Backing band for The Bergamot at a private house holiday party.

The Arizona Jewish Historical Society hosts the Paradise Valley Community College Klezmer Ensemble for a program titled “From the Shtetl to the Bandstand”. Tickets and more information here.

The Paradise Valley Community College klezmer ensemble presents its first full concert featuring classic klezmer, Yiddish songs, a new Hannukah song by PVCC student Mishy Katz, and more. Free and open to the public.

Details TBA

Performing American songbook and swing favorites at Scottsdale restaurant.

The Scottsdale Community College Jazz Orchestra, under the direction of Eric Rasmussen, appears with guest artist Javon Jackson at the Nash, Phoenix’s premiere jazz club. Tickets and more information here.

The 4th annual Tempe Jam highlights local bands/musicians who live, work, or play in Tempe. Free, more info here.

Bisbee’s independent artist music festival, held across multiple venues. Set time / location TBA.

More information here.

Music and Dance Workshops | 1:00 pm & 3:00 pm

Concert & Dance Party | 7:00 pm

Dance leader Miryam Coppersmith will team up with Phoenix’s Little Chef Klezmer Band (LCKB) for the Phoenix Klezmer and Yiddish Dance Festival. Coppersmith and LCKB bandleader Max Schwimmer will present educational dance and music workshops, appropriate for participants of all ages and backgrounds. Participants in the music workshop will learn how to perform traditional klezmer melodies in a distinctive klezmer style, and dance workshop participants will explore the basics of Yiddish dance. All participants will be able to show off what they learned at the evening dance party and concert alongside LCKB and Coppersmith.

The Phoenix Klezmer and Yiddish Dance Festival is made possible in part by a grant from the City of Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture. Festival events are open to individuals of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities.

Learn More and Register.

Yiddish dance offers many joyful and playful ways to move to klezmer music: in a line, a circle, with a partner, or on your own. Join dance leader Miryam Coppersmith and the PVCC Klezmer Ensemble to learn about the history of "dancing Jewish" and explore the different rhythms and dances of Eastern Europe.

Dancers of all backgrounds will get to experience the unique rhythmic improvisational interplay between dancer and musician within this form, embody the shapes and gestures specific to this dance, and explore the nuances of what it means to dance communally.

The workshop is free of charge and open to all. Made possible by a grant from the City of Phoenix Department of Arts and Culture. Halloween costumes encouraged!

Room: PVCC Black Box Theater, Building M East

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Tempe Center for the Arts presents JFunk in its 48 Live series highlighting Arizona artists.

Driftwood Quintet’s new Classical Underground Series continues with a performance of chamber music paired with poetry both old and new. Music to be performed includes works by Jeff Scott, Duke Ellington, and Valerie Coleman with a premiere of new works by local composer Kevin E. Kerr. Featured poet Sean Avery Medlin will be reading from their internationally published poetry collection “808’s and Otherworlds” as well as works by Langston Hughes and Marsha Music. This program will have two performances: one at Tempe’s Farmer’s Markert turned speakeasy, The Dark Side, and another at Eastlake Park's own black & worker-owned bookstore, Grassrootz Bookstore and Juice Bar.

The Classical Underground Series is a new chamber music series that brings chamber music performances to intimate, laidback venues in the Metro Phoenix area. This series aims to promote chamber music as an inviting and social community-building experience for both old and new fans of classical music. We invite you to bring a friend, order a drink, and enjoy discovering what the Classical Underground Series has in store!

This series is supported in part by the Phoenix City Council through the Arts and Culture Department and by the City of Tempe – Community Arts Grant.

Baritone saxophone with SCC Jazz Orchestra performing the music of Grammy-nominated composer and saxophonist. Remy Le Boeuf. Tickets here.

Celebrate St. Patty’s Day and help JFunk travel to Dublin, Ireland this summer. JFunk has been selected to perform as headline artists at the International Clarinet Association ClarinetFest 2024 and is crowdfunding their journey. Featuring Djents, Benja, and Dirt Skirt.

The Classical Underground Series is a new chamber music series that brings chamber music performances to intimate, laidback venues in the Metro Phoenix area. This series aims to promote chamber music as an inviting and social community-building experience for both old and new fans of classical music. We invite you to bring a friend, order a drink, and enjoy discovering what the Classical Underground Series has in store! Funded in part by Tempe Arts & Culture.

