The band doesn’t give a concert so much as throw a party, engaging audiences of all ages and backgrounds in its energy-driven reimagining of the sound of a classic klezmer Big Band of the 1920s.  This is your grandfather’s klezmer band, but also your grandchild’s—when not concertizing, Maxwell Street entertains at weddings and bar and bat mitzvah parties.

Some of the band’s credits include a performance at Carnegie Hall, at Lincoln Center, and at nearly a dozen European festivals (Switzerland, Germany, Austria, the UK, Finland, and others).  A classical-klezmer composition (Klezmer Rhapsody, I. Levinson) was written for the band’s violinist and Musical Director, Alex Koffman, who premiered it at Chicago’s Symphony Center.  The band also performed in an original opera at Lyric Opera Chicago (“The Property”).  In addition to concerts, the band offers klezmer workshops for both professionals and amateurs, and has published its own klezmer band book (Joy of Klez).