a/k/a: Dovid-Yehudah; Reb Dovid'l; DJ Gray
Founding member: 1975–86
Instruments: B-flat & E-flat Boehm clarinets, E-flat Albert clarinet, violin, mandolin, mandocello, banjo, banjolin, piano, lauto, bugarija, harmonicas, percussion, alto sax, electric guitar, occasional vocals
Other functions: Musical researcher/transcriber/arranger; album co-producer/liner notes (Streets of Gold)
Albums: East Side Wedding, Streets of Gold, First Recordings, Great Hudson River Revival, Metropolis, Notes From Underground
Good ink: « Clarinetist David Julian Gray wails and swoops with almost impossibly light fingers. » — Leviathan, University of Southern California
Subsequent gigs: Zeitgeist, California Klezmer, Klezcentricity, Kamikaze Ground Crew, Ellis Island, Steel City Klezmorim, Barrelhouse Blues Band, Berkeley Jewish Theatre The World of Sholom Aleichem; audio restoration on klezmer reissues Yikhes [Trikont] and Early Yiddish Instrumental Music, 1908-27 [Folklyric]
Profile: By joining at a critical moment, David Julian Gray helped transform Skuse and Liberman's visionary duo into the world's first working klezmer-revival band. An engaging personality onstage and indefatigable trouper behind the scenes, Gray deserves much credit for spreading the klezmer meme during the revival's first decade. Along with Andy Statman, he established a standard for the wild, highly-ornamented klezmer clarinet style that has captivated so many players around the world.