Efrat Alony

Biography
Efrat Alony is an Israeli singer, composer and vocal pedagogue who works primarily in Germany and has been active in recent years primarily as a jazz singer.
Born in Haifa as the daughter of Iraqi immigrants, Efrat Alony grew up in Israel. There she began her studies in composition and singing, which she later continued in the USA, at the Berklee College of Music in Boston and completed in Berlin at the "Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler". Parallel to a successful career as a band leader, Efrat has performed as a feature vocalist and composer with big bands such as the Sunday Night Orchestra, with the UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra, with the Ed Partyka Jazz Orchestra, the Jazz Orchestra Concertgebouw or with the Bigband of the Hessischer Rundfunk.
Current Album

Efrat Alony - Hollywood isn’t calling
Efrat Alony: vocals
Frank Wingold: guitar
Henning Sieverts: bass
Award-winning Israeli singer and composer Efrat Alony has long been one of the most important voices in European jazz.
Her latest album, "Hollywood Isn't Calling," was nominated for the 2022 German Jazz Award for Best Vocal Album, and the track "My shorthand Modes of Perception" was nominated for Best Composition.
"Efrat Alony came up with the title of the album through a funny story in which she received news from the "Artemis Women in Action Film Festival 2019" Los Angeles that she had won an award for her composition. A simultaneously funny and absurd circumstance that inspired Efrat Alony to take the whole thing with humor - if Hollywood doesn't call after all, she'll just have to grab the megaphone herself to get her message out to the world.
With "Hollywood isn't calling", Efrat Alony walks the line and the tightrope with infectious pleasure. Here she delivers her unique interpretation of "the Spirit of Jazz" - poetic and committed lyrics are rendered in her own energetic and lively modern jazz.
As is often the case in her work, Efrat Alony deals with opposites - in Hollywood Isn't Calling, she brings an unusual pair to the table together: humor and depth, which seem less and less contradictory as the album's storytelling progresses. "Depth is brought to the listener here with a thoughtful eye - the humor, on the other hand, is mercurial and disarming. With one, she addresses important social and political issues; with the other, she draws energy and strength to bear the seriousness of those issues in turn. This interplay creates a lightness that seems to make Alony's poetry even more dynamic. Her strong soulful voice is able to effortlessly slip into a wide variety of characters and emotions that consistently take on new forms .The compositional diversity of the album perfectly accompanies Alony's voice and vision. Scat passages and classical jazz vocals seamlessly alternate, delicate solo arrangements break through powerful instrumentation. With "My Shorthand Modes of Perception", one of the more engaging lyrics on the album, she aims to trigger food for thought in the listener - man would have much to gain by thinking less in pigeonholes and leaving one's own prejudices and comfort zone In El Ha-Or, Alonys professes her commitment to the light - no matter how bleak the world seems, how abandoned one feels by self-appointed leaders - the search for the light, however tiny it may be, becomes a vital task." . (WILDKAt 2021)
With "Hollywood isn't calling" Efrat Alony broke a new ground, which the Quartet Frank Wingold (guit) , Henning Sieverts ( bass) and Heinrich Koebberling (drums) share with each other. The four have been united for years by a creative and communicative "workshop". All of them have "classical to contemporary music roots" as well as their home in jazz. At the interface they make with "Hollywood isn't calling" an innovative creation in stylistics, which is looking for its equal.
Discography
- Hollywood isn’t calling, Neuklang 2021
- Seabstian Böhlen Trio featuring Efrat Alony 2017
- Best of „Barock and Jazz Reihe“ im „Bird‘s eye“ Basel 2016
- „Nein, lieber Mensch so nicht“ – eine Freiheitskantata für Martin Luther 2015
- „Cuantame“ - Izabella Effenberg featuring Efrat Alony- Unit Records 2014
- „Waves“ - Daniel Stickan und Uwe Steinmetz featuring Efrat Alony 2013
- A kit for mending thoughts, Enja 2012
- „Beyond Words“ - Ulrich Drechsler trio featuring Efrat Alony, Enja 2012
- Ed Partyka's Jazz Orchestra featuring Efrat Alony “Songs for love lost” 2011
- Dismantling Dreams, Enja 2009
- New Jewish Folk Songs, Die HR Bigband featuring Efrat Alony 2009 Overcast – The Sunday Night Orchestra featuring Efrat Alony Dirigent: Ed Partyka 2008
- Unarmed and Dazed, Enja 2006
- Unravelling, Intuition Records 2005
- Sunday Night Orchestra playing the music of and featuring Efrat Alony Dirigent: Ed Partyka 2004
- Merry Go Round, ZYX MusiK 2002
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