Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
08 November 2016
26 May 2016
Klezmer Podcast 129- Paul Green
Klezmer Meets Jazz
This episode features an interview with Clarinetist Paul Green, who has released a new album of Jazz/Klezmer, Music Coming Together. Green does a great job of blending the two genres, particularly on the Klezmer tunes Der Gasn Nigun and Papirosen. But he also is comfortable going the other way, too, as seen in So, Nu? his Klezmer take on the Miles Davis tune So What? After the interview, we listen to the track Tarras Doina and Blues.
Run time: 35:07.
04 April 2016
Klezmer Podcast 128- Lenka Lichtenberg
Yiddish Music From Genghis Cohen
Lenka Lichtenberg is a vocalist based in Toronto, Canada and is always finding new ways to create Jewish music. Her latest album, Yiddish Journey, takes us on another musical adventure. Lenka has a unique style that blends traditional elements with cross- cultural influences, such as using Oud and Tabla instruments. I recorded this episode at her performance in Los Angeles at Genghis Cohen, and we hear the track Hey, Tsigelekh from her live set. This track is also on the album.
Run time: 29:40
09 February 2016
25 January 2016
Review: Cerberus- The Book Of Angels Volume 26 -- The Spike Orchestra
Arrangers Sam Eastmond and Nikki Franklin are back with the latest release from The Spike Orchestra, this time on the legendary Tzadik label. The music here is all from John Zorn’s Masada Book Two, Book of Angels Volume 26. Once again, the band brings it’s genre-bending skills to bear on these wonderful tracks. From full-on swing to distinctively middle-eastern rhythms, they cover a wide gamut of styles. Full brass arrangements, with fiery Sax solos, and inventive orchestrations bring the listener into the Spike world with no place to hide. Once you start this album there is no stopping until the end.
Think of Stan Kenton, Chick Corea, and John Zorn as you listen to Cerberus. Driving Bass and Drums keep the pace flowing, behind flying Sax and Horn solos, and then changing to delicate and sparse woodwind and brass passages, keeping the sonic landscape changing. Check out the lead rhythmic figure from the Bari Sax on Armasa. This track has all of my favorite Spike elements.
Then check out the multi- Sax soli on Thronus. Driven in the middle of this heavily rhythmic track, the Saxes take over.
Bass Clarinet handles the introduction on Shinial before the band takes over with a Klezmer-influenced passage that leads to a jazzy Keyboard solo. That’s the fun of this album- the style changes within each track to bring a string of surprises everywhere you look.
Trombone takes center stage on Donel with the band roaring in the background.
The band quiets down for a Sax solo with the rhythm section. Then the band enters with full Spike-ness, moving things along at a brisk pace.
Avant-Garde fans will love Pahadron, the final track. Here we find a wordless Voice joining the rhythm section, soaring over the band. Along with grunge Guitar and soaring brass, Spike leaves the listener with their indelible blueprint. In fact, we are left at the end with only the sound of amplifier hum, a final salute from a band that has left everything they have to give in the recording studio.
13 December 2015
Klezmer Podcast 127- Sasha Margolis
Klezmer From New York
Sasha Margolis is the Violinist of the band Big Galut(e) of New York City. They have released a self-titled debut album, consisting of traditional Klezmer tunes, along with some originals, including one of my new favorites The True Story Of Carmen, a Mickey Katz- inspired parody of the famous Opera. We get to hear the track Wallachian-Appalachian Scratchin' from the album.
Run time: 25:13.
Listen here:
Listen here:
03 December 2015
24 August 2015
Klezmer Podcast 125- The Spike Orchestra
Sam Eastmond of The Spike Orchestra is a composer, arranger, and Trumpet player in London, UK. The latest album GHETTO is an exploration of WW II life in the Warsaw Ghetto, through a suite of pieces comprising a 20- piece big band, a 10- piece Spiketet, and a Trumpet/Voice duo. Eastmond describes the genre loosely as “Cartoon- Post-Bop Jazz and Klezmer music with a big band.” And that about sums it up. Enjoy our lively, wide-ranging discussion, and a fresh take on Jewish Music. We hear the full track Uprising, and a snippet of Child Smugglers from the album.
Listen here:
31 July 2015
Mostly Kosher | Skirball Cultural Center
Aiming to preserve and modernize Jewish musical traditions, Mostly Kosher offers lively klezmer and soulful Yiddish melodies mixed with a variety of styles and genres, from tango to calypso to jazz. And the extraordinary Yiddish dance leader Bruce Biermanjoins the band for this special Skirball performance.
