Samuel R. Torjman Thomas, bandleader, multi-instrumentalist, and ethnomusicologist, has been forging an artist/scholar model for over fifteen years. His scholarship centers on musics of the Middle East and North Africa, worldwide Jewish musics, and jazz traditions. He is the artistic director of both the New York Andalus Ensemble and the critically-acclaimed ensemble ASEFA. Thomas is an adjunct assistant professor of music, interdisciplinary studies, and Jewish studies in NYC.