Background
I play trumpet, and piano and sometimes sing or play the Jewish ceremonial instrument, the shofar. I also compose and arrange music. My musical background includes primarily classical, jazz, klezmer, and Jewish religious music. But I have also played for Easter and Christmas services, and a little bit of rock, funk and reggae/ska. I have played with a range of ensembles from large 70-100 person choruses, orchestras and symphonic bands to small combos to performing as a soloist. On piano, I do mostly solo classical piano informally and have occasionally accompanied choirs or bands. Within classical piano literature, I have enjoyed playing works by romantic era composers and have taught myself some challenging works by Chopin, Brahms and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue in relatively recent years. I rarely have the time or opportunity to practice enough to completely master really challenging works from a technical standpoint, but I try to be an expressive player.
I play a wider assortment of genres on trumpet. For much of my adulthood my primary musical style for performance has been klezmer music (the cultural/folk music style of the Jewish community of Ashkenazic or Eastern European heritage). I have been involved with the central NJ based klezmer band Tsu Fil Duvids for the last 13 years. While our gig frequency has dropped off considerably since the pandemic (and since both our trombonist and I have become fathers), we’ve done over 100 performance since 2010 at a range of venues and occasions across New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia. Most of my bandmates and I have attended major gatherings/workshops of the klezmer scene including Yiddish New York, KlezKanada (where I was a scholarship student for 8 years between 2007 and 2015) and when it existed, KlezKamp in the Catskills. Through these experiences, my bandmates and I have met and studied with (and occasionally performed with) some of the prominent musicians and figures in the klezmer scene, including Michael Winograd, Frank London, Jordan Hirsch, Susan Watts, Alex Kontorovich, Peter Sokolow, Dan Blacksberg, Jeff Warschauer, Deborah Strauss, Aaron Alexander, David Licht, Michael Alpert, Craig Judelman, and dancer Steve Weintraub. I’ve also been involved with the Klezmer Band at Columbia, which was led by Jeff Warschauer and started my own klezmer band as a grad student at MIT in my early 20s. Outside of klezmer music, I’ve played trumpet in synagogue bands at the Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple in New Brunswick, NJ and the Reform Temple of Rockland in Nyack, NY.
Outside of Jewish music, in my 30s, I played jazz and rock music with Esteem Entertainment for several weddings and special event gigs and sang with the Riverside Choral Society – including one performance in Alice Tully Hall. In my 20s, I joined the Columbia Wind Ensemble for a summer and an academic year – one of the highlights was performing at Symphony Space. During college, I played in the Princeton Jazz Ensemble and Orchestra and sang in the Glee Club (which went on concert tours in northern California and Brazil). As a teenager, I was involved with the New Jersey Youth Symphony Orchestra – which included a performance at Carnegie Hall. I also played with regional and state level bands, jazz bands and orchestras and with a wind ensemble that did a concert tour in Germany and Austria.
Compositions
I’ve composed music for a long time – mostly in the klezmer idiom since 2005. Here are a number of my compositions. I have also written pieces for living family members, but all compositions here in honor of individuals are for family members who have passed on or in honor of specific places or occasions. Unless indicated otherwise, all recordings are from my own playing on piano. Some of the klezmer numbers have also been performed in ensemble settings by Tsu Fil Duvids.
Cambridge Terkalekh (2005): This was my first foray into the realm of klezmer composition. I started learning the klezmer idiom from a number of songs that had place-rooted names (including some from the Ukraine eg. Kiev Bulgar, Odessa Bulgar, etc.). This was composed when I was living in Cambridge, MA. It has elements of “doyna” (or free form lyrical improvisation) at the beginning and three dance/rhythmic styles within klezmer repertoire: “terkisher”, “hora” and “freylekh”.
Tzefat Turkisher (2008): I visited Israel in 2007 on a Birthright Israel trip. We visited Tzefat; a beautiful ancient city in northern Israel rooted in mysticism with a vibrant klezmer scene and a complex history including a period of Ottoman rule. I hope this song captures some of the mystical quality of Tzefat.
