About the Band Members:

Julie Egger (Violin, dance leader, band manager)

...has played the violin since the age of seven. She received a Bachelor of Music in Education from Crane School of Music, where she studied with the Carnegie String Quartet and Ruth Iogha. Julie lived for nine years in Boston, where she performed classical, jazz, and liturgical music. She currently performs with The Red Hot Chachkas, which she founded, an improvisation group, and the Fogbow Trio. She is a founder and the director of KlezCalifornia, and received a 2003 individual Artist Grant from Marin Arts Council. She lives in West Marin.

Barbara Speed (Clarinet)

...clarinetist, started on  piano, her father's instrument, when she was nine.  Flute soon followed, and she studied classical and baroque flute in New York and London through her twenties, while paying the rent with part-time secretarial work, the proverbial day gig.  In 1979,  Barbara moved to Berkeley, and, inspired by the welcoming open atmosphere, decided to get raucous and took up the saxophone.  She was lucky enough to find a great mentor and friend in Kurt Bradford, formerly lead alto in the later years of the Jimmy Lunceford band.  Barbara's fascination with that era of jazz led her to try out the clarinet too, where she was again lucky to have the opportunity study with Bay Area classical clarinetist Jim Russell.   Several years ago, luck brought her in contact with the Westwind International Folk Ensemble, where a gig playing a jazz suite led to participation in a klezmer suite.  This happy opportunity has now led Barbara to the The Red Hot Chachkas.

Michael Arrow (Drums)

...has played and taught drums and percussion in Marin County for many diverse groups and organizations. He has performed and recorded with the late jazz great Larry Vanuchi, the Marin Symphony, Sausalito Jazz Trio, the jazz group As Is, the College of Marin Orchestra, Christopher Smith, and Sam Andrew (of Big Brother and the Holding Company). He also freelances with jazz and blues groups.

Tony Phillips (Mandolin)

...is untainted by formal musical education. His parents gave him a mandolin as a graduation gift, to their subsequent and lasting regret. He played in several Bay Area bluegrass bands, and now performs oldtime, swing, Cal-Mex, Cajun, and other traditional American music with the Jubilee American Dance Theatre. He began playing music from diverse international origins as part of a mandolin trio, the Mandorian Candidates, deploying a variety of conventional and exotic stringed intruments. That led to a 1995 tour in Eastern Europe with Westwind International Folk Ensemble, with whom he subsequently performed a klezmer suite (with Barbara Speed and Laurie Lippin) at the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival. He joined the Chachkas after attending KlezKamp in 1998. For the last few years he's been hooked on oldtime fiddling.

Rob Reich (Accordion, piano)

...composes and performs on many instruments, in many styles. In addition to playing klezmer with the Red Hot Chachkas and Kugelplex, he also plays gypsy jazz with Gaucho, southern soul with Lord Loves A Working Man, and composes for the theater troupe Rococo Risque. As best we can determine, he can play any tune on any instrument in any style on the spot.  He teaches piano to children.

Breck Diebel (Bass)

...holds a MA degree from San Francisco State University, and BM from Berklee College of Music in Boston. He grew up playing guitar and has been playing bass since 1980. He plays double bass and electric bass, and has performed within a wide range of musical genres, including jazz, salsa, Cuban son, folk, rock and Andean and Latin American folk. In addition, Breck has taught bass at Blue Bear School of American Music in San Francisco.

OCCASIONAL & FORMER MEMBERS & ASSOCIATES:

Mwanza Furaha (Vocals)

 Bruce Bierman (Dance leader)

Stuart Brotman (Bass, Tsimbl)

...is the son of a Jewish carpenter. He holds a B.A. in music from the University of California at Los Angeles, and has taught at KlezKamp, Buffalo on the Roof, the Balkan Music and Dance Workshops and KlezKanada and has been recording, touring, and teaching New Jewish Music with world class ensemble, Brave Old World since 1989. Long admired as a versatile soloist and sensitive accompanist in traditional and pop music circles, he has toured and recorded with Canned Heat, Kaleidoscope, Geoff and Maria Muldaur, and played cimbalom with Ry Cooder at Carnegie Hall. Stu appeared in the Los Angeles production of Ghetto, the San Francisco production of Shlemiel the First, and performs frequently in ethnic music specialty roles for TV and film. A founding member of Los Angeles' Ellis Island Band, he has been a moving force in the Klezmer revival since its beginning. He produced The Klezmorim's Grammy-nominated album, Metropolis. He toured with the Yiddisher Caravan, a federally funded Yiddish folklife show, and has performed with The Klezmorim, Kapelye, Andy Statman, the Klezmer Conservatory Band, Davka, The San Francisco Klezmer Experience, Khevrisa, and Itzhak Perlman. He formed Veretski Pass with with Josh Horowitz and Cookie Segelstein.

Laurie Lippin

...was our original accordionist, and played on our "Family Album." She now performs in the Cotati/Santa Rosa area.

Paul Alexander

...was our original clarinetist, and played on our "Family Album."  Paul is now the leader of the Petaluma-based Jubilee Klezmer Band.

Daniel Sundy

...was our original bassist, who left for graduate study of classical music in Germany.

Members of the California Klezmer band, including Gerry Tenney on mandolin and vocals, Peter Jaques on clarinet, and David Laub on bass, have joined us on occasion, as has drummer extraordinaire Kevin Mummey of San Francisco Klez-X and other fine bands.

Matthew Sperry

...was best known for his bass work with free improvised music, but he also worked extensively in the realms of subterranean pop, Jewish wedding music and experimental chamber works. His improvisational work is featured in numerous collaborations on the Limited Sedition label. Matthew can also be heard on recordings with Tom Waits and Anthony Braxton, and was a featured performer in the San Francisco stage production of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch." He joined Chachkas shortly after we played at his wedding.  His life ended abruptly in a bike accident on June 5, 2003. In memorium.