Dan Pugach Big Band

Dan Pugach is a GRAMMY® Award-winning drummer and composer, a five-time GRAMMY® nominee and two-time ASCAP Foundation Jazz Composer Award winner. His latest album, Bianca Reimagined: Music for Paws and Persistence (2024), featuring Nicole Zuraitis, won the 2025 GRAMMY® Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. The Dan Pugach big band perform regularly and have headlined at Dizzy’s, Birdland, Blue Note and the Red Sea Jazz Festival. Born in Tel Aviv, he served as the drummer for The Air Force Band while attending the Rimon School of Jazz. After studying percussion in Rio de Janeiro, he moved to the U.S. in 2006 to pursue a career in jazz performance.

Nicole Zuraitis is a two-time GRAMMY® winning and six-time GRAMMY-nominated jazz singer-songwriter, pianist, producer and arranger. With a “heart as big as her remarkable voice,” (Jazz Police), Nicole has positioned herself as one of the top artists and songwriters to watch in jazz and beyond.