Peter Jaques (www.huzzam.com) has been a fixture of the Bay Area Near Eastern music scene since 1995. His style combines traditional Balkan Rom, Greek, Turkish, & klezmer styles with his own, deeply soulful approach. He performs principally on the Bb clarinet & trumpet, as well as alto saxophone, Egyptian nay (reed flute), & Turkish G clarinet.
Peter directs the Brass Menažeri Balkan Brass Band, winner of the SF Weekly's Reader's Choice Award (2008) in the "Best International Band" category. Peter also performs with Rumen Sali Shopov's Orkestar Sali; former Kitka director Juliana Graffagna's Black Olive Babes; Stellamara, a Middle-eastern/Balkan/world fusion ensemble led by Sonja Drakulich; and Gamelan X, a hybrid processional gamelan orchestra based on traditional Balinese baleganjur.
Past ensembles
Peter was a founding member of the legendary Gonnifs klezmer band with accordionist/vocalist Jeanette Lewicki. In addition, Peter has performed and/or recorded with many notable groups, including the Toids, the San Francisco Klezmer Experience, & the pickPocket Ensemble, as well as Zlatne Uste Balkan Brass Band, Zagnut Cirkus Orkestar, and Uzaylilar (Turkish art music, with Adam Good and Timothy Quigley) in New York.
Instruction
Peter's clarinet teachers have included: Lefteris Bournias (of Orkestar Keyif), legendary Bulgarian Rom clarinetist Ivo Papasov, Bulgarian Rom saxophonist Yuri Yunakov, Macedonian virtuoso Goce Dimovski, Christos Govetas (of Ziyiá), Kurt Bjorling (of Brave Old World), & San Francisco experimental composer Beth Custer. He's also studied nay & Arabic music with Dr. Qadri Sourour in Cairo; & Balkan trumpet with Michael Ginsburg & Catherine Foster of Zlatne Uste Balkan Brass Band.