Re: klez-jazz?

[Ari Davidow <ari...>]

>Particularly, jazz doesn't seem to cohabitate comfortably with klezmer: the
>two forms are really philosophically opposed on a basic level.  Klez-jazz
>fusion seems to me to succeed as one form in exactly so far as it fails as
>the other.

Hmmm, definitely good comments about klezmer, Owen, but I'd have
to partially disagree. While most "klez-jazz" that I have heard
has been disappointing on both scores, I actually like the general
klez-jewish fusion of the Shira band, out of Madison, WI, and going
to another extreme, Naftule's Dream in Boston (album due out on 
Tzaddik in October) is pushing things in some really nifty ways
that aren't quite jazz, aren't quite klezmer, but are certainly
composed of both and quite exciting.

To be sure, I wouldn't characterize either band as klezmer (and
neither to folks in the bands), but people who enjoy klezmer 
might well appreciate either one. 

And, this of course, is different from bands such as Davka, which
play an exciting Arabic-Western Classical fusion that is fascinating
on its own terms, but whose claim of "redefining klezmer" makes no
sense, given that they play nowhere near the genre.

ari


Ari Davidow
ari (at) ivritype(dot)com
http://www.ivritype.com/