Adam Ben Ezra (; born December 18, 1982, in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

, Israel) is an Israeli self-taught multi-instrumentalist, composer and educator, known for his

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

performances.

Early life

Growing up in Tel Aviv, Adam began playing the violin when he was five years old before picking up the guitar when he was nine. Following a stint with the electric bass at 16 he discovered the instrument that would come to be most associated with him when he began studying the double bass.

Career

Adam began his musical career performing in

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

clubs and cafes and playing with several local musicians and ensembles. He got his early break in 2008 when his upright bass version of the theme tune for the TV show ''

Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, with a total of nine seasons consisting of List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It ...

'' as well as his rendition of

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

's "

Billie Jean "Billie Jean" is a song by the American singer Michael Jackson, released by Epic Records on January 3, 1983, as the second single from his sixth studio album, ''Thriller (album), Thriller'' (1982). It was written and composed by Jackson, produ ...

" gained viral success. This caught the attention of American label CandyRat Records who released the singles "Openland" and "Flamenco" in 2012. That same year Adam's playing was featured on the

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

' Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan' album playing on songwriter

Oren Lavie Oren Lavie (; born June 13, 1976) is an Israeli songwriter, author, theatre and video director. His music video for "Her Morning Elegance" earned a 2009 Grammy Award nomination for "Best Short Form Music Video" and has become a YouTube hit wit ...

's version of the track "4th Time Around". 2013 was a key year for Adam with solo shows in Europe and the United States including appearances at the

International Society of Bassists The International Society of Bassists (ISB) is a 501(C)(3) not-for-profit organization for anybody who enjoys the double bass. The society was founded in 1967 by Gary Karr Gary Michael Karr (born November 20, 1941, in Los Angeles) is an American c ...

convention in

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

, :fr:Gaume Jazz Festival in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, and Musica in Borgo in

Termoli Termoli ( Molisano: ''Térmëlë'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) on the south Adriatic coast of Italy, in the province of Campobasso, region of Molise. It has a population of around 32,000, having expanded quickly after World War II, and it is a ...

, Italy, where he also featured as a guest artist during Sarah Jane Morris' set. In addition he supported the likes of

Richard Bona Richard Bona (born 28 October 1967) is a Cameroon-born American multi-instrumentalist and singer. Early life Bona Penda Nya Yuma Elolo was born in Minta, Cameroon, into a family of musicians, which enabled him to start learning music from a ...

Mike Stern Mike Stern (born January 10, 1953) is an American jazz guitarist. After playing with Blood, Sweat & Tears, he worked with drummer Billy Cobham, then with trumpeter Miles Davis from 1981 to 1983 and again in 1985. He then began a solo career, re ...

and

Victor Wooten Victor Lemonte Wooten (born September 11, 1964) is an American bassist, songwriter, and record producer. He has been the bassist for Béla Fleck and the Flecktones since the group's formation in 1988 and a member of the band SMV with two other ...

. He also appeared on a cover of the

Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. One of the key bands in the grunge, grunge movement of the early 1990s, Pearl Jam has outsold and outlasted many of its contemporaries from the early 1990s, ...

track ' Jeremy' by the metal band

Orphaned Land Orphaned Land is an Israeli Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in 1991. They combine Mizrahi music, Mizrahi and Maghrebi Jews, Maghrebi Jewish, Arabic music, Arabic, Music of Turkey, Turkish, and other Middle Eastern music, Middle Easter ...

. A few months later Adam began his ongoing collaboration with internationally renowned singer

Achinoam Nini Achinoam Nini (; born ), known professionally as Noa (), is an Israeli singer-songwriter, percussionist, poet, composer, and human rights activist working internationally. She is accompanied by guitarist Gil Dor and often plays the conga drums a ...

("Noa"), appearing on her 2014 album ''Love Medicine'' as well as joining her on tours in North America and Europe that included a show with

George Dalaras George Dalaras (, born 29 September 1949) is a Greek singer and musician. He is one of the most prominent figures of Greek music. In October 2006, he was selected as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency. He was born in Piraeus. His ...

and

Dulce Pontes Dulce José Silva Pontes (; born 8 April 1969) is a Portuguese songwriter and singer who performs in many musical styles, including pop, folk, and classical music. She is usually defined as a world music artist. Her songs contributed to the 1990s ...

at the

Acropolis An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens ...

in Athens. In 2014 Adam joined renowned classical musicians Igudesman & Joo (

Aleksey Igudesman Aleksey Mikhailovich Igudesman (; born 22 February 1973) is a Russian-German violinist and composer. He performs in the comedy-musical duo Igudesman & Joo. Biography Igudesman was born in Leningrad, in what was then the Soviet Union, to a musi ...

and

Hyung-ki Joo Hyung-ki Joo () is a Korean-British pianist, composer, comedian and one half of the comedy-musical duo Igudesman & Joo. Billy Joel chose Joo to arrange and record his classical piano pieces for the album '' Fantasies & Delusions''. It was rec ...

