A distinctive voice among a new breed of Hammond B-3 organ players on the jazz scene, Sam Yahel has earned the top spot in Downbeat’s International Critics Poll as a Talent Deserving of Recognition for four consecutive years. Since moving to New York in 1990, Yahel has worked with a string of notable jazz artists including tenor saxophonists Joshua Redman and Eric Alexander, former James Brown sideman and alto sax great Maceo Parker, guitarists Peter Bernstein and Bill Frisell, trumpeters Ryan Kisor and Jim Rotondi, vocalists Norah Jones (on her Grammy-winning Come Away With Me), Lizz Wright, and Madeleine Peyroux. As a solo artist, Yahel has made his most personal statements as both composer and player. He has released five recordings as a leader: 1998′s Searchin’, 1999′s Trio; 2000′s In The Blink of an Eye; 2007’s On Truth and Beauty and 2009’s Hometown.