The city of Glendale is celebrating the arts in a big way on March 9 from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Southern Arizona Arts & Cultural Alliance and the city of Glendale are collaborating to bring over 100 artists, musicians, and interactive arts experiences to the community. Free admission. Learn more here.

Esteemed and accomplished pedal steel player Jon Rauhouse and award winning singer songwriter Blaine Long host a very full band performance of their new LP “One Day Will Never Come Back“. Special guests The Sunpunchers open the show.

Don’t miss this very special daytime show. Free show but you can Reserve a table HERE, proceeds go to the musicians.

Driftwood Quintet celebrates black history month this year by inviting you to ask “What Happens to A  Dream Deferred?” This concert will explore how different African American composers have used music to remember the past, celebrate the present, and imagine what futures could be. Pieces on this program include those from Pulitzer Prize winning composer George Walker, Harlem Renaissance era composer Florence Price, and a jazz-infused work by Jeff Scott featuring poetry by Marsha Music. Free and open to the public.

Christina Crowder, a leading researcher and performer of klezmer music, will perform a concert with the Little Chef Klezmer Band, spotlighting newly-available klezmer repertoire. Crowder’s visit is part of the “Trampled Manuscripts'' international residency touring program, showcasing a collection of about 1,400 songs from present-day Ukraine and Belarus, originating from the late 1800s and early 1900s, and made available to researchers and performers within the past three years. The “Trampled Manuscripts” touring program brings together local musicians and Jewish communities to engage in historical repertoire, deepening understanding of Ashkenazic expressive culture and encouraging audience members to adapt tradition into contemporary practice.

Christina has been performing and researching Jewish music for thirty years, beginning in Budapest, Hungary in 1993 as a founding member of Di Naye Kapelye, and continuing with a Fulbright grant to Romania to document Jewish music in 1999, and since 2002 with an active research, teaching, and performing career in the US. She is Executive Director of the Klezmer Institute, which has been awarded three NEH Grants for Institute projects (2021-2025).

The “Trampled Manuscripts" residency project is funded by a grant from the Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix, with additional support from ASU Jewish Studies and the East Valley JCC.

Tickets and more information here.

The performance will celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by featuring pieces from African American composers whose works celebrate the life and history of African American culture. Driftwood Quintet: Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is an Arts at Nativity event. Arts at Nativity is presented by AZ NorthStar Arts, a Scottsdale-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Details and tickets.

Tenor saxophone with Phoenix’s first and only Klezploitation band for their winter 2023 tour. Conceived in 2010 by Chris Del Favero (guitar) and Jessie Demaree (clarinet), the nine-piece ensemble creates a truly unique psychedelic world funk experience by seamlessly blending traditional Klezmer with American Funk and other world music genres such as Jazz, Thai Pop, Tropicalia, Bossa Nova, Cumbia, and Afrobeat . Phoenix New Times says, “Jerusafunk is not only one of the most original bands in town, it's one of the most fun.”  Time/tickets TBA.

Tenor saxophone with Phoenix’s first and only Klezploitation band for their winter 2023 tour. Conceived in 2010 by Chris Del Favero (guitar) and Jessie Demaree (clarinet), the nine-piece ensemble creates a truly unique psychedelic world funk experience by seamlessly blending traditional Klezmer with American Funk and other world music genres such as Jazz, Thai Pop, Tropicalia, Bossa Nova, Cumbia, and Afrobeat . Phoenix New Times says, “Jerusafunk is not only one of the most original bands in town, it's one of the most fun.” 

Tickets

Tenor saxophone with Phoenix’s first and only Klezploitation band for their winter 2023 tour. Conceived in 2010 by Chris Del Favero (guitar) and Jessie Demaree (clarinet), the nine-piece ensemble creates a truly unique psychedelic world funk experience by seamlessly blending traditional Klezmer with American Funk and other world music genres such as Jazz, Thai Pop, Tropicalia, Bossa Nova, Cumbia, and Afrobeat . Phoenix New Times says, “Jerusafunk is not only one of the most original bands in town, it's one of the most fun.” 

Tickets

The SCC Jazz Orchestra performs contemporary and classic works for big band with guest vocalist Dennis Rowland.