Assaf Kehati

Assaf Kehati was born in 1979 in Israel

Assaf Kehati was born in Israel on October 21, 1979. His grandmother, a professional pianist, first introduced him to playing an instrument. He began on piano and guitar at 10 and later took up classical violin.

As a teenager he played rock, pop and classical music, and at 19 he turned to jazz. He studied at the Rimon School in Ramat HaSharon, won several local jazz awards, and took third place in the national Jazz Player competition. In 2007 he moved to Boston, earned a master's degree in jazz performance from the New England Conservatory in 2009, and worked there as an assistant teacher.

In Israel he performed with musicians such as Alon Farber and Daniel Sapir, and appeared at the Tel Aviv Jazz Festival and the Machtesh Ramon Jazz Festival. He released the albums A View From My Window in 2010, Flowers And Other Stories in 2011 and Naked in 2014. Drummer Billy Hart has been part of his trio since 2009, and he has performed in Israel, South America, Russia, Canada and the United States, including the Blue Note in New York.