Uri Caine was born in Philadelphia and began studying piano there with Bernard Pfeiffer. In High School, he began playing in bands lead by Philly Joe Jones, Hank Mobley, Johnny Coles, Mickey Roker, Odean Pope, Jymmie Merritt and Grover Washington. He attended the University of Pennsylvania and studied music compostion with George Rochberg and George Crumb. While in school, he played with many of the ivsiting musicians who performed in Philadelphia, including: Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Benny Golson, Phil Woods, Donald Byrd, J.J. Johnson, Stanley Turrentine and Lester Bowie.

Since moving to New York City, Caine has recorded seven albums as a leader. His first two CD's, Sphere Music (jMT/Polygram 1993) and Toys (jMT/ Polygram 1995) paid homage to the great jazz pianists Thelonious Monk and Herbie Hancock. His third CD, Urlicht/Primal Light (Winter&Winter 1996), featured arrangements of the music of Gustav Mahler and won the international "Toblacher Komponierhäuschen" award for Best Mahler CD of 1997. In Wagner e Veneza (Winter&Winter 1997), Caine arranged the music of Richard Wagner for a small ensemble playing live at the Caffè Quadri in St. Mark's Square, Venice. His next CD, Blue Wail featured Ralph Peterson (drums) and James Genus (bass). In 1999, he recorded Sidewalks of New York, a recording of a performance at the Mahler Festival in Dobbiaco (Italy). Upcoming projects include an arrangement of Bach's Goldberg Variations as well as more Mahler and Schmann songs.

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, Bobby Watson, Craig Handy, the Woody Herman Theory and The Master Musicians of Jajouka.

He has received grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. Caine was a finalist in the Great American jazz Piano competition in 1992. He has performed at many jazz festivals including What is Jazz? Festival (New York), North Sea Jazz Festival (The Hague), Montréal Jazz Festival, Jazz Across the Borders (Berlin), The Texaco az Festival (New York), Umbria Jazz Festival, Vittoria Jazz Festival, The Newport Jazz Festival and others.

September 99

Biography courtesy of Saudades Tourneen.