DAN PUGACH
Dan Pugach is a GRAMMY® nominated drummer and composer living in Brooklyn, NY. He was born in Israel and moved to the United States in 2006. 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.
He is the leader of The Dan Pugach Nonet, a nine-piece ensemble playing his original music and his arrangements. 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.
In 2011 Dan received the ASCAP Foundation Young Jazz Composer Award for his Nonet piece “Discourse This!”. In the same year he was selected to participate at the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Residency 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”.
His debut 2018 nonet release “Plus One” on UNIT Records has made it to top 20 jazz radio charts and includes Dan’s arrangement of Jolene/Dolly Parton which has been GRAMMY ® nominated for Best Arrangement, Instruments with Vocals, alongside vocalist Nicole Zuraitis.
In 2019 he won the BMI Charlie Parker Composition Prize/Manny Albam Commission as part of the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop.
He is the leader of The Dan Pugach Nonet, a nine-piece ensemble playing his original music and his arrangements. 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.
In 2011 Dan received the ASCAP Foundation Young Jazz Composer Award for his Nonet piece “Discourse This!”. In the same year he was selected to participate at the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Residency 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”.
His debut 2018 nonet release “Plus One” on UNIT Records has made it to top 20 jazz radio charts and includes Dan’s arrangement of Jolene/Dolly Parton which has been GRAMMY ® nominated for Best Arrangement, Instruments with Vocals, alongside vocalist Nicole Zuraitis.
In 2019 he won the BMI Charlie Parker Composition Prize/Manny Albam Commission as part of the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop.
RELEASES
Lineup
Ingrid Jensen - Trompete
David Smith - Trompete
Mike Fahie - Posaune
Jen Hinkle - Bassposaune
Andrew Gould - Altsaxophon
Jeremy Powell - Tenorsaxophon
Andrew Gutauskas - Baritonsaxophon
Nicole Zuraitis - Gesang
Carmen Staaf - Klavier
Jorn Swart - Klavier
Tamir Shmerling - Bass
Bernardo Aguiar - Pandeiro
Dan Pugach - Schlagzeugs
David Smith - Trompete
Mike Fahie - Posaune
Jen Hinkle - Bassposaune
Andrew Gould - Altsaxophon
Jeremy Powell - Tenorsaxophon
Andrew Gutauskas - Baritonsaxophon
Nicole Zuraitis - Gesang
Carmen Staaf - Klavier
Jorn Swart - Klavier
Tamir Shmerling - Bass
Bernardo Aguiar - Pandeiro
Dan Pugach - Schlagzeugs
Details
Catalogue Number
Recording Engineer
Mixing Engineer
Mastering Engineer
Album Duration
Genre
Jazz
Release Date
10.03.2026
Description
Dan Pugach, wohnhaft in Brooklyn, ist ein bereits zweifach mit dem ASCAP Jazz Composer Award ausgezeichneter Schlagzeuger, Komponist und Arrangeur. Das Debut seines Nonets Plus One bietet wagemutige Neufassungen von Dolly Partons “Jolene”, Chick Coreas “Crystal Silence”, Ivan Lins “Love Dance”, und als einen Angriff auf bedenklich große männliche Egos: “Our Blues” mit Nicole Zuratis, Dans Ehefrau mit beeindruckender Stimme.
Pugach eilt auf Plus One mit seinen betörend cleveren Kompositionen und detailfreudigen Arrangements von Höhepunkt zu Höhepunkt, während er die Pferde seines explosiven Schlagzeugspiels, für Virtuosen seiner Güte ungewöhnlich, zweckdienlich im Zaum hält.
Seine Arrangements huldigen den großen Vorbildern wie der Thad Jones and Mel Lewis Big Band, der Bob Minzer Big Bandoder dem Vanguard Jazz Orchestra in einer wesentlich kompakterer Besetzung, weshalb Dan Pugach sein Nonet gerne als “Mini Big Band” bezeichnet. Farbige Kompositionen, prägnante Arrangements, herausragende Musiker und Dans Sinn für rhythmische Nuancen machen Plus One zu einem einzigartigen Statement.
Pugach eilt auf Plus One mit seinen betörend cleveren Kompositionen und detailfreudigen Arrangements von Höhepunkt zu Höhepunkt, während er die Pferde seines explosiven Schlagzeugspiels, für Virtuosen seiner Güte ungewöhnlich, zweckdienlich im Zaum hält.
Seine Arrangements huldigen den großen Vorbildern wie der Thad Jones and Mel Lewis Big Band, der Bob Minzer Big Bandoder dem Vanguard Jazz Orchestra in einer wesentlich kompakterer Besetzung, weshalb Dan Pugach sein Nonet gerne als “Mini Big Band” bezeichnet. Farbige Kompositionen, prägnante Arrangements, herausragende Musiker und Dans Sinn für rhythmische Nuancen machen Plus One zu einem einzigartigen Statement.