Ehud Asherie was born in Israel in 1979. He lived in Italy for six years before moving with his family to New York at the age of nine. As a child, he took piano lessons, but his real interest in playing began when, at fourteen, he discovered Smalls jazz club in Greenwich Village. On weekends, he would stay at the club from ten at night to six in the morning, listening to the headliners and playing in the late-night jam sessions.