Sam Yahel

Sam Yahel is a Hammond B-3 organist and pianist recognized as one of the distinctive voices among a new breed of jazz organ players, repeatedly named a Talent Deserving of Recognition in DownBeat's International Critics Poll. Born in 1971 in Atlanta, he moved to New York in 1990 and became a fixture of the scene, working with Joshua Redman, Bill Frisell, Peter Bernstein, Maceo Parker, and Brian Blade. His organ trio Yaya3, with Redman and Blade, and albums such as Truth and Beauty, which the New York Times named among its top jazz records of the year, established him as a leader as well as a sideman. Equally at home at the piano, he contributed to Norah Jones's Grammy-winning Come Away With Me and toured with Madeleine Peyroux. At the invitation of Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, his trio opened for Steely Dan on tour.