Here’s an article I wrote a while back on “Choosing Music for Your Chupa.”

Feel free to forward it to anyone you think might be interested!

The Teruah Jewish Music Blog reviewed Purim Sameach today. It’s a great review! Check this out!

Jack wrote:

Unfortunately, timeliness is not always one of my virtues. Having my whole family sick for the last couple of weeks has meant that I missed a number of personal deadlines. One of which was writing about Binyomin Ginzberg’s lovely album Purim Sameach. Before I get to the album, a quick note about Binyomin. This guy is one of the most interesting and engaging musicians in Jewish music today. He’s a popular gigging simcha musician, playing the Orthodox and Chassidic parties across the northeast, and is a resident expert at the annual KlezKamp event teaching Chassidic music. Binyomin has a wonderful ear and encyclopedic knowledge for not only the traditional sounds of his standard repertoire and all it’s contemporary variations (yeshivish, orthodox disco, shiny shoe) but for a wider repertoire of contemporary music (his Breslov Bar Band collaboration with the ever funky Yoshie Fructer of PITOM, being just one example.)

Purim Sameach reflects both Ginzberg’s deep knowledge of tradition and an enthusiasm for exploration. On the surface it takes the form of an uptempo jazz standards album, polishing up one traditional Jewish Purim song after another. As such it makes a great business card for his gigging band, these guys are tight, joyful, and know the score(s). Hire ‘em. Quick. Underneath, though, there’s something else going on. Under the cheerful vocals and steady keys and clarinet, there’s some happy mayhem churning. Rock guitar here, sharply syncopated jazz drums there, a fast keyboard break. Nothing so up front that it breaks the ’standards’ mood, but expanding on the scope of what fits as a standard.

Ginzberg’s Purim Sameach isn’t a full-on Jewish jazz album in the mold of folks like Anthony Coleman or David Chevan. It’s committed to the tradition and isn’t out to deconstruct and improvise on the traditional repetoire in that way. It’s clear, though, that given right opportunity (maybe the Breslov Bar Band?) Ginzberg could break-loose with some wonderful explorations. I really hope that happens. Soon. We need more folks willing to build deep chops in the tradition before getting experimental.

But in the mean time, Purim Sameach is a great album highlighting a musically under appreciated holiday and highlighting one of the best gigging Jewish musicians in America. Listen to the clips below, go order yourself a copy off of CD Baby, and, if in the need hire him for your gig. You’ll be happy you did.

Clips from Purim Sameach

It’s Rosh Chodesh Adar and Purim is coming. Here’s a free lead sheet for a well-known Purim melody, “Mishenichnas Adar,” as played on my recording “Purim Sameach.” You can download a PDF by clicking on the sheet music image. Enjoy!

I’ve just signed up with a service that’ll allow me to make digital downloads directly available from jewishmusician.com

Here’s the link to purchase my Purim album. I think this technology has a lot of potential.

It’s been a while since I last posted here. There are a number of projects I’m working on that I hope to post more about soon.

In the meantime, here’s a video clip of me playing the Finnish polka, Loitma, on vibrandoneon in an acoustic trio setting.

I have been playing at Camp Simcha since 1997. That summer, I joined the staff at the camp for Jewish kids with cancer as house musician, a new position. That first summer at camp, I also became a counselor at the last minute, in addition to being a full-time camp musician, and the experience changed my life. 

I was the camp musician through 2003. I had the opportunity to meet kids from across the spectrum of the Jewish community, from Chassidic (Bobov, Belz, Lubavitch etc.) to Modern Orthodox, to Conservative, Reform, and unaffiliated Jews from Israel, the U.K., Australia, Eastern Europe, and across the USA.

Over the course of camp, I’d make sure to play some of each kids’ music, whether it be a famous nigun associated with their particular chassidus for the Chassidic kids, a Debbie Friedman song for the Reform kid who wanted to be a song leader, some Israeli pop for the chiloni Israelis, or even just some American pop/rock. The repertoire was very eclectic, ranging from national anthems and popular folk songs from Russia, England, Canada, Israel, Australia, etc, to music matching the day’s theme, like a medley of Row, Row, Row Your Boat, the themes from Gilligan’s Island and Titanic and U’shavtem Mayim (Israeli and Munkatch versions) for the day the camp went whitewater rafting.

Although I no longer go up to spend the summer session at Camp Simcha, I and my band regularly donate our time to back-up various performers in concert at the camp. In recent years, it’s most often been to back up Avraham Fried, the well-known Chassidic singer.

This summer, the band backed up Avraham Fried for two shows on July 23rd and July 31st. It’s always a pleasure to be part of this mitzvah. I know the other musicians feel the same way, in part, because some of them start reminding me as early as December to call them for the summer Camp Simcha concerts. It was pleasure to be back and I hope to do it again soon!

This year, I’m honored to have been invited to play music for two Yiddish dance sessions as part of the Uriel Weinreich Program in Yiddish Language, Literature, and Culture at New York University. This is a joint summer program offered by NYU together with the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.

I’m playing music for the sessions lead by dance ethnographer Jill Gellerman, who has done incredible work researching Hasidic dance.

The first session took place yesterday, and we focused on some more traditional style Yiddish songs like “A Yingele, A Meydele” (an adaptation of “Gants Kley Koydesh Geyn Tantsen”) and “Dos Tsigele”. Jill and I learned both of these songs/dances when we participated in the dance workshop at Yiddish Summer Weimar last year.

Jill also covered some Hasidic-style freylakh and honga style dances, as well as some other hasidic dances like Hop Khazak and a “Hakhnoe Tants” better known as “Iber un Unter” or “Reb Elimelekh’s Tants”.

The session was a lot of fun.

Next week, we’re looking at some contemporary Yiddish adaptations of pop music which should prove quite interesting.

We played the 2008 Salute to Israel Parade down Fifth Avenue last Sunday. It was a lot of fun!

We were playing classic Israeli pop/rock on the Bunk1.com float.

Here are some photos of the band on the float. The T-shirts all have classic Israeli song titles. Mine reads “Ein Li Eretz Acheret”. The others say “Shabechi Yerusholayim,” “Yerusholayim Shel Zahav,” and “Eretz Zavat Chalav Ud’vash.”

Last week, I received a package of sheet music I’d purchased on eBay. The auction listing had been for a Fiddler on the Roof vocal score which I didn’t need, but intriguingly, the seller had also promised to throw in some books of Israeli sheet music at no charge. So I placed a bid, and in what turned out to be a most worthwhile $1 gamble, I received two books of classic Israeli songs that were not already in my collection.