studied string bass and ethnomusicology at UCLA, and has been an influential performer, teacher, arranger and recording artist on upright and electric bass and tuba, as well as a wide variety of World Music instruments, for over 40 years.

His klezmer credentials range from old-country funky to avante-rock to chamber-jazz, and he has recorded and performed with today's leading klezmer artists, including Brave Old World, Veretski Pass, The Klezmorim, Kapelye, Andy Statman, the Klezmer Conservatory Band, Khevrisa, Frank London and Itzhak Perlman.

Stu has worked with musicians as diverse as Canned Heat, Kaleidoscope, Ry Cooder, Geoff and Maria Muldaur, John Bilezikjian, and Mischa Sheynkman, and has played with internationally renowned artists at Armenian, Greek, Russian, Irish, and Israeli nightclubs. His musical roles in movies include "The Postman Always Rings Twice" and "Love Affair."