Jazzreview.com, Concert Preview >>
Like fellow NYC’er John Zorn, trumpeter/composer Frank London has his fingers in so many musical pies it’s a wonder he has time to sleep: Klezmatics, Klezmer Conservatory Band, the big band/Ellington tribute band Ballin’ The Jack, They Might Be Giants, Les Miserables Brass Band, his own Hasidic New Wave and his Klezmer Brass Allstars. For those unfamiliar, Klezmer is an old-world-carried-to-the new-world form of small-band (usually) Jewish/Hebraic/Yiddish folk-oriented dance music – in the new world, Klezmer and Jazz influenced each other. That is, until the Great Assimilation of the post-WWII years when Jewish Americans – along with other ethnic factions – subsumed their ethnic identity to be as one with that Great Suburbia, then the music fell out of favor. In the 70’s though, there was a revival of sorts, and while it’s for the most part fallen under the Rolling Stone/People/VH1 radar, a lot of great and varied neo-Klezmer has been (re)made, some very traditionally (almost any group with “conservatory” or “ensemble” in their name), some irreverently (Yid Vicious, New Orleans Klezmer Allstars). London takes the middle road, approaching the form(s) with reverence but bringing to it a modern, edgy sensibility and influences from the outer limits of jazz.
Frank London will be brightening-up the Holiday nexus for those lucky enough to be in the New York City area – his Klezmer Brass Allstars will be performing at Satalla. This group will feature Susan Watts Hoffman, Merlin Shepherd (from the UK), Mark Rubin (from Austin’s Bad Livers), Curtis Hasselbring, David Licht (Klezmatics, Shockabilly) and Matt Darriau, as well as a who's who of special guests from the international Klez scene. Get ready to get boss-brassy w/ the London posse.
-Mark Keresman 12/14/03 >> go there
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