Israeli Dan Pugach wins Grammy award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album

‘Bianca Reimagined: Music for Paws and Persistence’ was inspired by a shelter dog he adopted; hostage pins worn onstage as producers of Jimmy Carter audio memoir accept award

Dan Pugach of Dan Pugach Big Band, winner of the award for best large jazz ensemble album for 'Bianca Reimagined: Music for Paws and Persistence,' poses in the press room during the 67th annual Grammy Awards on in Los Angeles, February 2, 2025. (Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
Dan Pugach of Dan Pugach Big Band, winner of the award for best large jazz ensemble album for 'Bianca Reimagined: Music for Paws and Persistence,' poses in the press room during the 67th annual Grammy Awards on in Los Angeles, February 2, 2025. (Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Israeli musician Dan Pugach won a Grammy award on Sunday night in the category of Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album with his compilation title “Bianca Reimagined: Music for Paws and Persistence.”

The album is dedicated to the memory of a dog he adopted in New York, where he divides his time with Connecticut.

Also onstage to accept the award was his wife Nicole Zuraitis, who sang on the album, as well as other members of the Dan Pugach Big Band, including Israeli saxophonist Eitan Gofman and pianist Nitzan Gavrieli.

“I am still in shock,” Pugach told Channel 12. “I can’t believe it at all.”

Pugach said he was nominated in two categories against other musicians he described being his own heroes.

“When they told me I had won I was very excited. The adrenaline rushed. I felt very lucky to go up on the stage with my wife, Nicole Zuraitis, who sang and wrote for the album,” he said.

According to his website, Pugach has fostered and adopted pit bull rescue dogs from a New York shelter. In 2011, he adopted Bianca, a faithful pooch who died in 2018, and the Grammy-winning album was inspired in her honor.

Born in Ra’anana, Pugach was in the Israel Air Force band during his army service.

He told Channel 12 that despite the tensions in New York since the start of the Gaza war in 2023 he does not hide his Israeli origins, but rather it has “brought my Israeli identity closer to my heart.”

“Anyone who knows me knows that I am Israeli. I am not ashamed of that,” he said.

Whereas during last year’s Grammy awards ceremony the war between Israel and the Palestinian terror movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip was highlighted by some artists, this year the references were more subtle.

Worldwide executive and music president of electronic arts Steve Schnur, as well as entertainment executive Doug Davis, wore yellow ribbon lapel pins as they went up onto the stage to accept a Grammy on behalf of former US president Jimmy Carter, who won the award posthumously for the audiobook version of his memoir, titled “A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety.”

Doug Davis, from left, Kabir Sehgal, Jason Carter, Steve Schnur, and Paul Avgerinos pose in the press room with the award for best audiobook, narration, and storytelling recording for ‘Last Sundays in Plains: A Centennial Celebration’ during the 67th annual Grammy Awards on February 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. Schnur and Davis wore yellow ribbon lapel pins, a support symbol for the Israeli hostages held captive by terrorists in the Gaza Strip. (Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Schnur is a founder of Creative Community for Peace and Davis is a board member of the peace activism organization.

Also accepting the Grammy award were Carter’s grandson, Jason Carter, and author Kabir Sehgal, who did not wear yellow ribbon pins.

The yellow ribbon is the symbol adopted by the support movement for Israeli hostages held captive in Gaza since October 7, 2023, when Hamas led thousands of terrorists in an invasion of southern Israel during which they killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 to Gaza as hostages. A January ceasefire deal halted the fighting and is seeing the release of some of the hostages.

The 67th Grammy Awards was a history-making evening that served as a warm tribute to fire-hit Los Angeles and celebrated music’s finest with dazzling performances.

It also included not-so-subtle swipes at the new administration of US President Donald Trump.

Black women shine

It was a historic night for Black women including Beyonce, who finally notched a win for Album of the Year for her deeply researched, genre-spanning record “Cowboy Carter.”

Taylor Swift, left, presents the award for best country album to Beyonce for ‘COWBOY CARTER’ during the 67th annual Grammy Awards on in Los Angeles, February 2, 2025. (Chris Pizzello/AP)

The win comes after years of snubs that somehow saw the 43-year-old become the artist with the most-ever Grammy nominations who had never taken home the top prizes of best album or best record.

