Gilad Atzmon

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Gilad Atzmon (born June 20, 1963) is an Israeli jazz musician, author and leftwing anti-zionist activist.

Atzmon plays soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophones. He also plays clarinet, sol, zurna and flute. His musical training was at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem but is now mainly London-based.

Gilad's main instrument is the alto saxophone. His jazz style is bebop / hard-bop, veering at times into free jazz. He improvises spectacularly fast and fluently and with such energy and intensity, watching him perform is like being in a furnace. He can also play two saxophones at once convincingly, taking after Roland Kirk.

Atzmon has caused controversy with the political statements on his website, criticised by some as anti-Semitic. He has written, in his article entitled On Anti-Semitism: "... we must begin to take the accusation that the Jewish people are trying to control the world very seriously. ... American Jews (in fact Zionist) do try to control the world, by proxy."

His performance at the Socialist Workers Party (Britain) summerschool 'Marxism 2005' in July 2005 led to criticism from other left groups, such as the Alliance for Workers' Liberty, which picketed the meeting. The SWP, however, defended their invitation of Atzmon and published a statement from him stating he was neither a Holocaust denier nor racist.

In addition to being a jazz musician and a philosopher Gilad Atzmon is also a novelist. His Guide to the Perplexed was published in 2001 and his My One and Only Love in 2005. Both novels explore Jewish and Zionist psychology.