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The Odessa
Klezmer Band, under the direction of Ed Goldberg, brings the
happy dance music of the Klezmirim music to mainstream America.
The musicians have been playing klezmer for over 20 years. Ed
was brought up playing Eastern European and polka music in Elizabeth,
NJ, on the road for 25 years touring with
the band led by Jimmy
Sturr, a 14-time Grammy award winning polka artist.
The band has been in existence since 1984 and has played numerous fairs, festivals, gypsy affairs, weddings, bar mitzvahs, concerts, and dance dates throughout the NJ-NY-PA area, including Gracie Mansion and City Hall for NYC Mayors Guiliani and Blomberg, and a tour of Israel. They play a variety of Eastern Europe, Latino, and Middle Eastern music, and even a polka or czardas. More photos...
Ed Goldberg
The Odessa core group includes
leader Ed Goldberg on accordion. Ed has performed at
Carnegie Hall on four occasions and has made over 125 recordings
of Polish, Ukrainian, Country, Israeli, and Klezmer dance music.
Four of Ed's recordings have won Grammy Awards. In addition he does
an occasional appearance with the Jimmy Sturr Band. Ed is a professor of Computer Sciences at TCNJ &
Middlesex County College.
Read Ed's interview with the "Register News" ("Princeton Packet") here!
Barbara, recently retired from teaching first-grade in Trenton, NJ, studied Middle Eastern music at the Jewish arts school in Manhattan. She plays a Middle Eastern drum called a darbuqua.
John is a long-time member of the band and plays clarinet and saxophone. He played with the U.S. Navy Band in Washington, D.C. and has played with numerous eastern European ethnic bands.
Dennis Ionata
Dennis has been playing trumpet for over 35 years and has worked with a variety of groups and combos. He continues to perform with various ethnic groups in the Polish, German and Klezmer styles. He is a regular performer with various big bands, local and distant. Classical brass and Dixieland music are performed with various groups and with his own group, Freedom Brass. A chubby guy with a lot of hot air, his sound is sweet and strong.
Bob Mehlman
Bob Mehlman ("Doctor Bob") recently retired from The College of New Jersey, where he was an English professor for nearly four decades, as well as a counseling psychologist. Although the uncle who taught him advised him not to play klezmer while he was training as a classical clarinetist, Bob's interest persisted through his time in an army band, the Augusta Symphony Orchestra, a stint playing Middle Eastern music for belly dancers, and performances as a musician with the Tomov, a Yugoslavian dance ensemble. His love for ethnic music and for the klezmer style and repertoire in particular continues to grow.
Joel Pecchioli
Joel has been banging on things since he's been in diapers (it's in his genes: his grandfather was a drummer during the "Big Band Era" ...) He's not sure why he likes to play drums - he just does ... Joel's wife Vicki thinks it's because playing the drums is "cool" and it get's him a lot of attention from the chicks (well - at least from Vicki and their daughter Danielle ...) He's studied music at the Haddonfield Conservancy of Music and The College of New Jersey.
Odessa Klezmer Band, 26 Fitzgerald Lane, Columbus, NJ 08022 | 609-424-0660
©2011 Odessa Klezmer Band. All rights reserved.
January 6, 2011