Asaf Sirkis (born 1969) is an Israeli jazz drummer, composer and educator. Early life Sirkis spent his teens and early twenties in Rehovot, Israel where he began drum lessons aged 12. His early musical influences were The Beatles, The Police, Yes, Allan Holdsworth, Weather Report, classical music, Arabic, Balkan, Klezmer, Pop, and Israeli folk music. In 1990, shortly after he completed his three-year national service he started his full-time professional career working as an all-around drummer in Israel. He has played with notable jazz musicians from Israel and abroad including Harold Rubin, Albert Beger, Yair Dalal and Eyal Sela. Career In 1993 Sirkis moved to Tel Aviv and soon after formed the Asaf Sirkis trio featuring Kobi Arad on keyboards, and Gabriel Mayer on electric bass. With that line up he recorded his first solo album One Step Closer (1996) as well as touring in Israel with the trio. In 1997 he formed the 'Asaf Sirkis & The Inner Noise' trio. The Inner Noise was a unique trio and the first jazz/rock group to incorporate an innovative line up of church organ guitar and drums. Asaf left Israel in 1998, settling in London in 1999. In 2000 Sirkis re-formed the Inner Noise trio with Steve Lodder on church organ and Mike Outram on guitar. The band has recorded three acclaimed albums - Inner Noise, We Are Falling and The Song Within. Shortly after he arrived in London he met Gilad Atzmon with whom he formed The Orient House Ensemble and recorded 7 albums, including Exile, which won "Best CD of the Year" at the BBC Jazz Award 2003 while the band was nominated for "Best Band" in 2004. After almost 10 years in the OHE, Sirkis left the band in 2009 to focus on his solo career and other collaborations. Since 2006 Sirkis has been collaborating with reeds player and composer Tim Garland with whom he toured the world and recorded many albums. Asaf has also worked with Jacob Collier, Larry Coryell, Gwilym Simcock, John Abercrombie, Kenny Wheeler, Norma Winstone, John Taylor, Gary Husband, Andy Sheppard, Dave Liebman, Natacha Atlas, Bob Sheppard, Mark Egan, Soft Machine, John Etheridge, Mark Wingfield, Nicolas Meier, David Binney, Norman Watt-Roy, Wilko Johnson, Jeff Berlin, Billy Sherwood and many more. Since 2014, Sirkis is co-leading the Sirkis/Bialas International Quartet together with Polish singer/composer Sylwia Bialas. The Quartet features pianist Frank Harrison and Scottish bassist Kevin