Silvan Joray is a Swiss jazz guitarist and composer currently based in New York City. He has gained recognition in the jazz community, having won special prizes at the UNISA International Strings Competition in South Africa 2022 and the Smietana Jazz Guitar Competition 2019 in Poland. He has performed at prestigious jazz festivals including the Krakow Summer Jazz Festival, Offbeat Jazzfestival Basel, and International Jazz Festival Bern, and has toured in Germany, Norway, Poland, Spain, and Israel.
Joray grew up in a musical family and began his formal training on the classical guitar, which he studied for eight years before discovering jazz and switching to the electric guitar. He was initially interested in playing jazz standards and influenced by guitarists such as Wes Montgomery. However, his studies with renowned jazz guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel at Jazzcampus Basel broadened his musical horizons, inspiring him to compose his own music. This eventually led to the release of his debut album "Cluster" in 2020, which was artistically produced by Muthspiel and co-produced by Swiss Radio SRF2.
Joray's upcoming album, "Updraft", showcases his forward-thinking original style characterized by a transparent tone, crispy articulation, creative rhythmic ideas and extended techniques like quarter tones and „tapping“ which are not traditionally associated with jazz guitar playing. Joray embraces both the openness of European as well as the rootedness and swing of American jazz. While the music on „Updraft“ is clearly influenced by the American jazz tradition, it doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not and is totally content with being in its own category.
Renowned jazz bassist Larry Grenadier states: „Silvan along with Nadav and Jeff have made a musical statement together that has at its core a sense of history and at the same time moves the music towards the future with bold playing and fresh compositions. Sonically beautiful and captivating music.“
