Dan Pugach

He served as the drummer for The Air Force Band in the IDF while attending the Rimon School of Jazz at the same time.

He received a Bachelor of Music Degree from Berklee College of Music, where he studied with Terri Lynn Carrington, Hal Crook, and Joe Lovano, and an M.A in music from the City College of New York, where he studied with Mike Holober and Scott Reeves.

In 2011 Dan was a recipient of the ASCAP Foundation Young Jazz Composer Award for his Nonet piece “Discourse This!”. In the same year he participated in the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead program at the Kennedy Center, where he worked with Curtis Fuller, Nathan Davis and George Cables. In 2013 he received another ASCAP Jazz Composer Award for his Nonet piece “Brooklyn Blues”.

The Dan Pugach Nonet, his 9-piece ensemble which features Dan's original compositions, has already won two ASCAP Jazz Composer Awards, a prestigious residency at the Kennedy Center for the Arts in Washington D.C and a GRAMMY® nomination for Best Arrangement, Instruments with Vocals, alongside vocalist Nicole Zuraitis, his wife.

This ensemble tours regularly and has played at Bird’s Eye Basel, The Zone in Tel Aviv, Blue Note Jazz, The 55bar, Smalls Jazz Club, The Jazz Loft, The Jazz Estate, Stowe Jazz Festival among respected Performing Arts Theaters across the nation.

This year he is a participant at the BMI Jazz Composer Workshop directed by Andy Farber.

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