Israeli pianist Anat Fort is part of the growing jazz exchange between New York and her hometown of Tel Aviv. A William Patterson graduate, she has two ECM releases under her belt: both her 2007  debut with drummer Paul Motian, "A Long Story," and her most recent disc, last year's  "As If," showcase her folksy style, which lands somewhere between Keith Jarrett and Charles Lloyd.

Fort will appear at the Cornelia Street Café this Thursday with Motian and bassist Gary Wang, and is then off to Israel, where she is helping launch a new program for of the New School for Jazz & Contemporary Music.

WBGO's Alex Ariff caught up with Fort back in July, when she stopped by our studios to discuss her approach to jazz, the stories behind her recordings, and how she approaches working with mixing cultures and music on the band stand.

You can listen the entire feature or excerpts from Alex's interview by clicking on the links below.

Listen to the entire interview:

Part 1: Anat discusses coming up as an Israeli jazz musician and her move to the states to study at William Patterson

Part 2: Anat has lived in both New York and Israel as a jazz musician but is now returning to Israel to teach full-time at the university level. She discusses the worlds of jazz is New York versus Israel.

Part 3: Anat discusses the stories behind the recording of her album "A Long Story" and other pieces including "Something About Camels" and "Just Now."

Part 4: Anat discusses melding modern harmony with ancient melodies.

Click below to see Alex's presentation of a video taken at the performance in Tel Aviv with the group which she discusses in the interview:

Check back to the WBGO blog for more news from the New York-Tel Aviv jazz scene!