard more often, and by a far wider audience. Like all commanders of the keyboard, he can make his chosen instrument sing, sigh, sway or soar, as he does the Fender Rhodes and Hammond B3 organ whenever he so chooses. On I Was Here, Ezrin doubles as composer, performing thirteen of his charming compositions in groups ranging from trio to quintet before playing the last one, “Cascades," alone. Saxophonist Donny McCaslin sits ...

Album Review

Ben Markley: Ari's Funhouse

Read "Ari's Funhouse" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
February 6, 2024

Accade spesso nel jazz che dagli incontri estemporanei nascano le cose migliori. Il bandleader e arrangiatore Ben Markley e il batterista Ari Hoenig si sono conosciuti nel 2019 in un jazz festival del Texas. Da quell'incontro è nato questo progetto discografico, che ha visto Markley orchestrare le composizioni di Hoenig per la big band che guida a Denver. Il batterista è ospite dell'ensemble e dà il suo contributo con un vivace e articolato sostegno ritmico. L'album è stato registrato nel ...

Album Review

Gili Lopes: Algures

Read "Algures" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
January 13, 2024

Bassist, composer, musical director and producer Gili Lopes is nothing if not an astute judge of talent. After all, for Algures (from an old Portuguese word meaning 'somewhere'), he has recruited a redoubtable case of accompanists, not the least of whom is saxophonist John Ellis, he of fruitful collaborations with Charlie Hunter and Miguel Zenon among others, as well as a string of diverse albums under his own name such as Dance Like There's No Tomorrow (Hyena, 2008) and Puppet ...

Album Review

Benjamin Boone: Caught in the Rhythm

Read "Caught in the Rhythm" reviewed by Paul Rauch

by Paul Rauch
September 28, 2023

The connection between poetry and jazz music is a delicate one. It has been documented so infrequently, in performance and recordings, that one still conjures the flicker of an image of Jack Kerouac reading in some dark Greenwich Village cafe with Steve Allen or Zoot Sims, surrounded by beret-wearing, cappuccino-sipping beatniks. The work of Fresno-based saxophonist Benjamin Boone has assisted in widening that view through four albums recorded for the Origin Records label, including the fourth, Caught in the Rhythm ...

Album Review

Eunmi Lee: Introspection

Read "Introspection" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
August 17, 2023

Eunmi Lee is a quick learner. The South Korean-born pianist, who now makes her home in New York City, did not become acquainted with or interested in jazz until a friend introduced her to the GRP Records catalogue. That was more than a year after she had received a degree in contemporary piano from the Seoul Institute for the Arts, in 2005. Eager to learn more, Lee came to California in 2007 to take part in an open house at ...

Album Review

JD Walter: What the World Needs Now

Read "What the World Needs Now" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
August 15, 2023

JD Walter beckons listeners into a soulful and captivating journey through modern jazz interpretations of non-jazz material. With his unique vocal stylings and innovative arrangements, he brings a fresh perspective to familiar popular tunes, and several jazz standards, while delivering thought-provoking original compositions. From the very first track--Stevie Wonder's “Golden Lady"--it is evident that Walter's vocal prowess is a force to be reckoned with. He dashes along in full flight and then effortlessly shifts into intricate ...

Album Review

Eunmi Lee: Introspection

Read "Introspection" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
June 19, 2023

Korean-born, New York-based pianist and composer Eunmi Lee opens her debut record, Introspection with her original composition, “Gimmick." And, if there is a gimmick, it sounds as if it might be her strong compositional voice and her way with an arrangement. The tune features Alan Ferber on trombone, saxophonist John Ellis, a guitar, bass and drums rhythm section, and Lee in the piano chair. In spite of the album's title, this opener is a bright, sassy roller. Maybe the gimmick ...

153

Recording

Ari Hoenig - Lines of Opression (Naive/Ah-Ha, 2011)

Source: Music and More by Tim Niland
July 11, 2011

Drummer Ari Hoenig has played in a number of jazz bands, especially on the Small's scene in New York City, as well as released a few albums as a leader. On this album he is accompanied by Tigran Hamayan on piano and beat box, Gilad Hekselman on guitar and Orlando Le Fleming and Chris Tordini on bass. The group pays crisp, clear and accessible modern jazz that occasionally flirts with hip-hop or progressive rock, but stays true to its post-bop ...
read more

Performance / Tour

Sean Nowell and Kung-Fu Masters w/Ari Hoenig @ The 55 Bar - 1/27/11

Source: Two for the Show Media
January 20, 2011

Thursday, January 27th, 2011 KUNG-FU MASTERS with ARI HOENIG @ THE 55 BAR 10pm-1am 55 Christopher St btw/6th and 7th Ave West Village New York 55bar.com Featuring: Sean Nowell—Tenor Sax/Fx/Compositions Randy Runyon—Guitar Art Hirahara—Keys Evan Marien—Electric Bass Ari Hoenig—Drums Mixed Meter Jazz/Funk Explosion WHAT THEY ARE SAYING ABOUT THE KUNG FU MASTERS: “If the Kung Fu Masters were their own country, music making would ...
read more

127

Event

The Loove at Coco 66 Presents: AFKA Jazzheads Feat. Ari Hoenig

Source: Michael Ricci
April 1, 2010

Monday, April 5th: The Artists Formerly Known as Jazzheads featuring: Ari Hoenig [drums] Tim Motzer [guitars] Chris Cuzme [saxophone] Ben Bocardo [bass] Jazzheads, the band, featuring master rhythmatist Ari Hoenig, Philly guitarist Tim Motzer, saxophonist/brewer Chris Cuzme, and bassist Ben Bocardo blazed trails early on with collisions of jazz-funk, drumnbass, and world music. Reunited after a 10 year hiatus, the band still mixes it up and causes sparks to fly with a super fun ...
read more

132

Performance / Tour

He's Got Rhythm (of Every Variety)

Source: Michael Ricci
August 5, 2009

Ari Hoenig has a slightly compulsive relationship with his drum set. He doesn’t find the groove and cruise, or at least not for long: he looks for ways to irrigate his band’s music, to get trickles of rhythm seeping into all the cracks.

