Concert review: The Roni Ben-Hur Quartet at the St. Paul JCC

From the Department of Better Late than Never

When: Saturday, Feb. 12, 2011 • Where: St. Paul JCC • Who: Roni Ben-Hur, guitar; Ryan Cohan, piano; Santi Debriano, bass; Steve Williams, drums 

Roni Ben-Hur

Can you be a jazz venue if you present jazz once a year? If you’re the St. Paul Jewish Community Center, I vote yes.

Each year around this time, Jeffrey Richman, who heads the Center’s Jewish Cultural Arts department, brings in an important Israeli jazz artist or group. 

Last year, it was flutist and composer Mattan Klein and his quartet, with Manu Koch on piano, Gustavo Amarante on bass, and Yuval Lion on drums. The year before, pianist Omer Klein and his trio, bassist Omer Avital and drummer Ziv Ravitz. And the year before, bassist Avishai Cohen, with pianist Shai Maestro. I wasn’t yet hip to the JCC and missed that one.

This year, we were treated to the guitarist Roni Ben-Hur and his quartet: Ryan Cohan on piano, Santi Debriano on bass, Steve Williams on drums. 

Cohan is a well-known Chicago pianist; Debriano, born in Panama, has played with a diverse group of jazz stars ranging from Larry Coryell to Cecil Taylor; Williams spent 25 years with Shirley Horn. 

Ben-Hur was on the front of the wave that brought many Israeli jazz musicians to NYC; he moved here in 1985 to study with pianist Barry Harris. Since then, he has become one of the jazz elite, leading his own bands, performing and recording with artists including Rufus Reid, Ronnie Mathews, Slide Hampton, Clark Terry, Lewis Nash, and many others.