I’m very excited to announce the debut of my new project, Clave Nagila, tomorrow night at Egan’s. Almost 4 years in the making, this band combines my love of two distinct yet complimentary styles, Latin-jazz and traditional Jewish music. The concept grew out of an arrangement I did for my Quartet of a prayer called “Etz Chaim”, which I titled “Tree of Life”. That one is not in the Latin-Jazz vein, but it started me down the path toward arrangements of more Jewish music.
Over the last year my good friend Nate Omdal has helped me with the arrangements of such tunes as “Hava Nagila”, “Dayeinu”, “Adon Olam and more. I can’t wait to debut this amazing arrangements!
The band consists of 7 of the finest players in Seattle, including myself on trumpet, Nate on bass, Tobi Stone on clarinet, Brian Bermudez on bari-sax, Adrian Witherspoon on trombone, Adam Kessler on drums and Lalo Bello on percussion. These folks have dedicated much of their time and enthusiasm to rehearsing and getting ready, and I can’t thank them enough for their involvement and support.
Please come check us out tomorrow (Thursday) night at Egan’s. We play the early set, from 7:00-8:30pm, so you can join us for dinner and still get to bed at a reasonable hour!
Oyle!