‘Tiferes’ Jazzes Up Weekend

Ask any parent or student that attended, and they’ll tell you that the highlight of the Yeshiva Tiferes Bachurim’s Parents Weekend was the Motzei Shabbos Melave Malka jam with the band aptly named ‘Tiferes.’

The impromptu gathering in the Morristown Kollel apartment of Tiferes co-founder and pianist Daniel Berry was the debut of the band, which is already booking shows, beginning with a wedding later this week and featuring a Chabad on Campus Chanukah tour throughout the northeast later this year.

Tiferes began when seasoned drummer Ary Baldioceda overheard Berry, who has been playing piano since the age of six, improv a few niggunim at a Yeshiva Rabbi’s house last Chanukah. The two immediately planned a practice session in a cramped yeshiva dorm room that sparked their long-term partnership. Later Chaim Yitzchak Rose joined the group on saxophone and then Nissen Goldman of South Africa jumped in on bass. The group is occasionally joined by vocalist, songwriter, and classical composer Michel Klein.

What makes Tiferes unique is their extensive musical training and individual performance experiences that the band members accumulated before finding their way back to Yiddishkeit, to the Morristown yeshiva, and to the beginning of their musical careers together. From music halls at Princeton University to recording studios in Costa Rica, Tiferes uses their distinct feel for jazz technique and their love for making people dance to bring the community music that proves you can have sophisticated and unique sound without having to search outside the realm of Jewish music.

The result is Jewish music like you’ve never heard it before.

Allowing others to feel as if the music is their own, Tiferes encouraged the students and parents at the jam session to jump in. Everything from African drums to harmonicas, from an Australian didgeridoo to banging on pots and pans… you name it. “Think about what other college-aged boys are doing around the country on a Saturday night. Now look at this! This is amazing!” exclaimed Dovid Nessenoff, world-touring speaker and father of a student in Morristown. The guests raved for days after about the experience, and the opportunity it gave these baalei teshuvah students to bond with their parents in a Jewish, yet fun, environment. This engaging and personal nature of Tiferes is quickly becoming a trademark of the group, giving them a unique niche in the Jewish arts scene.

Live band performances aren’t the only thing coming up for Tiferes. Michel Klein is continuing his composition and will be putting out an album of original neo-classical pieces composed on Chassidic thought in the coming year. Daniel Berry is also pursuing solo work, and bridging the gap between his calming piano pieces and the fiery music of Tiferes with a series of “interactive concerts” in Crown Heights beginning in January 2013. These unique shows will allow children of all ages and their parents to play an active role in composing live improv pieces performed before their very eyes and ears.

For Tiferes booking or more information about the interactive concerts, email [email protected] and visit www.danielberrypiano.com or facebook.com/DanBerryPiano.