And at regular intervals he changes the rhythm, pouring it out or stoppering it, turning its emphasis around, subdividing or refocusing it and making it follow the melody.

For the last four years he’s had a regular ...
read more

210

Performance / Tour

Jazzheads at Chris' Jazz Cafe on July 24 & 25, 2009

Source: All About Jazz
July 21, 2009

Chris' Jazz Cafe presents JAZZHEADS on Friday & Saturday, July 24 & 25, 2009. Their new CD Avant Wot Not features Philly's own Ari Hoenig on drums, jingle stick & shells, Chris Cuzme on saxophone, & didgeridoo, Tim Motzer on guitar, synth guitar, banjo, & mandolin, and Ben Bocardo on electric bass, & upright bass.

July 24 & 25, 2009 Sets @ 8 & 10 PM Chris' Jazz Cafe 1421 Sansom St ...
read more

188

Recording

Ari Hoenig Set to Release "Bert's Playground" in September

Source: All About Jazz
August 19, 2008

Artistic inspiration can come from anywhere at all--even from a deceased pet. On Bert's Playground, Ari Hoenig's second recording for Dreyfus Records and his fifth outing overall, the young master drummer starts from a simple appreciation of Bert, his “one and only goldfish, the only fish in a tank full of snails." An ode to individuality, perhaps? An affirmation of the frolicsome spirit that Hoenig brings to every musical encounter? Bert's Playground is all of this and more, a vibrant ...
read more

372

Book / Magazine

Photonality Jazz Series Publishes New Book, Wayne Krantz Trio "In=finity+1", with Wayne Krantz, Guitar, Ari Hoenig, Drums and Paul Socolow, Bass from the February 8, 2008 Performance at Chris Jazz Cafe , Philadelphia

Source: All About Jazz
May 9, 2008

"In=finity + 1" with the Wayne Krantz Trio is a visual music composition using the medium of Photonality. Infinity is a contradiction that is an infinite process, unrolling endlessly in time and in space. The music of Wayne Krantz takes one on an endless journey within sound. The trio creates musical sound-scapes that go beyond space and time ...
read more

125

Performance / Tour

Wayne Krantz Trio & Ari Hoenig Trio @ Chris' Jazz Cafe on Feb 8th & 9th

Source: All About Jazz
February 6, 2008

Friday, February 8th

Guitarist, Wayne Krantz Trio featuring Ari Hoenig $20, 1st show, $15, 2nd show Sets 8 & 10PM

Late Night Drummer, Garrett Brown & His Band $8, 11:30 pm-2am

Saturday, February 9th

Ari Hoenig Trio featuring Francois Moutin on bass and the 2007 Thelonious Monk winner, Tigran Hamasyan on piano $15 door Sets 8 & 10PM

Late Night

Drummer, Garrett ...
read more

128

Performance / Tour

The Hoenig-Pilc Project at Chris' Jazz Cafe on November 2 & 3, 2007

Source: All About Jazz
October 17, 2007

A former French rocket scientist, Jean-Michel Pilc expresses his intellect deeply in his stunning piano playing. His visionary performances have seen tours in 40 countries, more than a dozen recordings and film scores, and collaborations with a daunting spate of musical luminaries, including Roy Haynes, Michael Brecker, Dave Liebman, Kenny Garrett, Lenny White, Chris Potter, John Abercrombie, Lew Soloff, and Harry Belafonte, for whom Pilc worked as musical director and pianist. Pilc's ear for dense harmonics and speed-of-sound technical facility ...
read more

275

Performance / Tour

Ari Hoenig Got Rhythm (of Every Variety)

Source: Michael Ricci
August 5, 2009

The drummer Ari Hoenig performs at Smalls Jazz Club with Gilad Hekselman on guitar and Orlando Le Fleming on bass.

Ari Hoenig has a slightly compulsive relationship with his drum set. He doesnt find the groove and cruise, or at least not for long: he looks for ways to irrigate his bands music, to get trickles of rhythm seeping into all the cracks. And at regular intervals he changes the rhythm, pouring it out or stoppering it, turning its emphasis ...
read more

"He's got Rhythm of every variety" " trickles of rhythm seeping into all the cracks and at regular intervals he changes the rhythm, pouring it out or stoppering it, turning its emphasis around, subdividing or refocusing it and making it follow the melody." —Ben Ratliff New York Times

"Ari Hoenig is one of the most maniacally obsessive, spasmodic and musical drummers in jazz." —-JAZZ TIMES

“Rhythm is a contact sport for Ari Hoenig” “expansive technique, propulsive time and deep musicality" "his style is characterized by a crisp attack and quick attentive reflexes. —-Nate Chinen, NEW YORK TIMES