ABOUT AYELET
“Gottlieb is one of those singers, like Rokia Traore or Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan,
whose voice can convey great power and soul,
even when singing in a language unfamiliar to listeners”
Jon Garelick, Jazziz magazine
In Her Words
Inspirations
Described as an “intoxicating vocalist” (Vancouver Sun) with an “individually rigorous tone” (Ben Ratliff, New York Times), Ayelet Rose Gottlieb is an international performer, an explorer of sound, a Deep Listener and a seeker of musical adventures.
She draws from a wide range of influences, creating a sophisticated simplicity blending jazz, middle-eastern & Jewish music with contemporary composition and conceptual improvisation. Ayelet finds her inspiration in poetry, nature, magic, science and the vulnerability of the human experience. The music spinning on her record player spans from Jeanne Lee to J. S. Bach. From Oum Koulthoum to Ornette Coleman.
A Journey In Music
Ayelet’s innovative style as a composer and improviser has led her to fascinating collaborations. She has performed John Zorn’s music at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Sung her own compositions to erotic Biblical texts inside a cave in the Judean desert, and performed with Mycale (a-cappella quartet) in a butchery in Austria and in a golden church in Ecuador. With Michael Winograd, James Falzone and François Houle she created Pneuma – a quartet of three clarinets and voice, performing songs they set to poetry about the wind. In 2021 she formed Dream Keepers with Bernard Falais on guitar and electronics, Stéphane Diamantakiou on contrabass and Hamin Honari on Persian hand-drums. Their first recording as a band is anticipated for release in April 2025. See Events for tour dates.
Ayelet’s multilingual and multicultural approach is the connecting thread running through all of her work. Her recent recording, “13 Lunar Meditations: Summoning the Witches” is her eleventh album as bandleader or co-leader. Weaving together texts by women and girls from around the world, the album is a song cycle that reflects upon the moon and our connection to it. Ayelet’s musical story telling is both global and highly personal. Featuring Sage jazz vocalist Jay Clayton, in 2022 this work was presented at the Suoni Per il Popolo Festival in Montréal and the Modulus Festival in Vancouver. In 2023 Ayelet premiered her project “Letters and Dreams” featuring dream-master IONE at the Festival Ecuador Jazz.
Previous recordings include “Two More Dreams,” an album of lullabies for all ages created with pianist Anat Fort. In “Roadsides” Ayelet connects her eastern and western roots, combining the sound of the Oud with that of the euro-classical guitar and jazz piano. In “Shiv’a”, Ayelet reflects on the process of mourning in an instrumental composition for string quartet (ETHEL) and percussion (Satoshi Takeishi).
On A Personal Note
Born in Jerusalem, Ayelet has lived in twenty-four apartments, ten cities and five countries on four continents – all before finally making a home with her partner and three children in Montréal, Canada. In 2019, she founded the “Orchard of Pomegranates,” a creative lab where artists gather on-line and in person to grow their artistic potential. There, Ayelet shares her experience and knowledge, facilitating transformative processes through multidisciplinary group work and one-on-one sessions.
