Uri Caine was born in Philadelphia and began studying piano with Bernard Peiffer. He played in bands led by Philly Joe Jones, Hank Mobley, Johnny Coles, Mickey Roker, Odean Pope, Jymmie Merritt, Bootsie Barnes and Grover Washington. He attended the University of Pennsylvania and studied music composition with George Rochberg and George Crumb.
Since moving to New York City Caine has recorded sixteen albums as a leader. His first two CD’s Sphere Music and Toys paid homage to the great jazz pianists Thelonious Monk and Herbie Hancock. His third CD, Urlicht/Primal Light, featured arrangements of the music of Gustav Mahler and won the international “Composer’s Hut” award for Best Mahler CD of 1997. In Wagner in Venezia, Caine arranged the music of Richard Wagner for a small ensemble playing live at the Café Quadri in St. Mark’s Square, Venice. His next CD, Blue Wail, included original compositions for a piano trio and featured Ralph Peterson and James Genus. That same year while touring, Uri recorded Gustav Mahler in Toblach live at the Gustav Mahler Festival in Toblach/Dobbiaco, Italy.
In 1999 he released The Sidewalks of New York a tribute to early Tin Pan Alley. In 2000 Caine released a version of Schumann’s Dichterliebe song cycle, Love Fugue, and a new version of The Goldberg Variations . In 2001, three new CD’s were released- Solitaire for solo piano, Rio , recorded live in Rio de Janiero with several groups, and Bedrock3 , a trio featuring electric piano with Zach Danziger and Tim Lefebvre with whom Uri Caine recorded another Bedrock venture later in 2005, called Shelf Life. In 2002 he recorded The Diabelli Variations an arrangement of Beethoven’s Opus 120 for piano and orchestra with Concerto Koeln. A new cd of Mahler songs, Dark Flame was released in 2003. which was followed a year later by the new trio Live At The Village Vanguard, (Winter & Winter 2004) featuring Drew Gress and Ben Perowsky. Recently Caine has received commissions from the Vienna Volksoper, The Seattle Chamber Players, Relache, The Beaux Arts Trio and the Basel Chamber Orchestra. The Pennsylvania Ballet performed the Goldberg Variations in 2002, choreographed by Val Caniparoli.
Caine was the Director of the Venice Biennale for Music in September 2003, where he also premiered his new work The Othello Syndrome. The last concert seasons have seen Uri Caine play the Diabelli Variations with the Cleveland Orchestra under Franz Welser-Moest, the Orchestra Comunale di Bologna under Daniele Gatti, as well as the Moscow Chamber Orchestra and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. He has also performed the new Brahms Variations on a theme by Handel with the Basel Chamber Orchestra under David Stern and in 2006 Uri Caine was named composer in residence for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra which will tour Europe in March 2008.
The JVC Jazz Festival featured his trio, Bedrock, Mahler, and Goldberg projects at the Village Vanguard.
During the past several years, Caine has worked in groups led by Don Byron, Dave Douglas, Terry Gibbs and Buddy DeFranco, Clark Terry, Rashid Ali, Arto Lindsay, Sam Rivers and Barry Altschul, the Woody Herman Band, Annie Ross, the Enja Band, Global Theory and the Master Musicians of Jajouka. He has performed at many jazz festivals including The North Sea Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival. Monterey Jazz Festival, London Jazz Festival, Umbria Jazz, JVC Festival, San Sebastian Jazz Festival, Vittoria Jazz Festival, Newport Jazz Festival, as well as classical festivals including The Salzburg Festival, Munich Opera, Holland Festival, Israel Festival, Ravello, IRCAM, Great Performers at Lincoln Center and the Ravenna Festival with a world premiere of a special moving tribute to Luciano Berio with Tempo Reale, Ralph Alessi, Jim Black and Julie Patton.
