Re: klezmer by Los Angeles Guitar Quartet

[Andy Rubin <andyrubin...>]

Incidentally, Leonid Chelyapov is the clarinetist for the Brandeis-Bardin
International Klezmer Ensemble. I heard him last December when our bands
shared a billing in Portland, OR. His playing is wonderfully lyrical and
melodic. I'm sure this latest recording with the L.A.G.Q is terrific...

-Andy Rubin
The Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band



>I was about to toss into the discard pile a new promo CD I got by the Los
>Angeles Guitar Quartet ("L.A.G.Q." on Sony Classical) when I glimpsed on the
>program notes a 3-track medley called "Klezmer Dances." This is on a CD that
>includes all kinds of "world-beat" music: African, Spanish, Brazilian,
>Balkan, French, reggae, Chilean, Japanese, etc.
>
>The quartet is joined by clarinetist Leo Chelyapov on the cuts (the liner
>notes say he's a Russian born klezmer scholar who has toured with Perry
>Farrell's rock band Porno for Pyros). The introduction has a kind of
>Middle-Eastern, flamenco flavor, followed by a very heartfelt doina by
>Chelyapov, and then the medley concludes with some trad-flavored freilachs.
>
>I don't know that anyone but the diehard klezmer completists would want to
>rush out and buy the CD just for the medley. I think it's noteworthy,
>however, that a group such as LAGQ, which apparently boasts a versatile
>world-beat repertoire and records for a major classical label (the same
>label that has released the new Andy Statman CD and the soundtrack to the
>Governess which we have been discussing here as of late), has seen fit to
>include klezmer in that repertoire.
>
>More indication of klezmer's growing appeal and popularity?