100Percent Cotton

About Haim Cotton Composer and pianist Haim Cotton (???? ????) came to the U.S. from Israel at age twenty-two, having already played on fifteen records with many of Israel's most renowned recording artists. After moving to the U.S., he advanced into arranging and composing, and his works have since been licensed in commercials and films worldwide. The musical director for singer Ofra Haza, Haim has played on her final solo album Kyria, and appeared with her in festivals around the world, including the Montreux Jazz Festival. For the past twenty years, Haim has been teaching jazz at The New School, but he has simultaneously remained committed to recording and live performance as well. Haim has concentrated on production during the last five years; his latest works include saxophonist Danny Lerman's Meow Baby, which has been hailed as a 'breakthrough release," and Jeffrey Wilgus's Signature, which critics have praised for it's outstanding production. In 2007, Haim founded the group Project Grand Slam with his long time collaborator Robert Miller. Their debut album, Play, was produced by Grammy-winning producer Frank Filipetti and nominated for 8 Grammy awards. Several tunes from the album were featured in the NBC Primetime television series Lipstick Jungle, and the group has performed in the series. The 100% Cotton Story Haim was barely a high school graduate who had just begun to play in jazz clubs when he met drummer Tal Bergman, who had recently traveling on tour with Chick Corea. Haim and Tal got along well, and decided to play together one night, a performance which solidified the bond between the two for years to come and thus played a pivotal role in developing the foundations for the band they would form with bassist Yossi Fine, Higher Reality Fusion. The band immediately earned national recognition and was hired to play at prestigious venues such as Shablul in Tel Aviv. During the eighties, the three moved to the United States, where they continued to collaborate in spite of the fact that they had officially disbanded. Many of their most prolific sessions together resulted in the music for Haim's debut solo album, 100% Cotton. The album additionally features the production of Omnimusic president Doug Wood, for whom Haim had been writing music ever since the mid-eighties. Doug had been impressed by Haim's talent early on, and eventually signed Haim as well as other artists to his record label NovaDisc. He and Haim worked to piece together 100% Cotton, and the album was released in 1992. The album hosted a number of some of the nineties' most prominent jazz musicians, including Nelson Rangell, David Mann and Dean Brown.