Relax Attack Jazz Series: Guy Mintus/Rajiv Halim Quartet

Every Monday we present the world’s top jazz artists in a lively atmosphere, full of cocktail-shaking and spirited conversation.

Guy Mintus:
Israeli-born, New York-based pianist, composer and educator Guy Mintus was hailed as a “talented young musical emissary who expertly blends the folkloric sounds of his homeland with the improvising aesthetic of jazz.” Peter Hum, Ottawa Citizen. Guy is active in the Jazz, World music and contemporary scenes. His music brings together elements from Stride piano to Turkish Makams, Indian rhythms to Bach-styled counterpoint, Jewish melodies and American jazz standards all weaved together in his own signature style.

Guy has performed throughout Europe, North America and the Middle East leading his own projects as well as a sideman in venues such as Jazz at Lincoln Center, Kassel Staatstheater, the Apollo Theater, the ancient Amphi Theater of Pythagoreo, Red Sea Jazz Festival and more. He have had the privilege of sharing the stage with Grammy winning artists such as Jon Hendricks, Jimmy Cobb and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra as well as master musicians from Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan, Morocco, Spain, India, Cuba & Mali.
As a composer, Guy has won awards and commissions from ASCAP, BMI, Downbeat Magazine, the American Composers Orchestra, Imani Winds Ensemble and the America-Israel Cultural Foundation among others.

His recordings include a debut album with the “Offlines Project,” a duo Guy co-leads with Israeli-Turkish percussionist/oudist Yinon Muallem as well as the live solo album “The Mediterranean Piano. Most recently, he was honored to perform with the “Offlines Project” at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage on International Jazz Day.

Rajiv Halim:
Rajiv Halim is a saxophonist, composer, and educator from Chicago, IL, performing regularly in the Chicagoland area and Midwest as a freelance saxophonist, as well as a part of 4 different bands, including The Rajiv Halim Quintet. Rajiv’s debut album, “Foundation,” was released in August 2015 and is available for digital purchase worldwide.

Internationally, Rajiv has performed in Canada, in Poznan, Poland at the “Made in Chicago” festival in both 2011 and 2016; in Belize at The Bliss Institute for Performing Arts; and in Taichung City, Taiwan at the 2014 Taichung Jazz Festival. Nationally, Rajiv has performed and/or recorded with many great musicians: Jennifer Hudson, Chance The Rapper, Cory Henry, Von Freeman, Mike Stern, Crucial Conflict, Martha Reeves, Bob Mintzer, The Four Tops, and others. Locally, Rajiv has also performed at the 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 Chicago Jazz Festivals.

When Rajiv isn’t writing, playing, or practicing, he could be found at Flatts & Sharpe Music School teaching private woodwind and brass lessons, St. Patrick High School in Chicago, teaching saxophone sectionals and giving private lessons, and also at Terra Sounds School of Music & Arts in Glenview, IL, teaching private woodwind lessons.