The Orient House Ensemble

Gilad Atzmon founded the Orient House Ensemble band in London in the 2000  together with Asaf Sirkis (dr), Frank Harrison (pi) and Oli  Hayhurst (bs).    

Since then the ensemble toured extensively around the world. It has produced six albums in nine  years.

In 2003 Yaron Stavi (bs) joined the band.

In 2009 Asaf Sirkis left the band and Eddie Hick  (dr) took his place.

in 2014 Chris Higginbottom join the band on drums

 Yaron Stavi

A  Double bass and electric bass player Born in Tel Aviv, 6 April 1975.  He played in concerts and festivals across Europe and Israel with the Young Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.  he met Gilad Atzmon and joined him in the bands Spiel and Spiel Acid Jazz.  Aged 21 Yaron moved to Berlin. He studied at the Berlin Academy of Arts with Rainer Zepperitz, former principal bass player of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Yaron  was principal double bass player of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra and the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra, playing under Seiji Ozawa, Pierre Boulez, Marris Jansons, Ivan Fischer, Franz Welser-Most, Sir Neville Mariner and others. In 2002 Yaron moved to London and joined Gilad Atzmon as a member of the Orient House Ensemble.  Yaron plays in other Jazz bands from the UK and has performed with artists across Europe including Peter King, Larry Coryell, Jarek Smietana, Leszek Mozdzer, Gary Husband, Gene Calderazzo, and Stephen Keogh. Since meeting him at a festival in Switzerland in 1997, he has played with violinist Nigel Kennedy, both as a member of the Nigel Kennedy Jazz Group in Berlin’s Jazz club Quasimodo and in festivals in the UK. He played also on Robert Wyatt’s 2003 album Cuckooland and 2007 album Comicopera and in 2003 recorded two albums for John Zorn’s label Tzadik with Koby Israelite.

Frank Harrison

Frank Harrison was born in Oxford on 8 July 1978. He took up the piano at 11, and began playing gigs when he was 15. In 1994 he won the soloist award in the Daily Telegraph Young Jazz Competition, and in 1996 placed second in Young Jazz Musician Of The Year.

After taking up a scholarship at Berklee School Of Music, Boston, he returned to England and joined Gilad Atzmon's band. In 2000 they started the Orient House Ensemble, with whom Frank has recorded five  albums on Enja Records, including BBC Jazz Album Of The Year 2003, "Exile".

Chris Higginbottom is one of the UK’s top drummers, currently a member of the Ronnie Scott’s Allstars and Gilad Atzmon’s Orient House Ensemble. A Royal Academy of Music graduate, Chris lived in New York for eight years where he played with many of the biggest names in jazz including Mark Murphy and Seamus Blake.
He has performed all over the world including the Blue Note Tokyo, Birdland in New York, the House of Blues in Chicago, The Roxy in LA, Montreal Jazz Festival and countless others.
Since relocating to London in 2010 Chris has also performed/toured with Kyle Eastwood, Westlife, Marti Pellow, Georgie Fame and Carleen Anderson. He has released two albums as a leader - 'One' (2005, Basho records), and ‘Where Land Ends’ (2013, F-IRE)