But the music itself is an accessible, international fusion of popular melody, swing, Latin, blues, and other influences, all tied together by Ben-Ari s dazzling voice as an instrumentalist. Her violin is less influenced by other jazz violinists than by her musical heroes, including Stevie Wonder, Wynton Marsalis and Charlie Parker. Ben-Ari credits her classical training for giving her the technical facility to approach the challenges of improvising, or composing in the moment on the bandstand. It s the best thing that could have happened to me, she said. I had the best teachers.
Jazz is so difficult to begin with, and violin is so difficult to begin with.
So in order to play jazz you have to have so much facility to improvise, composition in real time, you have to flow. If I didn t have classical training the way I did, I probably wouldn t be able to pursue my ideas the way I do. She is a busy studio musician, and frequently performs in pit orchestras on and off Broadway. She has several albums in the works, including an album of original Jewish music in the tradition of the Hasidic nigunim, or wordless vocal melodies. It s hard for me to talk about my music, she said.