Jerron Paxton and Dennis Lichtman

Virtuoso multi-instrumentalists Jerron Paxton and Dennis Lichtman celebrate the roots of American music with an energetic blend of acoustic blues, ragtime, traditional jazz, Tin Pan Alley favorites, and original songs. Their masterful musicianship, rich storytelling, and infectious chemistry create an unforgettable concert honoring the enduring spirit of early American musical traditions.

Jerron Paxton and Dennis Lichtman are world-renowned multi-instrumentalists and vocalists whose formal musical partnership began with a video shoot, Just Cross the River From Queens, at the Louis Armstrong House Museum in 2017. Paxton and Lichtman recently released their first full-length duo recording.

The duo were Artists-In-Residence at NYC’s Symphony Space for the 2024-25 season and have toured the US and internationally together since 2019. Smithsonian Folkways recording artist Paxton presents Black folk music from nearly all the idioms that entails: stride piano jazz from New Orleans to New York; deep blues on guitar and harmonica; rural music from the beginnings of Black arrival in America played on fiddle and banjo; ragtime; and other turn-of-the-century-music that gives the full breadth of pre-WWII Black music without lecturing, but rather inviting you to enjoy that music as it was given to him.

Paxton transports his audiences not to a time, but to a state of mind that allows them to enjoy and internalize Black folk music, as has been the American experience for centuries. Lichtman is a world-traveling bandleader who is best known for running the famed trad-jazz jam sessions at Mona’s Bar in New York City since 2007, which was described in the Wall Street Journal as “ground zero for an emerging late-night scene of young traditional jazz and swing players.” He is a masterful multi-instrumentalist (clarinet, mandolin, violin, and more) who has toured and recorded with David Byrne, The Lovestruck Balladeers, Pokey LaFarge, Ghost Train Orchestra, Jim Kweskin, and his own projects: The Brain Cloud, Mona’s Hot Four, and his newest all-original album Secret Workshop.

Paxton and Lichtman’s 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.