Jazz Articles about Dan Pugach

About Dan Pugach

Album Review

Dan Pugach is an Israeli-born, New York-based drummer who doubles (quite well) as composer and arranger on Bianca, his second recording for Outside In Music. Pugach anchors a splendid big band comprised of some of the New York area's finest musicians on an album whose subtitle is “Music for Paws and Persistence." The “paws" were those of the Pugach family's rescue pit-bull, Bianca, who passed away in 2019 and left a gaping hole in their lives, as ...

In Pictures

Dan Pugach Big Band at The Jazz Loft

by Dan Bilawsky
March 27, 2024

On March 22, 2024, two weeks to the day after Dan Pugach released his first big band record, the celebrated drummer-composer brought his large ensemble to The Jazz Loft in Stony Brook for an album release event that was a resounding success by any measure. That 90-seat venue--a performance space, museum and educational hub with a well-earned reputation as the crown jewel site on the Long Island jazz scene--played host to a stellar two-set concert that earned a standing ovation ...

Album Review

Nicole Zuraitis: How Love Begins

Read "How Love Begins" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
August 25, 2023

Love is not for the faint of heart. Its tides are unpredictable, bound to different souls, intensifying and ebbing in parallel to the feelings and favors of each individual who exerts their gravitational pull on an evolving romance. Musically charting those waters--depicting the full scope of that sea through song--is no simple feat. Yet some supreme talents, like this one, make it happen and make it look easy. Nicole Zuraitis--a first-rate songwriter, powerhouse vocalist and grade-A pianist--proves to be an ...

Album Review

Yu Nishiyama Big Band: A Lotus In The Mud

Read "A Lotus In The Mud" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
November 21, 2022

Una giovane e talentuosa bandleader aggiorna la tradizione delle grandi orchestratrici del Sol Levante, da Toshiko Akiyoshi a Miho Hazama. La musica presente nel debutto di Yu Nishiyama va oltre un puntuale modern mainstream per big band ma colpisce per la fantasiosa scrittura, caratterizzata da percorsi ricchi di svolte, tra aristocratici contrasti timbrici, poderosi ensemble e trascinanti interventi solisti. Una visione orchestrale matura, ricca di tensione e dalla bella carica spettacolare. Trasferitasi da Yokohama negli Stati Uniti ...

Album Review

Nicole Zuraitis: All Wandering Hearts

Read "All Wandering Hearts" reviewed by Geno Thackara

by Geno Thackara
July 24, 2020

Nicole Zuraitis has a heart full of soul and a voice full of sunshine. She's got a mix of things on her mind with her fourth album, everyday themes and weighty matters alike, and yet they ultimately come out sounding exuberant in her hands. The fundamental optimism is one key asset of All Wandering Hearts, even if her variety of jazzy coffee-shop balladry is no less eloquent in the spots when things get more somber. The too-spirited-for-AOR “Make ...

Album Review

Dan Pugach: Plus One

Read "Plus One" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
August 27, 2019

Ci giunge con un po' di ritardo questo debutto del batterista e arrangiatore israeliano Dan Pugach ma va segnalato per testimoniare l'ottimo momento del jazz orchestrale. Trasferitosi negli Stati Uniti per frequentare il Berklee College of Music, Pugach è appassionato della scuola orchestrale mainstream e s'è perfezionato al City College di New York studiando con Hal Crook, Joe Lovano George Garzone e altri. In questo lavoro ha arrangiato per medio organico -con l'ausilio della vocalist Nicole Zuraitis-sue composizioni e tre ...

Album Review

Dan Pugach: Plus One

Read "Plus One" reviewed by Jerome Wilson

by Jerome Wilson
April 24, 2018

On this debut CD, drummer Dan Pugach shows himself to be a composer and arranger who has mastered the art of making a group sound much bigger than it is. His nonet plays intricate and soulful jazz with the punch of a much bigger band. Pugach is very good at using brawny up-tempo rhythms. The CD's opener, “Brooklyn Blues" kicks off with a New Orleans second line groove that leads into a wall of shouting staccato horns driving ...