Jerron Paxton and Dennis Lichtman

Jerron Paxton and Dennis Lichtman are world-renowned multi-instrumentalists and vocalists whose mutual love of the history, stories, and significance behind the music they play is apparent as they romp through an energetic and engaging set of acoustic blues, ragtime, Tin Pan Alley pop songs, 1920s jazz, twin fiddle hoe-downs, and original songs and compositions. The duo were artists-in-residence at Symphony Space in New York City for the 2024-25 season and recently released their first full-length duo recording, Jerron Paxton & Dennis Lichtman. As a soloist, Paxton is a Smithsonian Folkways recording artist, mainstay of the international blues festival circuit, and former artistic director of the Port Townsend Acoustic Blues Festival. Lichtman is a master of the clarinet, mandolin, and fiddle whose performance and recording credits include David Byrne, Pokey LaFarge, HBO’s Succession and The Plot Against America, Jim Kweskin, and his own solo projects.

Born and raised in South Central Los Angeles, Paxton's music is steeped in the rich cultural heritage of the Great Migration. His family’s journey from Shreveport, Louisiana, to the Athens neighborhood of South LA in the 1950s laid the foundation for his appreciation of Southern Black culture. As an only child, he spent much of his upbringing absorbing the culture his family had taken with them to California from the South. Paxton grew up very close with his grandmother, often shadowing her mannerisms and adopting them as his own. While Futurama or King of the Hill were on the family TV, he’d find himself sitting down with her, practicing banjo chords he’d heard on her favorite records. Since relocating from Los Angeles to New York City in 2007, Paxton has found an embracing audience within the city's diverse cultural communities and vibrant music scene. He discovered that New Yorkers are sensitive to the kind of authenticity in storytelling that he was exposed to as a child.

Paxton’s previous work has drawn comparisons to blues legends like Robert Johnson, Lead Belly, and Mississippi John Hurt, yet his approach is distinctly his own. On songs like “Baby Days Blues” and “What’s Gonna Become of Me,” Paxton revisits early influences like DeFord Bailey, Sippie Wallace, and Stephen Foster, and makes use of traditional melody lines and throwback playing styles, such as the 12-bar blues structure and “hopping” fingerpicking technique. Lyrically, other songs on the album are drawn from his personal, everyday experiences, exploring the evolving mindsets within contemporary society while using the past to make sense of it.

Dennis Lichtman is a multi-instrumentalist (clarinet, mandolin, fiddle, and more) who has been living, performing, composing, and teaching in New York City since 2002. He is a Selmer Paris Artist as an endorser of their Signature Clarinet. His music was recently used in director David Simon’s The Plot Against America (HBO) and he has appeared as a clarinetist on Succession (HBO) and The Blacklist (NBC).

Since 2007, Lichtman has been the clarinetist and bandleader of the famed Tuesday night traditional-jazz jam session at Mona's in downtown New York, which was profiled in the New York Times, and has been described by the Wall Street Journal as "ground zero for an emerging late-night scene of young swing and traditional jazz players.”

Lichtman has performed at Carnegie Hall, major festivals throughout the United States, and on stages in Europe, Brazil, and China. He is on the faculty of several jazz and string music camps and workshops, and has led college master classes and school workshops through the Midori Foundation, Lincoln Center’s Meet The Artist Series, and Beijing’s Ping-Pong Productions.

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