Clarinetist, pianist, and singer Leeav Sofer directs this eight-person ensemble that has performed in packed venues throughout Southern California, including the Skirball! In 2014, Mostly Kosher released their first, self-titled album. They also won the World Music Network’s Battled of the Bands, and their video for “Ikh Hob Dikh Tsufil Lib (I Love You Much Too Much)” was nominated for the Best Song and Audience Choice Award at the Idyllwild International Festival of Cinema.
15 March 2015
23 February 2015
Review: The Sway Machinery- Purity and Danger
The Sway Machinery Purity and Danger
Jeremiah Lockwood’s The Sway Machinery is about to release their third album, Purity and Danger, and fans of the group will be well rewarded for the long wait since their last release in 2011. For those new to the high energy music offered by Lockwood, the band combines dance- worthy grooves with ancient Jewish melodies and Cantorial singing or Hazzanut from Lockwood. The result is very hip, while at the same time paying respect to traditional Jewish texts.
The opener and title track Purity and Danger gives a quick taste of what the band is all about.
A rocking horn section against a bluesy, surf-inspired rhythm section. As a brass player, I am always interested in new, inventive ways a horn section can be used, and TSM has established itself at the forefront of innovation with creative arrangements, high energy horns, and, of course, the magical voice of Lockwood.
A favorite track is My Dead Lovers Wedding, sung in English, dealing with the idea of Jewish resurrection. Between Lockwood’s vocals the horn and rhythm sections trade off in a life-and-death duel perfectly matched to the lyrics.
Longa gives a nod to surf music, with a tinge of distortion on the Electric Guitar. The band is on full display here, including a haunting Trumpet solo.
Another favorite is Od Hapaam, with it’s complex arrangement and tight harmonies. And the addition of backing vocals gives this track a different character, and hopefully could get some radio play.
I’ve always been impressed the the sonics on the TSM recordings. There is a sense of depth,
and the vocals have a distant quality, as if performed in a an ancient Temple. It is a unique blend of sounds, and gives the band a distinctive sonic signature. No other band sounds like this.
Listening to TSM, I am reminded of the diversity of Jewish music beyond the genre we call Klezmer, and it gets harder to put a label on much of the music that’s been produced in recent years. That said, I am happy to put TSM in a class by itself, truly without any resemblance to another band anywhere. Experience the beauty and power of The Sway Machinery for yourself, and see if you don’t agree.
Klezmer Podcast 120- Steven Greenman
Run time: 20:58.
19 February 2015
02 February 2015
19 November 2014
Klezmer At Ashkenaz 2014
Klezmer Podcast 117: Briga This episode begins a series of interviews made during the Ashkenaz Festival 2014 held in Toronto. My guest on this episode is Brigitte Briga Dajczer of the band Briga, based in Montreal. She has released several albums to date, and here we listen to Filipovtsi Kutchek from her album Wake. Run time: 22:50.
22 February 2014
29 January 2014
Klezmer Podcast 108- London Klezmer Quartet
Klezmer Podcast 108- London Klezmer Quartet. This episode features a return visit with Ilana Cravitz of London Klezmer Quartet. LKQ have released their second album, Welcome to Butterfield Green N16. The album features both classic klezmer pieces and new works composed by Cravitz and band members Susi Evans and Carol Isaacs. We hear the track Butterfield Green Kolomeyke from the album. Others mentioned in the interview are Henry Sapoznik, Suzy Klein and Ernie Gruner. Run time: 21:44.
07 September 2013
Join us for a Special Shabbat Experience with Common Chords Friday: October 4th, 2013 8pm
Join us for a Special Shabbat Experience with
Common Chords
Friday: October 4th, 2013 8pm
Salman Ahmad (guitar/vocals), Yale Strom (violin),
Samir Chatterjee (tabla), Elizabeth Schwartz (vocals),
Lou Fanucchi (accordion)
Common Chords represents a unique convergence of Sufi and Khasidic traditions in improvisational trance music. The experience is deeply spiritual and meditative and draws from the bible, the Koran and the great mystic poets of the ages - the music is intense, energetic and meditative. We invite you to come and listen in rapt meditation or get up and dance - or both!
Craig N Co presents
Common Chords
The Pico Union Project
1153 Valencia Street
Los Angeles, CA 90015
(parking available)
$15 Admission
To Reserve by email: kendall@craignco.com
To Reserve by phone: (818) 760-1077
30 November 2012
Klezmer Podcast 96- Hankus Netsky
Klezmer Podcast 96- Hankus Netsky. On this episode, I visit with Hankus Netsky of the New England Conservatory. We talk about his latest project, Eternal Echoes: Songs And Dances For The Soul, a collaboration with Itzhak Perlman and Cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot. Netsky was Co-Producer and Musical Director for the album, and we hear what it was like to work with these two renowned artists. Run time: 26:32
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