The Alexandria Kleztet
Y2Klezmer
Ex
Cayuga Klezmer Revival (their Klezmology
CD still is one of my favourites) clarinetist Seth Kibel has
founded an new group: The Alexandria Kleztet, named after
the town he's living currently, Alexandria, Va. In summer 1999
they released their first CD: Y2Klezmer. For all those, being
a little bit confused about the title: Y2K is the EDP usual acronym
for the year 2000: Year 2 Kilo. In their millenium compilation
the four Americans present 3 traditionals, 3 compositions from
the sixties, among those one by Duke Ellington (Mount Harissa from
the Far East Suite), and 5 compositions by Seth Kibel himself.
Among those we find "Willard's Freilekh" and "Scooter's Waltz",
hymns to Seth's pet turtle Willard, and violinist Claire Cardon's
cat Scooter ... "Of course", the booklet reads, "the turtle song
ist the faster one..." Additionally, we find 3 traditional bonus
tracks. All songs are arranged in a manner, being kinda typical
of Seth Kibel arrangements: hard rhythms, however not as closed
to rhytm'n'blues as found on the Klezmology CD, but closer to
jazz now.
It's interesting, to follow a musiscian's development by means
of older and more recent recordings. Seth always has been a good
clarinetist, but he's still better now - more mature above all.
Personally, I would put him in one line with contemporary Klez
clarinetists Ken Maltz, Kurt Bjorling or David Krakauer. Congenious
are the other musicians, above all percussionist John Sausser,
playing any stuff one can drum on: drums, djembe, doumbek, tablas,
congas, rainsticks, cowbells, triangles, tambourine, chimes, and
an instrument being called "goat hooves", an ancient African instrument,
a bundle of, yes, goat hooves. And talking of this, there's "Odesser Bulgar"
on the CD player, a most interesting version of that old traditional,
with a fantastic conga solo performed by John ...
Y2Klezmer is a CD making a whole lot of fun. However - I had to
hear it more than one time, I had to get used to it. That's why
the review lasted so long ... Ok, among other reasons ... ;-)
The CD is of a remarkably high technical quality.
To come back to the CD's title finally: Is it really "Y2K safe"?
Yes, it is, I surely will like to hear it in the next millenium ... ;-)
Y2Klezmer - The Alexandria Kleztet
- Willard's Freylekh (Kibel)
- Der Heyser Bulgar (trad.)
- A Polite Tango (Kibel)
- Klezmerobics (Kibel)
- Scooter's Waltz (Kibel)
- Erev Shel Shoshanim (Hadar)
- Fon der Choope (trad.)
- Rzhinkes mit Mandlen (Goldfaden)
- Freylekh (trad.)
- Oif'n Pripetshik (Warshavsky)
- Mount Harissa (Ellington/Strayhorn)
- Odesser Bulgar (trad.) (30 sec. mp3, 283K)
- Somnambulism (Kibel)
- Khanuke (trad.)
- Dreydl (trad.)
- Ma O'Tzur (trad.)
The musicians:
Seth Kibel | clarinet, alto and tenor sax, flutes, electric and acoustic guitars, piano, harmonica |
Claire Cardon | violin, viola |
John Roberts,III | bass |
John Sausser | percussion |
Contact:
kleztet@aol.com
Homepage:
http://members.aol.com/kleztet/
Detlev Müller, 11-DEC-1999