Yuval Amihai - My 90s Summer (2022)

This is my most personal work to date. I grew up in the south of Israel, in a small town located in the Negev Desert. Following my passion for jazz, I regularly traveled long distances to Tel Aviv, Israel’s cultural hub, seeking to learn from the country’s top teachers and performers, attending concerts, and playing in many of the city’s venues with local bands I formed along the way. At the end of each summer, I would travel even further to attend Israel's biggest international jazz festival in the distant city of Eilat. All I wanted was to absorb everything I could about this music.

The music eventually led me to travel from my home country —first by moving to Paris, France, and eventually to the jazz capital of the world— New York City.

This album, which is the fruit of my second collaboration with Fresh Sound Records (after “I Ain’t Got Nothin’ but the Blues” released in 2018), is a collection of 8 original compositions. I wrote these songs as I traveled between places, but never recorded them before. They reflect the diversity of cultures, places, sounds, and people that I had encountered over the years, in the various stations of my life.

And it all began in My 90s Summer.

Special thanks to Jordi Pujol of Fresh Sound Records, and to my partner in life Elza Rechtman for always believing in me and supporting my musical journey all along the way.

And most importantly - thank you, dear listener, for choosing to join me on this journey. I am happy for you to be part of it, I hope you will enjoy the ride.

—Yuval Amihai