EPISODE 80 - Itay Morchi

Originally from Israel, Itay started playing the drums at the age of six Itay and was honored to study under the direction of the the finest musician and teachers in Israel.

 

Since November 2016 Itay has been the working drummer in piano legend's Johnny O'neal trio. Since then, he performed with him in prestigious venues and festivals around the world, to name a few: Detroit Jazz Festival, Nice Jazz Festival, Red Sea Jazz Festival, Rostov International Jazz festival, Blue Note Milano, Dizzy's Club Coca Cola, ESSE Jazz Club moscow, as well as weekly residencies in NYC own Smalls Jazz club, Mezzrow Jazz Club, Smoke Jazz Club, Ginny's Supper Club and more.

In October of 2017, Itay was honored to be on Johnny O'neal's new record - "In The Moment" Featuring - ROY HARGROVE and GRANT STEWART.

 

By 17 years old, Itay has already toured the world and shared the stage with the finest Jazz musicians in Israel, and international well known musicians.

A graduate of the Thelma Yellin School of Arts, a student of BFA Jazz Studies (The Center for Jazz Studies at the Israel Conservatory of Music, Tel Aviv in collaboration with The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, NY), Itay's passionate dedication and skillful sensitivity on the drums has become widely known in Israel and made him a wanted drummer in many Jazz ensembles and stages.

By the age of 15 Itay was honored to receive a few scholarships and awards for his playing (Berklee College of Music, The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, NY, Stanford Jazz Workshop, Europafest), and play in international jazz festivals.

Since 2013 Itay has been making his way into the New York Jazz scene, and got to work and perform with many great musicians such as – Johnny O'neal, Roy Hargove, Ravi Coltrane, Tivon Penicott, Tuomo Uusitalo, Mulgrew Miller, Eli Degibri, Doug Weiss, Gadi Lehavi, Cyrille Aimee, Daniel Zamir, Omer Avital, Ofer Ganor, Avishai Cohen, Joel Frahm, David Berkman, Dayna Stephens, Gilad Hekselman, Lew Tabackin, Yotam Silberstein, Peter Slavov, Aaron Goldberg, Donald Harrison, Grant Stewart, J.J wiggins, and more..

"He is an energetic and imaginative musician". "Itay has what it takes to elevate and propel any musical situation". (Ravi Coltrane)

"Itay is an extremely talented musician and drummer, with excellent technical abilities. He has dynamic flexibility when playing and great energy supporting the composition and the band. He has immense capabilities in a wide variety of musical styles" (Amit Golan)