KLEZ KRAZE

Trumpeter Frank London is a KCB veteran and his own spirited group, The Klezmatics, has been integrating free jazz and rock into the music since the 1980s.  For the most part, Rise Up! Rounder 3197; 67:48; ***1/2) shows that the band’s lineup changes have not diluted its impact.  London’s compositions, such as “Kats Un Moyz,” sit well alongside the traditional pieces.  Lorin Sklamberg’s voice soars on “Loshn-Koydesh.”  But The Klezmatics let well-intentioned polemics overtake the music when they cover Holly Near’s grating “I Ain’t Afraid” twice.  Rounder has also reissued two of the group’s influential earlier discs, Rhythm + Jews and Shvaygn = Toyt. -- By Aaron Cohen