For those unaware, Yaron Gershovsky is a highly accomplished and internationally recognized pianist/keyboardist, arranger, composer, and producer.

He graduated Summa Cum Laude from Berklee College of Music in Boston, following a successful early career in Israel, where he was born.

Soon thereafter, he launched his musical career in the United States, touring with the great jazz saxophone player Pharoah Sanders and recording with the legendary Wayne Shorter on his album Atlantis.

Since 1979, Yaron has been the Musical Director and pianist/keyboardist for the world-renowned vocal group The Manhattan Transfer, touring, recording, and writing instrumental and vocal arrangements for them, including two GRAMMY-award winning songs.

Yaron has also recorded and performed with other greats, including Dr. Lonnie Smith, Steve Gadd, Abraham Laboriel, Lew Soloff, Janis Siegel, Ray Brown, Grady Tate, Don Sebesky, The Count Basie Orchestra, Richie Havens, Take 6, and Toots Thielemans.

His Broadway credits include vocal arranging for the Tony Award-winning musical “City of Angels” and vocal arranging for the musical hit “Swing.” He was also the Musical Director for numerous other shows and workshops and keyboardist for the musicals “The Phantom of The Opera” and “Les Miserables.”

In addition, Yaron had the honor of working with the famed conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and performed with him at Carnegie Hall.

Throughout his career, Yaron continuously writes, performs, and records his music, and has released numerous CDs, such as Personal Notes and State of Mind, and most recently Up Close from Afar – Solo Piano, and Up Close from Afar – Collaborations, which highlight his creative work during the Pandemic enforced isolation.

And now Yaron has just finished recording his new studio album, Transitions, to be released January 2022 and amalgamates original music and cover songs, which Yaron arranged especially for this album.

1. Northern Lights (4:53)
2. Transitions (6:08)
3. Scarborough Fair (7:00)
4. What She Said (5:14)
5. Birthday Bash (6:38)
6. Show Me the Way (5:38)
7. So Danço Samba (4:44)
8. Awakening (5:14)
9. I’ll Be Seeing You (6:46)
10. A Song for Mia (5:29)
11. Secret Love (6:27)
12. The Lonely Tree (4:35)
13. I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin’ (3:50)

Stylistically covering a broad spectrum, ranging from contemporary jazz to jazz/rock, samba, and beyond, this mesmerizingly magnificent album opens on the upbeat and perky Northern Lights and the smoothly opulent title track Transitions before bringing us the veritably ethereal Simon & Garfunkel track Scarborough Fair, the ornamented beauty of What She Said (dedicated to Ruth Bader Ginsberg), the gently skittish percussion work of Birthday Bash and then the late night, underground jazz club vibe of Show Me the Way is brought forth.

Along next is one of my own personal favorites, the breathy Bossa Nova of Antônio Carlos Jobim’s 1962 track So Danço Samba and the free flowing melodies of Awakening, which are in turn followed by the graceful I’ll Be Seeing You (written for his wife, Dorit), the simply gorgeous A Song for Mia, the album rounding out with the finger-snapping Secret Love and the traditional folk song The Lonely Tree, coming to a close on the George and Ira Gershwin standard (and made famous by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong) I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin’.

The album features a variety of ensembles, from solo piano, trio, quartet, and a trio with vocals. Yaron is joined on the album with Will Lee, Boris Kozlov, Alex Sipiagin, Cliff Almond, Clint de Gannon, Ross Pederson, David Mann, and vocalist Aubrey Johnson.

The album delights in the varied Transitions of Yaron’s musical palette, with an equally salient ensemble of like-minded players. The result is a fluid yet transitional listen that allows the listener to enjoy the bountiful ideas of Yaron’s musical kaleidoscope.