Catching Up With
By
Sign in to view read count
I love the point in my job where I get to stand on a stage and pour my heart out in the context of a song and have the audience feel this raw emotion.
—Naama Gheber
” data-original-title=”” title=””>Naama Geber‘s surely ranks among those in the “more different” category: not many jazz singers began their adult years by serving as an intelligence analyst in the Israeli air force.
Both born and raised in Be’er Sheva, Israel, she fell in love with jazz not in the United States (where she spent four years of her childhood while her parents completed their studies at Johns Hopkins), but in Israel.
“Before the military service, I discovered jazz,” Gheber said by Zoom. “It was almost coincidental—I didn’t know much about it, and somehow I fell into it. With the help of some other students at this conservatory, we formed this funny band—bass, flute, piano and guitar. , and the pianist was like, ‘We should learn 10 songs and we’ll book a gig.’
Her music journey had started in Baltimore, though, where her parents spent four years doing their post-doctoral work.
“My parents are both scientists. My dad is in biotechnology, and my mom is a biochemist. Their jobs are kind of similar in a way, where they do research, which is their art. They have to collaborate and get grants—there are lots of things that are relatable to me.”
If she didn’t follow her parents’ career path into the sciences, she did get her love of music from her father.
“My dad played the violin, but he’s kind of a self-taught musician, so he always wanted to do more. He came from an immigrant family from Eastern Europe to Israel. His family was supportive, but also clear that it wasn’t a profession—they were resistant to that. He wanted to go to an arts high school, but never got the chance. He would go around the house playing the piano and singing and introducing me to music. That was the music part of it. ”
And when she started taking piano lessons at age 6, she said her father was clear that this was something to be taken seriously.
“I remember the conversation with my dad when I came back from piano lessons practice was, ‘You have to every day if you want to do this.’ My dad would sit with me and practice with me for hours, from a really young age.”
But the lessons were, and would continue to be—even after the family moved back to Israel when she was 8—strictly in the classical realm.
“The lessons were very strict—we have Russian piano teachers in Israel, so it’s a very strict environment.”
Did she enjoy practicing? The question elicited a laugh, and then a somewhat noncommittal answer:
“It depends when! … I was always talented enough to do the least amount and get by.”
But she also credits her years of classical piano lessons with providing her a foundation of being able to sight-read, of a solid knowledge of theory that has served her well in jazz.
“I’m so grateful to have had that, because I wouldn’t be where I am without it.”
But she also admits that the transition from classical to improvisation was challenging, and for that she credits the live shows her quartet did while she was at the conservatory.
“We started booking gigs in my hometown, and people were really liking it, and I realized I could do this—and then I went into the army for four years, and couldn’t do it.”
Unlike one of her younger brothers who is assigned to a military band in the Israeli Air Force, Gheber had no such luck.
“My unit was not artistic—everybody was engineers and doctors!
“I was with a really cool unit in Air Force intelligence. It was the most challenging thing I’d done in my life up until then. The first year, I had to do so much studying. It felt important, like I was saving the world. It’s an experience that’s very hard to share with anyone who hasn’t gone through it.”
After her mandatory four-year hitch, Gheber applied to two music schools in Israel, having decided that was her future. One of them was connected to The New School in New York City—if you completed your first two years successfully in Israel, you were guaranteed acceptance to The New School.
“When they accepted me, I was like ‘Are you sure?’ They probably just saw some kind of potential, because I literally could not sing and didn’t know anything about jazz.
“I was discharged in the summer, and a few months later, I started school. It’s really hard because a lot of it is just listening to music, and deciding what kind. I was already living on my own, and had to pay rent —so I started waitingressing. Somehow I did it!”
After her first two years, she was not only accepted to The New School, but was awarded a scholarship as well.
Gheber remembered that she’d booked her first New York City gig before she even landed here.
“I booked a gig from Israel! I was not wasting time! I started 10 years later than a lot of people.
“It was the kind of gig you book easily, obviously, but the minute I came to The New School, I was in school, and I’m going to get all A’s. But it’s also in Greenwich Village—with all those clubs— so I made it a point to hang out as much as possible. It’s every easy to meet the right people.
“I got the ball rolling and clawed my way into the jazz scene.
“I was really fortunate to get this residency at Mezzrow. I had other gigs in town, but being able to play in a world-class jazz club that’s also one of the best rooms for jazz and is really singer-friendly? All of a sudden, I was getting gigs where I could hire anybody I wanted, and it was on a regular basis. It was about two years I was doing that. and also the musicians I wanted to work with.”
She released her first album, “Dearly Beloved,” in April 2020. Gheber said looking back, she thinks she waited too long to issue her debut.
“I realized that I needed to record. I started working with the pianist
, and he helped me with some of my arrangements. Then I had this thought—I wanted it to stand out. And I always admired
.