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"In The Pocket" Jazz Ensemble 

Jazz is a living conversation—democratic, expressive, and meant to be shared.
This 4-week workshop, held in the heart of the West Village, is for adult musicians who love jazz but rarely get to play with others or perform. If you’ve been practicing on your own or taking lessons, this is your chance to connect, collaborate, and make music in a meaningful way. It all leads to an intimate salon performance at the next In The Pocket NYC concert.

🎼 What You’ll Do

• Play classic & hidden-gem jazz tunes
• Build group chemistry & listening skills
• Develop phrasing, feel & soloing tools
• Get direct feedback from two pros
 

🗓 Workshop Info

Location: West Village, NYC
Length: 2-hour sessions, weekly for 4 weeks
Group: 4–6 musicians
Performance: In The Pocket NYC Salon (Dec 2025)
Schedule: TBD with participants
 

🎶 Who It’s For

Adult instrumentalists and vocalists with some jazz experience—lessons, bands, or personal study. Ideal for dedicated hobbyists, jazz fans, and creative adults looking to play, grow, and connect in a supportive setting.
 

🎤 Your Instructors

Yaala Ballin – NYC-based jazz vocalist & educator. A regular at Smalls, Smoke, and Birdland, she’s released several albums and led workshops across the U.S., Europe, and Israel.
Yuval Amihai – Award-winning guitarist, composer & educator. Born in Israel and based in Paris for over a decade, now NYC-based. Guitar faculty at Brooklyn Conservatory; leads a monthly trio residency at Ornithology Jazz Club.

📞 Yaala: 1-646-600-4597 🌐 yaalaballin.com
📞 Yuval: 1-646-651-2579 🌐 yuvalamihai.com

“Ballin clearly brings class, confidence and sophistication to this music…. Ballin shapes her performances with a consistency rarely heard, delivering radiant vocals over a tight musical safety net”

All About Jazz

“Ballin sings with a veteran confidence and authority not typically co-joined with such youthful verve.” - Jazz Blues Magazine

“Her singing is confident, assured, as if a great actress strode on stage, sure of herself and her lines, deeply informed about the music she wants to make and the effect she hopes it will have on us…. She plays with the song while honoring it, as do her superb accompanists…. What she so generously shares with us is remarkable.” - Jazz Lives 

 

Yaala’s bold phrasing is precisely inflected, catching each beat exactly when she ought to, while leaving room for spontaneous expression and emotionally -emphasised notes to surprise the audience with new lyrical improvisations to make them appreciate the song even more. - Cyprus Mall

 

Ballin's ability to hold a note, plus her unique style of phrasing, crafted an additional feeling of evolution to the music… She utilized a talent for using her voice, as well as strategic pauses, to twist the lyrics in a way that placed special emphasis on certain lines. - Broadway World 

About Yaala

The hallmark of Yaala’s performances is her love for storytelling. She takes the audience on a journey of love and heartbreak. Her vocal style is loyal to the tradition of jazz legends Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughan and Carmen Mcrae, and her unique ability to improvise freely with lyrics, while playing with melodies, rhythms and tempos allows her to deliver songs in dynamically exciting and surprising ways.

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Yaala has released 5 recordings, tours Europe and the U.S. regularly and has traveled extensively as a Jazz Ambassador for the U.S. State Department in the Middle East and Europe. A noted instructor, she has held faculty positions at The City College of New York's Jazz Vocal Department, The New School For Jazz and Contemporary Music, and The Center for Jazz Studies in Tel Aviv.​​​

Contact: yaalaballin@gmail.com

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