Sam Yahel
American jazz musician

Sam Yahel (born 1971) is a jazz pianist and Hammond organist. In 1990 he moved to New York City and worked with Bill Frisell, Wycliffe Gordon, Ryan Kisor, Maceo Parker, Joshua Redman, and Brian Blade, among others.
Discography
As leader/co-leader
1996: Searchin' (Naxos, 1997)
1997: Trio (Criss Cross, 1999)
1999: In the Blink of an Eye (Naxos, 1999)
2005: Truth and Beauty (Origin, 2007)
2007: Hometown (Posi-Tone, 2009)
2011?: From Sun to Sun (Origin, 2011)
2025?: Quiet Flow (La Reserve, 2025)
As leader of Yaya3
With Joshua Redman and Brian Blade
Yaya3 (Loma, 2002)
Collaborations
With Nicholas Payton, Bob Belden, Billy Drummond and John Hart
Mysterious Shorter (Chesky, 2006)
With Ari Hoenig, Mike Moreno and Seamus Blake
Jazz Side of the Moon (Chesky, 2008) – rec. 2007
As sideman
With Ralph Bowen
2001: Soul Proprietor (Criss Cross Jazz, 2002)
2007: Five (Criss Cross Jazz, 2008)
With Norah Jones
2000–2001: Come Away with Me (Blue Note, 2002)
2003–2004: Feels Like Home (Blue Note, 2004)
Compilation: Covers (Blue Note, 2012)
With Ryan Kisor
1997: Battle Cry (Criss Cross Jazz, 1998)
2002: Awakening (Criss Cross Jazz, 2003)
2002: The Sidewinder (Videoarts, 2003)
2003: Donna Lee (Videoarts, 2004)
With Joshua Redman
Elastic (Warner Bros., 2002)
Momentum (Nonesuch, 2005)
With Jesse van Ruller
2002: Circles (Criss Cross Jazz, 2003)
2005: Views (Criss Cross Jazz, 2006)
With others
Laila Biali, Laila Biali (ACT Music, 2018)
Massimo Biolcati, Incontre (Bandcamp, 2020)
Peter Cincotti, On the Moon (Concord, 2004)
Larry Coryell, Impressions (Chesky, 2008)
Charles Davis, Plays the Music of Bent Jaeding (Fresh Sound, 2008)
Tia Fuller, Diamond Cut (Mack Avenue, 2018)
Wycliffe Gordon, Dig This!
The public source identifies “Sam Yahel” as american jazz musician. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Yahel, American and jazz.
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A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Sam Yahel”, the useful work is to connect “american jazz musician” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2216703. VIAF identifies the subject as 69142426. The Library of Congress control number is no00024920. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1971, 1990, 1996 and 1997.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sam Yahel” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.