Center For Jewish History to Host JAZZUKKAH FOR HANUKKAH! Next Month

On Sunday, December 10th, 2023 at 7:30 the American Society for Jewish Music will present The Jazzukkahh Project, and Eleanor Reissa, the Tony award-winning, director, actress, and author, at the Annual Hanukkah Concert at the Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011. The performance is co-sponsored by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and the Center itself. General Admission: $18; Members of the Center; Seniors and Students $9. Tickets are available online at the link below.

The Jazzukkah Project is an ensemble that's putting a new sonic spin on the Hanukkah canon, some in English, some Hebrew and some instrumental. Their music pays homage to and updates familiar holiday classics mixing them with jazz cool and salsa flair. For instance, they give “I Have A Little Dreidel” a bebop makeover, inject “Hanukkah, Oh, Hanukkah” with Afro-Cuban grooves and also play original material like the ballad “Hanukkah Blues.” Their album is due to be released this November.

In a freylakh (festive) evening befitting the holiday, Jazzukkahh for Hanukkah is a program, that will appeal to multiple audiences of adults and children, Jews and gentiles, religious and secular crowds, and mainstream listeners as well jazz afficionados.

As is traditional at the Annual Hanukkah Concert, the evening will begin with a story by Isaac Beshevis Singer, the famed Yiddish-speaking author, this year read by noted actress Eleanor Reissa.

Led by the acclaimed bassist Giliad Abro, one of Israel's top jazz musicians, The Jazzukkahh project will include jazz pianist Tom Oren, percussionist Alon Benjamini, and singer-songwriter, Elana Rozenfeld.

Eleanor Reissa is a Tony-nominated director (Those Were the Days), a Broadway, film and television actress (Indecent; Minyan; and HBO's The Plot Against America), an award-winning playwright, and a soloist in every major concert hall in New York City and in festivals around the world. She is the host of Yale University's Fortunoff Video Archive Podcast - Those Who Were There: Voices of the Holocaust. We are celebrating her new memoir, THE LETTERS PROJECT: A Daughter's Journey. Early reviews: “Among the great number of personal takes on the Holocaust, Eleanor Reissa's book really stands out for its intelligence and courage.” – David Margolick. “This journey of discovery is riveting.” - Joseph Berger.

Gilad Abro is a classically trained double bassist and teacher who has won numerous awards and plays numerous festivals around the world every year. He is currently a regular session bassist for popular Israeli singers Berry Sakharov and Marina Maximilian Blumin. His solo album “Leaf Boy” was released under the Raw Tapes music label in 2019.

Tom Oren is an Israeli jazz pianist living in New York and the celebrated winner of the 2018 Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Piano Competition (currently the Herbie Hancock Institute). Oren studied music at Thelma Yellin High School of the Arts Jazz Department; Rimon Jazz Institute, and Berklee College of Music. Oren has appeared on world-class stages including the JazzAhead! Festival in Bremen, the Jazz à Juan Festival in Antibes, Jarasum Jazz Festival in Korea, to name a few..

Alon Benjamini is a drummer and composer. A graduate of the jazz department at Thelma Yellin High School of the Arts, and The New School for Jazz & Contemporary Music. He lives in New York and is a regular for musicians like Reggie Workman, Avishai Cohen, Gilad Hekselman, Takeshi Ohbayashi, Yotam Silberstein, and many others.

Elana Rozenfeld is a singer-songwriter, cantor and teacher. She has a BFA from the Tisch School of Arts at NYU. She also serves as High Holy Day cantor at Park Avenue Synagogue, former cantor at Congregation Shirat Hayam in Swampscott, MA and is a working singer in Israel. She lives with her husband and three children in Kiryat Tivon, Israel.

Producer Gil Shefler is the creator of The Jazzukkah Project. He works in tech while counting down the days to the Hanukkah.