60 years Freylekh (2008): This was composed in honor of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel in 1948 and also motivated in part by the Birthright trip – particularly the visit to Independence Hall in Tel Aviv.
Kigali Hora (2017): This piece was written as a tribute to Rwanda’s capital and largest city, Kigali. For many people in the US and Europe, their association with Rwanda is with the heartbreaking history of the Rwandan genocide almost 30 years ago. While the events of that period of time were heartbreaking and left a profound impact on the Rwandan people and people in neighboring countries, the more recent history is far more hopeful. The country’s economy has grown by 7+%/year for much of the last decade and a half, and there has been a strong culture of reconciliation and harmony and a strong work ethic towards a better future. When I traveled to Rwanda multiple times between 2016-2018, I found Kigali to be a lively, dynamic, engaging city and the Rwandan people with whom I interacted to be very warm and welcoming. Admittedly, this song has no specific African musical influence and was written entirely in the klezmer idiom, but I hope this song captures some of the resilience and energy that I found to be part of Rwandan culture.
Duke’s Freylekh (2006): When I was living in NYC from 2005-2009, I lived near 106th street on the West Side, also known as Duke Ellington Boulevard. Accordingly, this freylekh has a “swing” rhythm.
Funky Bulgar (2011): This song is a meld of klezmer modality and funk rhythm.
Elter Bubbe Meydlvayz (2007): This piece was written in honor (and memory) of my maternal great grandmother, Dina Cantor. She was born in what is now Belarus, and emigrated to the US a little more than 100 years prior to this composition at the age of 17. While never a musician herself, she had the vision to give a legacy of musical education and training to her descendants and many people in the extended family have had extensive musical educations and experience. The song’s Yiddish title means “my great-grandmother as a little girl”.
Hora fun Mut (2013): This piece was written in honor (and memory) of my Aunt Judy on my father’s side shortly after her passing on. While physically disabled, she lived independently throughout her life and was a physical and occupational therapist for the disabled. The song’s title translates in Yiddish to “hora of courage” and is intended to convey the courage and determination she embodied.
Josie’s Waltz (2014): This piece was written in honor (and memory) of my maternal grandmother Josie (daughter of Dina). She was a devoted matriarch and left a wonderful legacy of love, family and determination. I had written this piece while Josie was still alive, but named it after her shortly after her passing in 2014. My klezmer band, Tsu Fil Duvids, has played this piece several times including at the weddings of some of the band members.
Milton’s March (2016): This piece was written in honor (and memory) of my maternal grandfather Milton after his passing at 99 and half. While my grandfather had a military background (and the sense of discipline, seriousness and toughness that accompanied that background), he had a funny, sweet side to his personality and was deeply devoted to family. This piece has two differentiated sections; one march-like and somber and the other sweeter and more lyrical.
Odyssey (2009): I originally wrote this piece for classical guitar, and the playback here is a computer generated rendering of the score. From 2005-2009, when I was living in New York, my roommate, Peter Fletcher, was a professional classical guitarist who debuted at Carnegie Hall when we were living together. Peter is a gifted classical guitarist. This piece explores several different motifs first individually and then in various combinations.
A Prayer for Peace/Oseh Shalom (2001): I wrote the music to this in 2001, shortly after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington DC. While I didn’t know anyone who died in the attack, this piece was an emotional response to the sense of loss on that terrible day. More recently, I realized the melodic line perfectly fits the text for Jewish prayer “Oseh Shalom”, often recited after silent meditation and conveying a similar emotional message. To that end, I have since written a version in a different key with vocals and performed that version at the Reform Temple of Rockland with Cantor Sally Neff. But the version recorded here is the original, piano only version.
Pulse (2016): I wrote this piece while I was a postdoc at Princeton and was playing trumpet with the Princeton Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Anthony Branker. This was my first foray into writing a score for big-band. The recording is of the Princeton Jazz Ensemble (mostly undergrad non-music majors) after a handful of rehearsals. It’s a meld of klezmer modalities and swing big-band style rhythms and orchestration. The improv solos on tenor sax, piano and trumpet are by Diego Aldorando, John Nydam and myself respectively.
Solo trumpet and piano clips coming soon
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