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Profile No. IL-76

Aviran Ben Naim

Piano — Israeli — B: Not publicly documented (Israeli)

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Aviran Ben Naim is an Israeli jazz pianist whose entire documented recorded output is a single album: Big Mother (Earsay Records, 2008), credited to The New Albert Beger Quartet. He joined saxophonist Albert Beger's working group in 2007 alongside bassist Gabriel Meir and drummer Yoav Zohar, both of whom, like Ben Naim, were new to Beger's band at the time. The quartet recorded Big Mother at Bardo Studios in April 2007, and the album was released the following year on Beger's regular Israeli label. Reviewing the record for All About Jazz, critic Eyal Hareuveni described Ben Naim and Zohar as "two new members" of the quartet, crediting Ben Naim with a rich harmonic sensibility and, in the reviewer's words, "well-articulated solos that contrast and comment on Beger's fiery Aylerian blowing."

Big Mother is a six-part conceptual suite, its cover built around a photograph of a mother and child at a rubbish dump rather than a portrait of the musicians. Ben Naim opens the suite's first movement, "The One," and closes the final one, "The One For Hope," reprising its dramatic opening theme; he also duets with Beger on the suite's slower fourth movement, "Point Of No Return." No other recording, performance credit, or biographical detail for Ben Naim has surfaced in any source consulted for this profile: he does not appear elsewhere in Beger's discography, in Discogs under any other release, or in any newspaper, festival, or label archive found in research. Piano was new to Beger's group with this album; his earlier working configurations, including the Evolving Silence duo/trio sessions with William Parker and Hamid Drake, did not carry a pianist.

The only critical assessment of Ben Naim's playing on record is Hareuveni's Big Mother review, which describes his comping and solo work as drawing on an Ellington-rooted harmonic language, set against Beger's more freely blown tenor saxophone lines. Beyond that one album and that one review, nothing further about his musical background, training, or other work has been documented.

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Aviran Ben Naim: Full Discography

Aviran Ben Naim, Israeli jazz pianist. Discogs and every other source checked (web search, All About Jazz, Bandcamp) document exactly one recording under his name: a single sideman/co-leader appearance in Albert Beger's quartet. He has no leader catalog, so no "As Leader" table is given below.


As Sideman / Co-Leader

Album Year Label Personnel Role Notes Listen Buy
Big Mother (billed The New Albert Beger Quartet) 2008 Earsay Records (ES078) Albert Beger (tenor saxophone, composer, arranger, producer), Aviran Ben Naim (piano), Gabriel Meir (bass), Yoav Zohar (drums) Piano, album-wide (all six tracks) Recorded at Bardo Studios, April 2007, released 2008. Verified at Discogs release level (release 5446493): Ben Naim's "Piano" credit carries an empty tracks field, i.e. it covers the full album, not a partial credit. Six-part suite: "The One," "Yellow," "Tales Of Beelzbub," "Point Of No Return," "Big Mother," "The One For Hope." Spotify not found

Notes on catalogue completeness

Discogs created a dedicated artist entity for Ben Naim (3713109) tagged only "Pianist" and grouped under "The New Albert Beger Quartet" (artist 3713108); both entities list exactly one release each, this same album. No other Aviran Ben Naim (or "Aviran Ben Na'im") credit anywhere in Discogs belongs to this musician: a same-named trumpet player performs with the Balkan brass ensemble Marsh Dondurma (Discogs artist 2199124), and a third same-named entity (8639790) appears on an unrelated 2008 theatrical/variety recording, The Life And Death Of Gotel Botel. Both are different instruments and different musical contexts from this pianist's single documented free jazz credit, and neither is treated as the same person here. No Bandcamp page, artist website, or additional press mention beyond the one All About Jazz review of Big Mother was found.

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