Re: schmaltz, pandering and Klezmatics

[Judy Pinnolis <pinnolis...>]

Bert:
I HOPE the Klezmatics won't compromise one note.
Judy.
At 08:33 AM 7/20/99 -0400, you wrote:
>        Have you been here? Scenario:
>       I'm a volunteer on a Yiddish concert committee for Cleveland's
>Workmen's Circle.  I lobby to bring in the Klezmatics.  I persuade the
>mostly elderly committee to "go for a younger crowd."
>       Good publicity. Audience: 2000.  Free tickets.  Audience turns out
>to be the "nostalgia" crowd. Young folks -- and I mean under 60 -- mostly
>stay home.  Maybe 20% under 60 -- and I was at the door counting 'em as
>they came in.       
>       Klezmatics use a jazz-concert model -- minimal explanations(like going
>into "Shnirele Perele" without an intro. no explanation of reefer song --
>good idea), some very extended improvisations.  Musicians in the audience
>-- about 20 of us -- love the music, but the concert is a bomb -- no
>request for an encore, very little visible energy from band -- one
>musician looked kind of asleep on stage,  a lot of  audience kvetching
>afterward about where's "Romania, Romania" and "I don't want to hear
>snake-charmer music!"  About 30 people danced in the aisles, but most were
>comatose after the three-song "Possessed" medley.
>       Afterward, I asked a Klemzatics musician, "How about when you play a
>college town, like Ann Arbor?  Same repertoire?"  Band member said the
>group isn't playing too many hip college gigs --  band is too expensive.
>The hip young-people scene is in Europe, band member said.  In America it's
>mostly the "gray-haired" (my words) crowd.
>       The crux:  should bands use the elitist jazz model, or go schmaltz -- 
> sell
>out! pander! juggle! whatever.  I think there's a valid  middle
>ground.(Klez Conservatory Band and Perlman's well-paced klez-smorgasbord
>come to mind.)
>       Saw the Chieftains the last night, same venue.  Great musicianship,
>excellent pacing and variety, tons of guest artists, great communication
>with audience thru ad lib and self-depracting humor, a dab of schmaltz (did
>a "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" parody with disco lights going). Huge
>ovation and encore.  Lots of fun.
>       There's a lesson here for klez bands. The jazz-model of klez (like when
>some of our leading clarinet players play to the bass player instead of the
>audience) isn't going to help us expand our appeal beyond the core
>"nostalgia" crowd.
>       What do you think?      
>
>
>Bert Stratton
>Yiddishe Cup Klezmer Band
>http://www.yiddishecup.com
>
>
>

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