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 1996 he formed the 'Asaf Sirkis & The Inner Noise' trio. The Inner Noise was a trio featuring church organ, guitar and drums and was the first jazz/rock group documented with this line up. The Inner Noise' first project was funded by the Tel-Aviv city council in 1997.
Asaf left Israel in 1998, settling in London in 1999. Soon after arriving in the UK, 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. Around 2000, he met reeds player and composer 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 9 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 reed player and composer Tim Garland with whom he toured internationally and recorded many albums including 'Lighthouse' with the Lighthouse trio featuring Gwilym Simcock on piano, Tim Garland on reeds and Asaf on a drums-percussion hybrid kit, as well as Garland's album 'One'.
From 2014 to 2019, Sirkis co-lead the Sirkis/Bialas International Quartet together with Polish singer/composer Sylwia Bialas. The Quartet featured pianist Frank Harrison and Bassist Patrick Bettison (on the album 'Come To Me'), and later Scottish bassist Kevin Glasgow (on the album 'Our New Earth'). Their debut album Come To Me was launched at the London Jazz Festival in 2015. Come To Me has been selected as one of the best albums of 2015 at All About Jazz website by several reviewers and the band has toured extensively. The Quartet's second double album 'Our New Earth' was released in 2019 on the Moonjune Records label.
Since 2016, Asaf has collaborated with various artists on the Moonjune Records label. Notably, The Wingfield/Reuter/Stavi/Sirkis album, The Stone House, has received a 5 star review at the July 2017 issue of DownBeat magazine. Sirkis has also appeared on many Moonjune releases with artists including Spanish guitarist Carles Benavent, Nguyen Le, Dewa Budjana, Indonesian pianist Dwiki Dharmawan, Gary Husband, Mark Wingfield, Markus Reuter, Jorge Pardo, Beledo and many more.
As of 2017, he was a principal lecturer at Leeds College of Music and Trinity Laban Conservatory of music and dance where he taught jazz drums and rhythmic training (Konnakol).
In January 2023, Sirkis joined the British jazz-rock group Soft Machine and has toured internationally with the band. He recorded a single for the My Only Wish
record label, released in 2024, and performed on the band’s 13th studio album, released in March 2026,
which features him on drums and piano and includes three of his compositions..
In July 2026 Asaf received the Moonjune Lifetime Achievement in Music Award at the 4th Moonjune international festival.
Also in 2026, Asaf released his debut Piano Solo album, Letters.
Asaf has performed and recorded with numerous international artists such as pianist Gwilym Simcock, John Abercrombie, Kenny Wheeler, Norma Winstone, John Taylor, saxophonist Andy Sheppard, Dave Liebman, Natacha Atlas, Bob Sheppard, Mark Egan, Mark Wingfield, Nicolas Meier, David Binney, Norman Watt-Roy, Wilko Johnson, Billy Sherwood, bassist Jeff Berlin, bassist Dave Holland, Jacob Collier, Larry Coryell, Robert Wyatt, Kenny Wheeler, Wilko Johnson, Celine Bonacina, Eyal Maoz, John Law (musician), Christine Tobin, Julian Siegel, Peter King and many more.
