April 25 • 2019 47
jn
SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Israeli drummer/
composer brings Nonet,
vocalist to Bell’
s.
S
ome minor household discord
was brought into harmony with
a song received humorously —
as intended — by cabaret audiences
watching the Dan Pugach Nonet, a
nine-piece jazz band with vocalist.
The song, “Our Blues,” was written
with melody by Pugach, a drummer
and composer from Israel, and lyrics
by his wife, Nicole Zuraitis, a singer
and lyricist raised in Connecticut.
It will be performed
when they entertain
Sunday evening, May 12,
at Cliff Bell’
s in Detroit.
“‘
Our Blues’
is kind
of a silly story,” Zuraitis
says. “Dan and I had
gotten into a little bit
of a couple’
s tiff that
morning, and I said, ‘
I’
ll
write you a blues song!’
The punch line is ‘
you’
re
much more clever when
you shut your mouth.’
“We find cou-
ples really relate to that song when we
perform it live.”
The pair, working together for nine
years, have been married for two
years and live in Brooklyn.
“The band plays mostly original
arrangements of pop, folk and jazz
tunes as well as original composi-
tions aimed at jazz,” says Pugach, 36,
who occasionally duets with pianist
Mendy Hershkowitz to present pro-
grams of Jewish music.
“We’
ve all been working together
for a long time, and we bring in dif-
ferent styles you usually don’
t find
in jazz. For Dolly Parton’
s ‘
Jolene,’
for example, which is not at all jazz,
we make it jazz and won a Grammy
nomination for best arrangement.”
Selections from the Nonet record-
ing “Plus One” are planned for the
Detroit appearance. The “plus one”
represents Zuraitis, who had been
preparing for an opera career before
being smitten by jazz.
“I grew up in the small city of
Ra’
anana and wanted a drum set,”
Pugach says. “I didn’
t want to take les-
sons and be professional, but my dad
pushed me to take lessons.”
He then went to the Rimon School
of Jazz and Contemporary
Music. He also played as
a drummer for the Israeli
Air Force Band. A scholar-
ship to Berklee College of
Music in Boston prompted
his move here in 2006.
After Berklee, he earned
a master’
s degree in jazz
performance at City College
of New York, where he got
into basic arranging and
composing.
“I didn’
t study composing with the
idea of getting into it professionally, but
I found in 2010 I had become attracted
to big bands and larger sounds and
started experimenting with all that,
”
he says, adding he would bring a nine-
piece band into their tiny apartment
to try out compositions and arrange-
ments.
“If I have a clear idea of what I want
to write, I go to the drums. In my
head, I sing along and then go to the
computer and type it into notation
software. If I don’
t know what I want, I
sit at the piano and play chords until I
hear something I like.
”
Away from music, Pugach confess-
es an obsession with espresso coffee
— an obsession that has turned his
apartment into a hang out, he says
happily. ■
music
details
The Dan Pugach
Nonet will perform at
7 p.m. Sunday, May
12, at Cliff Bell’
s,
2030 Park Ave.,
Detroit. $10.
(313) 961-2543.
cliffbells.com.
Jazz
On Tap
Thank
you
for
your
many
years
of
patronage!
!
lellisrestaurant.com
(248)
373-4440
885
N
Opdyke
Rd,
Auburn
Hills,
MI
48326
“News
Flash”
Lel
l
i
’
s
-
Formal
l
y
of
Detroi
t
Si
nce
1939
Moved
to
Auburn
Hi
l
l
s
i
n
1996
Now
Auburn
Hi
l
l
s
i
s
our
one
and
onl
y
l
ocati
on!
We
have
never
been
affil
i
ated
wi
th
any
other
establ
i
shment
or
l
ocati
ons
even
i
f
i
t
contai
ned
the
“Lel
l
i
“
Name.