There is no more powerful force than the connections between generations. Music is a thick thread uniting our Jewish community. Klezmer, Yiddish folk songs, microtonal melodies of the Khazones– they all speak to our innate character; they have the ability to transcend our changing world and overcome the upheaval of diaspora.  When we make and listen to this authentic music, we cannot help but celebrate with each other! Our dances, our tones, our culture are here to ornament and accentuate our joy.

Dan’s playing and band leading are rooted in the tradition– in the traditional klezmer trombone riffs found in early 1900 shellac recordings (scroll down practice pdfs), from the mentorship of living links to the tradition like Pete Sokolow and Elaine Hoffman Watts, to community learning of Klezkamp and Klezkanada. His practice is animating the history of our music to provide power to Jewish people and beyond.

Dan has led the Kol Tzedek Simcha band since 2017. He regularly performs with everyone in the klezmer world. Contributing to the oral history of jewish music, he hosts the Radiant Others podcast, where he interviews the movers and shakers of Klezmer and Ashkenazi music. Every 3rd Thursday, you can find him Upstairs at Abyssinia leading Di Hoykhe, a rip-roaring klezmer session with a rotating cast of musicians.

Eastern European Jewish–tinged party sound that explodes into punk rock basements, squats, and art spaces as well as synagogues and weddings throughout the East Coast with completely reckless abandon.