Little Chef Klezmer Band is a premiere professional ensemble based in Phoenix, Arizona, performing at weddings, b’nai mitzvah celebrations, concerts, private events, and more.

What is klezmer?

Though you may not know it by name, you probably recognize the sound of klezmer - a centuries-old musical tradition performed by instrumental musicians at Jewish celebrations and lifecycle events. Characterized by use of cantorial modes (musical scales), melodic ornamentation, and dance rhythms, the music cross-pollinated with the Eastern European cultures that surrounded Yiddish-speaking shtetls (villages). Waves of Jewish immigrants to the US in the 20th century brought their repertoire and performance style, where they inevitably encountered American popular music influences that have contributed to the music’s ongoing evolution.

Photo by: Angel Martinez

the tale of little chef klezmer band

In the historic Garfield neighborhood of Phoenix, a 1950s diner sits on a dusty desert corner, its curving facade and neon lights straight out of a midcentury highway road-stop. In November of 2022, the owners of the Little Chef Diner asked saxophonist Max Schwimmer to play on the diner’s patio during the Downtown Phoenix First Friday art walk, and Little Chef Klezmer Band was born. The diner is now closed, but its spirit lives on in the LCKB.

Since 2024, LCKB has performed as the resident ensemble of the Phoenix Yiddish Culture Festival, collaborating with guest dance leader Miryam Coppersmith and Yiddish songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jordan Wax, and working alongside other Phoenix artists to produce educational programming and klezmer concerts . The 2025 festival was supported by the City of Phoenix Department of Arts and Culture, ASU Jewish Studies, and the Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix, in partnership with Beth El Phoenix, the Musical Instrument Museum, Linger Longer Lounge, the Dark Side (Tempe), and Samz Sweetz.

In January of 2024, LCKB performed in a multi-day artist residency with accordionist Christina Crowder, showcasing recently-discovered klezmer manuscripts from Ukraine, culminating in a concert at Beth El Phoenix. The project was supported by the Center for Jewish Philanthropy of Greater Phoenix, ASU Jewish Studies, and the East Valley JCC, and was featured in the Phoenix Jewish News.

Little Chef Klezmer Band has performed throughout the Southwest US, including in El Paso, TX at Albuquerque’s Klezmerquerque festival. The band’s music was featured in the pre-roll for the 2025 Greater Phoenix Jewish Film Festival.

The Reviews Are In

  • I enjoyed the music very much and it added to the ambiance...You have my appreciation for your contribution to my daughter’s bat mitzva and to the community at large.

    - Joe L.

  • "It was a great pleasure to work with the LCKB...one of many new klezmer bands springing up around the country, infusing new energy into the ongoing klezmer revival...invested in learning the klezmer musical idiom."

    Christina Crowder, Accordionist and Executive Director of the Klezmer Institute

  • "It was wonderful, foot tapping music that brought joy and cheer."

    Audience Member, Trampled Manuscripts Concert (January, 2024)

  • (This) isn’t your mother’s klezmer music, but it might be your great-grandmother’s.

    Shannon Levitt, Phoenix Jewish News

  • “[E]veryone really enjoyed listening to you…Only great things were said to me about your performance…It was a great time had by all! We look forward to you performing at PHA’s Cafe Europa luncheons in the future!

    Celia Cindy Katz, Phoenix Holocaust Society