Her win Sunday makes her the first Black woman to win the top album in this century, and only the fourth ever.

Florida rapper Doechii meanwhile won for best rap album with “Alligator Bites Never Heal,” becoming only the third woman to do so.

“So many Black women out there, that are watching me right now, and I want to tell you, you can do it,” she said.

“Don’t allow anybody to project any stereotypes on you, to tell you that you can’t be here, that you’re too dark, or that you’re not smart enough, or that you’re too dramatic, or you’re too loud.”

Jabs at Trump

Immigration, diversity, health care, transgender rights: the night celebrating music’s best was punctuated with political statements.

Shakira accepts the award for best Latin pop album for ‘Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran’ during the 67th annual Grammy Awards on in Los Angeles, February 2, 2025. (Chris Pizzello/AP)

Shakira dedicated her Grammy for best Latin pop album to “all my immigrant brothers and sisters.”

“In this country, you’re loved, you’re worth it, and I will always fight with you,” the Colombian singer said.

Trump has vowed mass deportations of undocumented migrants in the United States.

Alicia Keys, who received a special “global impact” award, said that diversity, equity, and inclusion programs — which Trump’s administration has begun dismantling — are “not a threat” but “a gift.”

“When destructive forces try to burn us down, we rise from the ashes like a phoenix,” she said to applause.

Best New Artist winner Chappell Roan demanded the music industry support artists in a precarious industry with little safety net.

And Lady Gaga used her Grammy acceptance moment to say that “trans people are not invisible. Trans people deserve love, the queer community deserves to be lifted up.”

Doechii, center, accepts the award for best rap album for ‘Alligator Bites Never Heal’ during the 67th annual Grammy Awards, in Los Angeles, February 2, 2025. Celesia Moore looks on from left(Chris Pizzello/AP)

LA Strong

Grammy organizers decided the gala should proceed despite the wildfires, and it became a touching tribute to the city’s resilience, the first responders and the artists who call the City of Angels home.

Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis and drummer Chad Smith took the stage to present an award, and offered a few a cappella bars of the Los Angeles band’s smash hit “Under the Bridge.”

Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars sang a rendition of “California Dreamin’,” a classic from the Mamas and the Papas, while Billie Eilish donned a Dodgers cap for her performance.

Throughout the broadcast, a QR code was displayed on screen, urging viewers to donate to various wildfire relief efforts. Host Trevor Noah said that at least $7 million had been raised.

And when a group of LA firefighters took the stage to present the Album of the Year prize to Beyonce, they earned a prolonged standing ovation.

Firefighters arrives at the 67th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, February 2, 2025. (Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Pop’s new guard

It was a big night for a buzzy class of pop stars who all went home with a prize: Roan, Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX snapped up one, two and three prizes, respectively.

And the trio all delivered performances that matched the blockbuster years they’ve all enjoyed: Charli, for one, turned the hall into a rave with her medley of club hits “Von Dutch” and “Guess.”

Carpenter kept up her comically coquettish Old-Hollywood-but-make-it-slapstick act, prancing around the stage as she sang “Espresso” and “Please Please Please.”

Roan turned the room into a trippy circus rodeo with an enormous pink pony to sing — you guessed it — “Pink Pony Club,” waving her cascading mane of red curls as she commanded the stage.

And a medley featuring Best New Artist nominees Doechii, Benson Boone, Teddy Swims, Shaboozey and Raye offered an electrifying show of diverse talent.

Monae moonwalk for Quincy

The performance-heavy night also included a moving tribute to Quincy Jones, the late icon of the music industry who connected the 20th century’s constellation of stars, working with everyone from Frank Sinatra to Michael Jackson.

“In his 91 years, Q touched countless lives, but I have to say he changed mine forever. You probably wouldn’t even know who Will Smith was if it wasn’t for Quincy Jones,” said the actor who Jones cast in his breakout role on “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.”

Janelle Monae performs ‘Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough’ as a tribute to Quincy Jones during the 67th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, February 2, 2025. (Chris Pizzello/AP)

Cynthia Erivo delivered a stunning rendition of Sinatra’s “Fly Me To The Moon,” while Stevie Wonder and Herbie Hancock led a performance of “We Are the World.”

Janelle Monae closed the homage with a convincing performance of Jackson’s “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” complete with a moonwalk.

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