Shai Maestro (1987) is one of the most talented pianists of his generation. Since his debut with his own trio in 2011, Shai has shaped a strong and unique personal identity and has portrayed an incredible musical fluidity, making him and his band one of the most powerful and harmonious groups in the music world today.
This year (2026) Shai released his new album "The Guesthouse" which marks a pivotal moment in his ceative journey. After almost three years of work, he expanded on the totally open-ended improvisation of his solo playing by shaping a sound driven by more focused songwriting and dynamic production. It is an album that balances his jazz background with a new approach, combining acoustic and electronic elements. The songs are short, focused and with a clear and strong form, allowing each piece to stand out as its own story.
During the pandemic, Maestro delved into the world of music production, learning its craft to expand his palette beyond the acoustic traditions he grew up with. This journey allowed him to explore a broader sonic landscape, blending textures and creating sounds that were previously out of reach. The album is deeply collaborative, featuring contributions from a diverse range of artists who brought their own perspectives to each track.
While he still heavily draws on his jazz roots, Shai Maestro has opened the doors to a wide range of influences and sounds. Many pieces took shape in his home studio in Spain, inspired by the diverse musical styles of artists ranging from Rosalía to Paul Simon and John Coltrane, whose rhythms, storytelling, and harmonies shaped the album. Other parts of the record were made at Nilento Studios in Sweden with his trio, keeping human interaction as the main thread.
For the first time, Maestro ventured into lyric writing, unveiling a previously unexplored facet of his artistry. This creative foray was profoundly influenced by his recent immersion in Buddhist philosophy, mirroring the transformative personal journey that began with his move to Spain and the fresh start it heralded.
Before "The Guesthouse", Shai recorded his latest two albums on the renown label ECM, produced by Manfred Eicher. Shai Maestro instantly became part of the line of famous jazz pianists who have defined the label: Keith Jarrett, Paul Bley and Chick Corea. With a pure form of improvisation, joyful interplay, emotion and energy, Shai and his current close-knit quartet play with all kinds of influences, which come together in one-of-a-kind evolving high-energy concerts and inspirational recordings. Cinematic, challenging yet accessible and recognizable in every emotion, Shai’s most recent album, Human (ECM), was largely written and recorded during the Covid-19 pandemic and released in 2021. On this album, Maestro presents a quartet, bringing the music to a new level yet again. The quartet features Ofri Nehemya on drums, Peruvian bassist Jorge Roeder and US trumpeter Philip Dizack.
Shai Maestro began playing classical piano at the age of five and after listening to Keith Jarret and Oscar Peterson at the age of eight, improvisational music and especially jazz, became a main focus point in his playing and style. He turned down offers from prestigious American music schools and at nineteen he joined the band of double bassist Avishai Cohen, where he co-wrote the famous album Gently Disturbed. For five years he celebrated success at the best known festivals and venues with Cohen and drummer Mark Guiliana. Shai moved to Brooklyn, New York, where he formed his own trio in 2011 and recorded six albums, which marked his presence as a unique voice and artist in the world of music today.
Combining extensive worldwide touring, Shai signed with Sony for worldwide publishing and began to expand his artistic creativity and palette: scoring music for films, writing and arranging his music for large orchestra’s, producing (a.o. Gilad Hekselman’s album Fast Moving Century) and writing for renowned contemporary pop and electronica artists. Highlights include the invitation to perform a commissioned program with the world famous Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by Keitaro Harada) at Tokyo Metropolitan Theater. In the summer of 2022 Shai presented his new full scale orchestral work – “Alice” written for the national Orquestra de Câmara Portuguesa and his quartet, conducted by Pedro Carneiro.