Dennis Lichtman is a multi-instrumentalist who is equally at home on clarinet, mandolin, and fiddle. He is deeply entrenched in the early years of jazz and its connections to other American roots genres, from ragtime to bluegrass to western swing (and most importantly, the meeting-points in between). His long-running weekly Tuesday night jam session at Mona’s in New York City has been called “ground zero for an emerging late-night scene of young swing and traditional jazz players” by The Wall Street Journal. In October 2021 he and country blues phenom Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton released a duo album on which they each play five instruments and sing. Lichtman’s most recent clarinet album, Just Cross the River, features nine original compositions, two of which can be heard in the HBO miniseries The Plot Against America. Dennis has performed and recorded as a member of The Lovestruck Balladeers, Ghost Train Orchestra, Pokey LaFarge Band, Nation Beat, Jim Kweskin Band, duo with Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton, and many more in addition to his own projects, The Brain Cloud and Mona’s Hot Four.
New York City, NY; NYC