Wednesday, March 21, 2012 at the Sixth Street Community Synagogue in NYC
events from 6:00pm until 11:00pm
Wednesday, Mar 21 at 08:00 PM – The Sy Kushner Jewish Music Ensemble East Village Klezmer Series
.6 – 7:30PM Klezmer Workshop led by special guest, Bassist Brian Glassman!! $25
8 – 9:15PM The Sy Kushner Jewish Music Ensemble $15 (includes a drink)
9:30 – 11PM Klezmer Jam Session, led by Aaron Alexander and guests

Full evening pass $35 (includes Workshop or Yiddish Class, Concert, Jam Session & one drink!)

The Sy Kushner Jewish Music Ensemble
featuring Sy Kushner (accordion), Aaron Kushner (alto sax), Jeremy Brown (violin,) and Marty Confurius (bass) and special guest Ken Maltz on clarinet

On a mild July evening, seven years ago [1960], on a semi-lit stage in Camp Hi-Li, three musicians (who were to become known as The Mark 3) met and played their first note together. To all present, it was obvious that they were witnessing the birth of a sound-a sound that was to bring to Israeli and Chassidic music a depth which it had never before known. – Excerpt from the liner notes of the original 1966 Mark 3 recording which was re-released in 2009.
That album was to become the seminal opus: an album that was to influence the course of Jewish music for years to come. And Sy Kushner was one of its founders and musical director. It was the beginning of a long and varied career for Sy, taking him through Chassidic, Israeli folk, klezmer, and most recently newly composed Jewish music. His CDs of original works have received rave reviews.

This disc[Arise!] embodies the idea that klezmer is a living and viable genre…. Kushner’s klezmer music integrates non-klezmer sounds, but so smoothly that the result is more like stirred paint, in which each new added element changes the color of the whole. – Paul Wieder, Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation.

Sy Kushner is a klezmer lifer, a leading figure on accordion as well as a composer since his Mark 3 days in the ’60s…… highly refined musical gold. – George Robinson…..Jewish Week 2009

What a wonderful day you gave us. Your music brings me warm memories of a time long ago. Thanks. – Joan Levine and Jonah Berman commenting on a 2009 City Winery performance.

Kushner’s authority, clarity, and grace on the accordion makes this album very special.….The way Kushner plays, you feel as though you can tell what is really happening. – Ari Davidow’s review of KlezSqueeze(CD)

The CD (KlezSqueeze) impresses with its simplicity and virtuosity. In many respects, I wondered, how is it possible to play like that? ….For myself, it is one of the best records ever. – Andreas, from Virtual Klezmer(Germany)

The Kushners are the great biblical begots of klezmer music. – Jonathan Mark, Associate Editor, Jewish Week

Accordionist Kushner has been making excellent klezmer since his hits with the Mark 3 Orchestra back in the 1960s. He has only gotten better and deeper. – Ari Davidow-Klezmer Shack