Jewish Celebration Music

• Klezmer Fusion Band
• Klezpresso
• KFB Plus

Meet the Band

Vocalist and guitarist Neil Alexander is joined by klezmer and classical clarinetist Ralph Katz or by jazz clarinet/saxophone/flute player Pete Kahn, and by local Balkan mandolin/guitar player and vocalist Nan Nelson. The rhythm section includes local professional jazz players such as David Stearns on bass, Mark Kieswetter or Dave Gitterman on keyboards, John Johnson on guitar and Dan Maslanka or Cary Kocher on drums.

The leader
Neil Alexander, faculty physician at University of Michigan, is the creator and leader of KFB. He has served as an itinerant chazzan at numerous small congregations in the Midwest, and most recently at Beth Israel Congregation, Ann Arbor, Michigan, particularly for the High Holidays. Growing up in a Yiddish- and Hebrew-speaking family, he has played Jewish music in ensembles or been a song leader since his teens, and was the principal vocalist for the New Shtetl Band, a klezmer group in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Upon returning from his sabbatical in Israel where he learned to play the darbouka (middle eastern drumming), he is now adding a mizrachi (mediterranean) flavor to the music.