The Side Project started playing at the NYC subway, continued with a series of viral FB live videos, went to open to the New York Philharmonic and have recently released their second album to raving reviews. The band was started in 2013 by Eyal Hai, Alto player and lead arranger for the group, along with his friends, Eden Bareket on Bari, Arnan Raz on Tenor, and Hailey Niswanger on Soprano, who were already starting to make a name for themselves in the NYC Jazz Scene. Since then, they have opened for the New York Philharmonic, performed at The Brooklyn Bowl, The Knitting Factory, the Art Institute of NYC, and many other prestigious venues and events.
This saxophone quartet jazz band decided to put their musical prowess to magical use by giving life to an acapella session with their special touch. They go ahead to explain their history with Mr. Reed and how this remix came about:
“We met Mr. Reed for the first time on the NYC Subway Platform (Bedford Stop). We came to busk there as a saxophone quartet and he was there playing the drums. We decided to join forces and quickly turned the platform into a dance hall. Later on we continued jamming together in different venues/events, including the Brooklyn Bowl.”
As to the song itself getting the whole fireworks from the band and what inspired the remix in the first place, they say:
“We took this brilliant post by Mr. Reed singing his powerful song at home by himself, and turned it into a whole production. His song is deeply moving, and we believe the world needs to hear it. This is our effort to amplify his voice by creating this production to his post. We stayed loyal to the original post, and added a saxophone quartet, bass, drums, and a few magical production effects such as doubling his vocals and harmonizing it by changing the pitch.”
The Side Project have recently released their second album “Everything We Do” under their label Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit Records. The album features their covers that became quite known in the Social Media world, as well as original songs featuring the same singers they have been working with in the past couple of years.
They’re currently producing a live video series, featuring a diverse roaster of singers, including Indian, Frnech, Black, White, Hasidic Jewish, Canadian, and Israeli Artists. The project’s diversity captures the New York spirit, and has made the band feel more like a community.
You can hear more music from The Side Project on Spotify and you can catch them in real time on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram if you are a fan or on the way to becoming one.