Biography
Tamir is a bassist and composer-arranger based in London. He is involved with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO); held the bass chair on ‘The Little Big Things’ and ‘Aladdin’ at the Lyric, Hammersmith; and continues to deputise on West End shows including ‘Hamilton’; works on cruise ships; teaches; and is continually a part of the British jazz and musical theatre scenes. Tamir is currently working on his project ‘Fairytales’ with his jazz trio which aims to introduce young people to jazz and the world of improvisation through storytelling and music.
During his time reading Music at Cambridge, Tamir became the Music Director and bassist of the Cambridge University Jazz Orchestra (CUJO) and played with various groups including the JTN Trio (2017-); the Joseph Septet (2021-22); and the Cambridge University Jazz Ensemble (2021-). Tamir additionally worked with multiple university orchestras, including the Cambridge University Wind Orchestra, performing Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from ‘West Side Story’; and the St Margaret’s Society Orchestra, performing Tchaikovsky Symphony 5. As a result of his musical endeavours during university, Tamir was the 2021 recipient of the Michael Williamson Instrumental Scholarship. During his school and university years, Tamir studied with a variety of double bass and bass guitar tutors specialising in a range of genres, including Paul Westwood, Elena Hull, Laurence Ungless, Zoltan Deckany and currently studies with Orlando Le Fleming.
Tamir was the bass chair holder of the London West End musical theatre production ‘The Little Big Things’, and has played in various musical theatre pits around the UK. This includes deputising on a tour of ‘Come From Away’; West End’s ‘Hamilton’; ‘Song of Songs’ held in Park Theatre; as well as holding the bass chair for ‘Aladdin’, the 24-25 pantomime in London’s Lyric in Hammersmith.
Tamir has a passion for introducing improvisatory music to young people as a way to express themselves. Tamir currently runs his own teaching practice and has previously worked as a bass guitar tutor at the Jewish Community Secondary School (JCoSS), where he studied as a teenager. Alongside other NYJO musicians, Tamir has delivered workshops to schools across Preston and Essex on two separate tours introducing jazz to young people. As a part of the JTN trio, Tamir has additionally held a workshop in Wolfson Hillel Primary School teaching its students about jazz and the various responsibilities of the rhythm section. Tamir is currently working towards a Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music (LRAM), a teaching qualification focused on delivering a superb musical education.
During his undergraduate degree, Tamir studied composition with Raymond Yiu and Colin Riley, writing a range of compositions, including ‘Double String’ for solo double bass and ‘Working Late’ written for 12-piece big band. This latter composition pays tribute to Tamir’s tendency to work late at night during the covid period, and the mixed feelings of anxiety, fatigue, as well as unexpected bliss that formed as a result. The piece is influenced by the Maria Schneider and Dafnis Prieto jazz orchestras, combining Latin jazz with the Romantic and Avant-garde.
Tamir premiered his latest big band composition entitled ‘The Wicked Witch’ with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra in Berlin as part of the Young Euro Classic Festival in August 2024. This piece explores through musical interplay the concept of the ‘witch’ and how witches are often portrayed as inherently ‘evil’ beings, especially in medieval literature, when in reality most people aren’t completely wicked or evil. Tamir continues to write and record compositions based on fairytales and storytelling which are available to listen to on the ‘Music’ section of his website.
Tamir was born in 2001 and grew up in North London with his mother, brother, sister, and musician father. At 10 years old, Tamir found himself in his first band, playing drums in a rock trio with his fellow classmates. In the midst of playing the music of groups such as the Eagles and Jon Bon Jovi, Tamir found himself wanting to be a musician when he grew older, a desire which has not since left him. Tamir took up the piano aged 11; the bass guitar at age 13; and the double bass at 15. It was by this time that Tamir had discovered the joys of listening to and playing all sorts of music, including jazz, classical, rock, and musical theatre, and his broad tastes continue to feed into his playing and composing.