) for their League of X-traordinary Musicians Showpiece, performing a

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve refers to the evening, or commonly the entire day, of the last day of the year, 31 December, also known as Old Year's Day. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated with dancing, eating, drinkin ...

show at the Vienna Konzerthaus alongside a talented multinational ensemble. That same year he also formed the new Adam Ben Ezra Trio which toured Europe including performances at Catania Jazz Festival in Italy. In 2015 Adam crowd-funded his debut album ''Can't Stop Running'' through a

PledgeMusic PledgeMusic was an online direct-to-fan music platform, launched in August 2009. It was started to facilitate musicians looking to pre-sell, market, and distribute projects, such as recordings and concerts. It bore similarities to other artist pa ...

campaign. The cover art for the album, photographed by Ezra Gozo Mansur, was also selected as one of the best photos of 2015 by

Communication Arts ''Communication Arts'' (acronym: CA) is the largest international trade journal of visual communication. Founded in 1959 by Richard Coyne and Robert Blanchard, the magazine's coverage includes graphic design, advertising, photography, illustra ...

magazine. In the summer of 2015 Adam appeared at the Pilsen Festival and Pacovský Poledník Festival as well as a sold-out show at the Jazz Dock Club in Prague as part of his tour in the Czech Republic. Later that year he again joined forces with Igudesman & Joo at the 'Lucerne Festival' in Switzerland, and also performed solo concerts at The Romanian National Opera, in Timișoara, Romania and at the Double Bass Passion Festival in Belgrade, Serbia. Besides touring extensively, Adam published the albums "Pin Drop", recorded a
Little Big Beat Studios in Liechtenstein
and released on

Ropeadope Records Ropeadope Records is an American record label known for recordings in a variety of genres including jazz, hip hop, gospel and electronic music. The label, now led by Louis Marks, was founded in 1999 by Andy HurwitzAndy Hurwitz"Ropeadope carves id ...

in 2017, and "Hide and Seek" in 2020.

YouTube

In addition to his live music playing Adam has made a name for himself through his

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel. To date his videos have gained more than 7 million views and his original video for "Can't Stop Running" has generated more than 1 million views. He is well known for his takes on TV theme songs such as '

Dexter Dexter may refer to: People * Dexter (given name) * Dexter (surname) * Dexter (singer), Brazilian rapper Marcos Fernandes de Omena (born 1973) * Famous Dex, also known as Dexter, American rapper Dexter Tiewon Gore Jr. (born 1993) Places United ...

' and '

Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American historical drama, period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on cable network AMC (TV channel), AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, with seven seasons ...

Influences

Adam has cited

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...

Sting Stimulator of interferon genes (STING), also known as transmembrane protein 173 (TMEM173) and MPYS/MITA/ERIS is a regulator protein that in humans is encoded by the STING1 gene. STING plays an important role in innate immunity. STING induces typ ...

Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

Chick Corea Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021) was an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain (instrumental), Spain", "500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba" ...

Eddie Gomez Eddie may refer to: *Eddie (text editor), a text editor originally for BeOS and now ported to Linux and Mac OS X *Eddie (crater), a crater on Mars *Eddie (given name) *The Eddie, a surfing tournament Arts and entertainment * ''Eddie'' (film), a 1 ...

and

Jaco Pastorius John Francis Anthony Pastorius III, also known as Jaco Pastorius (; December 1, 1951 – September 21, 1987), was an American jazz bassist, composer, and producer. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential bassists of all time, ...

Flamenco Flamenco () is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the Gitanos, gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and Region of Murcia, ...

and

Arabic music Arabic music () is the music of the Arab world with all its diverse List of music styles, music styles and genres. Arabic countries have many rich and varied styles of music and also many linguistic Varieties of Arabic, dialects, with each countr ...

as his musical inspiration. Adam is considered a pioneer in a new style of playing on the upright bass, in which he plays and drums on his instrument at the same time in order to obtain a rich groove sound.

Instruments

As well as playing the double bass, he is known for incorporating various instruments in his live performances and recordings, including the piano, bass guitar, guitar, clarinet, oud, flute and cajon, and for his use of a loop and effect pedals.

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ezra, Adam Ben Jazz bass guitarists 1982 births Living people Israeli jazz composers Israeli jazz musicians Israeli jazz pianists Israeli flautists Jazz flautists Israeli clarinetists Israeli jazz clarinetists Israeli music educators Israeli jazz guitarists Composers from Tel Aviv Israeli jazz double-bassists 21st-century double-bassists 21st-century bass guitarists