The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage
Daniel Blacksberg
Spanning avant-garde jazz, modern classical music, improvised music and klezmer—a musical tradition with roots in Eastern-European Jewish culture—Daniel Blacksberg brings a burly, rough-edged sound that pushes at the technical and textural extremes of his instrument, the trombone. Blacksberg has developed a complex style that blends experimental and klezmer music, drawing on unexpected techniques to expand the scope of the latter genre. His ambition is to create a solo body of work that refines this unique blend and establishes him as a major voice on his instrument, after many years of working as a sideman in musical groups and projects. “I see myself as continuing a lineage of experimental musicians whose work touches on and interacts with a variety of musical worlds,” says Blacksberg. “I am working to create new ways of playing for myself and for my instrument.” As he moves toward this new direction in his career, Blacksberg also plans to create and release recordings of his current output. He leads the Daniel Blacksberg Trio and Electric Simcha, and plays with guitarist Nick Millevoi in new music duo Archer Spade.
