Southern California–based Israeli DJ and saxophonist Itai Isenberg will return to the Vineyard for a week-long residency at Park Corner Bistro in Oak Bluffs. He will perform at 10 pm on Thursday, August 2, Saturday, August 4, and Tuesday, August 7. At some shows he will both DJ and play saxophone, and at others he will be joined by local favorites DJ Ricky Prime and DJ Wep.
Itai started his music career as a club promoter in Tel Aviv. He is a classically trained saxophonist who always had an interest in electronic music. In 2017 the two passions resulted in the album “Solarwinds,” an eclectic album blending horns, deep house music, and global influences. Itai has toured internationally, collaborating with a slew of artists and producers.
You’ve been traveling a lot. What’s one of your favorite places to play?
Tulum, Mexico, is definitely up there. It’s a beautiful location. There are lots of fans of electronic music, and they are really good listeners who are into hearing things they haven’t before. It’s very special, a lot of spiritual vibes as well.
Are there any artists you are listening to now that you find particularly exciting?
Yeah, it’s funny because the artists I’ve been following lately are people I’ve somehow gotten into collaborations with one way or the other in the past year. Be Svendsen is one of them. He is a Danish producer who is very unique in the electronic music scene. He uses a lot of live elements. We happened to meet in Costa Rica when I was playing the Envision Festival and so was he. We ended up playing together at the afterparty. Since then I’ve recorded some tracks for his album, which will be coming out in September.
The other one is Goldcap. He is an Armenian producer who is based in L.A. His style is very world-influenced but specifically Arabic. We met in Tulum, and we also recorded some music and have played together a bunch. I’m definitely looking forward to hearing what comes out of that.
How did this Vineyard residency come about?
This all originated with a connection to Adam Garde (DJ Wep). I was already planning on doing my summer week on Cape Cod, and since last year I’d played at Park Corner with Adam and we’d hit it off, I reached out to him again.
What is it like for you playing music on the Vineyard?
I loved it last time. I think the local crowd is really appreciative of things they haven’t heard before, and this definitely falls into that category. I was all over the place playing stuff that really wasn’t really mainstream, and they were dancing and getting down. On top of that, you get all of the tourists who are there to enjoy it. It’s a really unique show, and I hope people get a chance to check it out.
