Oz Noy performs at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam, July 14, 2018.
PETER VAN BREUKELEN/REDFERNS/GETTY IMAGES
OVER TWO DECADES of touring and recording, Oz Noy has built a career based on putting the fun back in fusion. Rather than composing complicated music with odd time signatures and rapid-fire unison licks that appeals mainly to other musicians, the Israeli guitarist favors funky rhythms that folks feel in their bodies, and blues-based changes that nonmusicians can recognize. His magic lies in using an encyclopedic knowledge of harmony and prodigious technique to create complexity that makes his music more than just your standard bluesfunk outing.