Dekel Bor is an Israeli jazz guitarist and composer.
Early life
Bor is the son of Anat Bor, a visual artist exhibiting throughout Israel, and Alon Bor, principal percussionist for the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and recipient of the Presidential Award for music education. Dekel Bor started playing guitar at age 15. As student at Thelma Yelin High-School of Arts, Bor studied jazz history, ear training and theory. During his studies, he played with fellow students Eli Degibri, Avishai Cohen, Daniel Zamir and others, and performed throughout Israel.
Denmark
Given a full scholarship to the Royal Danish Academy, Bor moved to Copenhagen at the age of 19. He became a fixture on the local jazz scene, performing regularly at La Fontaine Jazz Club, where he was heard by Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen who took him under his wing, featuring him in concerts throughout Denmark both in his trio as well as with saxophonist Johnny Griffin.
At 21, Bor moved to New York to attend The New School on a full scholarship. A month into his freshman year, Bor performed at the school's auditorium where the school's artistic director Reggie Workman heard the young guitarist and immediately extended an invitation to join the master at a church concert tour of the East Coast. This started a long mentoring relationship which helped Bor shape his musical commitment and artistic depth.
The Trio
At the end of his freshman year, Bor started his own trio teaming with Nadav Snir-Zelniker on drums and Francois Moutin on bass. The performed twice a week at New York jazz club Cafe Creole, focusing on original compositions by Bor. Bor's style began taking shape, and artists such as Lew Solof, John Fedjock, Brian Versace and others sat in and played with Bor and his band. From Cafe Creole, Bor and his band began touring throughout the East Coast and the Midwest, performing at clubs, theaters and small festivals. During this time Bor performed with Gregory Hutchinson, Roy Hargrove, Pat Martino, Horace Parlan, Billy Hart, Buster Williams, Adam Nussbaum, Charly Persip, Donny McCasslin, Adam Rogers,Ari Hoenig, Rachel Z, Russell Malone, Francois Moutin, Clarence Penn and Dafnis Prieto After a Sunday night show at a NYC club, Bor was approached by producer Robert Sadin. Bor and Sadin formed a close mentoring relationship, releasing two albums of original music: Emuna, and Home.
In 2012 Bor toured across Europe performing trio arrangements of music by Johann Sebastian Bach, focusing mainly on the violin sonatas and the Goldberg Variations. Concerts and festivals in Israel, Germany and New York were recorded and filmed for an upcoming documentary, with TV specials in Germany, Israel and Canada.
Bor was invited to speak at TEDx Hamburg as part of a panel of "Urban Connectors" about his duet series, after which he improvised with German actor Christian Berkel.
