The Album When saxophonist Eyal Hai wrote the song You&I, (the first song on this debut album), he didn't imagine that the process of writing and recording this one song would be so powerful -that it would make him change his musical path, completely. Although Eyal moved to New York, to pursue his music career (like he had always dreamed growing up) it wasn't the career he thought it will be. Instead of playing saxophone in Jazz combos, he found himself singing his songs and playing on every piano he could lay his hands on, in every dive bar around Brooklyn. Only after two years of performing and experimenting, Eyal went to the studios with singers and musicians he met during his professional career as a saxophonist, to record his debut album: "Practicing Catharsis". The 6 song album is an emotional journey , dealing with hard topics, such as: loneliness, being broken hearted and being far from home, and ending with the songs "Higher" and "Failure Meditation Attempts", which have almost a confessional aspect to them. Describing the album through genre, sound or even to identify the lead singer wouldn't be right - there are four different distinct lead singers on the album, including Eyal himself. The listener can find in the album a combination of: American folk influences, electronic, psychedelic rock, R&B, as well as Middle Eastern influences. However, what ties "Practicing Catharsis" together are the songs themselves. The combination of raw, real, untrained and almost naive lyrics, together with the colorful melodies, harmonies and rhythms (which you would not necessarily hear in songwriting) are what make the album Practicing Catharsis a powerful, emotional experience. Eyal Hai Growing up in Israel Eyal, as a saxophone player, has played in many different settings including the famous Israeli funk band “Portrait”, the Tel-Aviv big band lead by Amikam Kimelman, and "Babetov" - his own Jazz sextet. After winning the “Jazz Player of the Year” competition, Eyal moved to the U.S to pursue his musical career. At the age of 25, less than 3 years after moving to the United States, Eyal was called by the Grammy award winner, Danilo Perez (his mentor at the time) to join his band on his CD release shows, of the album: Providencia. During his studies at the prestigious course of Berklee Global Jazz Institute, Eyal was fortunate enough to study and work with: John Patittuci, Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman, Jack Dejohnette and Ben Street, to name a few. Eyal also played in some of the biggest Jazz venues in the USA such as: Blue Note (NY), Dizzy’s Jazz club (NY), Yoshi’s (CA), Kuumbwa (CA), Scullers (MA), Regatabar (MA), Beehive (MA) as well as the Panama Jazz festival, Puerto Rico Jazz Festival and many others. While recording his debut album Practicing Catharsis, Eyal Hai returned to the saxophone. In 2014 Eyal launched both “éyal hai” his own project as a songwriter/producer, and "The Side Project" - saxophone quartet that plays party music, created by “Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit” – the music label for both bands. Eyal Hai also plays as a sideman in many different Jazz combos, and other groups consisting of different genres.