“It’s Jazz. It just doesn’t sound like it.” This is how virtuoso guitarist Oz Noy http://oznoy.com describes his intoxicating blend of jazz, funk, rock, blues, and r&b. Born in Israel, Oz started his professional career at the age of 13 playing jazz, blues, pop and rock music. By age 16, he was playing with top Israeli musicians and artists. By age 24, he was one of the most established studio guitar players in the country. Oz was also a member of the house band on Israel’s top-rated television show for more than two years. Since his 1996 arrival in New York, Oz has made a huge impact on the local and international music scene. His unique and intoxicating style has broken all the rules of instrumental guitar music by focusing on the groove. All stars such as Keith Carlock, Anton Fig, Vinnie Colaiuta, and Dave Weckl often contribute on drums, with bassists Will Lee, James Genus, and Reggie Washington. In 2003, Oz released his debut record – “Oz Live” – recorded at NYC’s legendary Bitter End. In 2004, Oz signed with Magna Carta Records and in 2005, released his highly-acclaimed studio record “HA!” with his all-star band featuring Fig, Carlock, Lee and Genus plus special guests Mike Stern and George Whitty. In April of 2007, a licensing deal with Magna Carta and Japanese label Videoarts opened the door for Oz's music in Japan. Later that year saw the release of “Fuzzy Feat,” Oz’s third record under the Magna Carta label. For Fuzzy Feat, Oz’s all-star band is joined by various special guests including Colaiuta, bassist Jimmy Johnson, and keyboardists Whitty and Jim Beard. September 2009 saw the release of Oz’s fourth album, “Schizophrenic,” featuring Lee, Fig, Carlock, Weckl, Ricky Peterson, Chris Palmero, and special guest Steve Lukather. September 2011 he released his fifth studio album “Twisted Blues” Featuring Vinnie Coliauta, Anton Fig, Chris Layton, Will Lee, Roscoe Beck , John Medeski, Jerry Z, Reese Wynans, Ralph Macdonald and special guests Eric Johnson & Allen Toussaint. For his accomplishments as a trend-setting guitarist, Oz won the highly acclaimed Guitar Player magazine readers poll for “best guitar riff on a record” in 2007. In 2008, Oz won the Guitar Player’s readers poll again; this time for “best new talent.” Oz Noy has performed, toured and recorded with Richard Bona, Chris Botti, Gavin DeGraw, Harry Belafonte, Cyndi Lauper, Clay Aiken, Akiko Yano, Wonder Girls, Toni Braxton, Phoebe Snow, Nile Rogers, Mike Clark, Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts, Dave Weckl, Mike Manieri, The East Village Opera Company, Roger Glover, Bill Evans, Warren Hayes, Gove’t Mule, Allen Toussaint, Eric Johnson and others. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.