short review of Yale STrom's "Garden of Yidn"

[Seth Rogovoy <rogovoy...>]

Yale Strom’s considerable talents as an arranger, composer, folklorist,
musician, producer and all-around musical visionary have never been put to
better use than they have on "Garden of Yidn"  (Naxos World).

For 20 years, Strom has been dishing out the fruits of his field research in
Eastern Europe and his own imagination in a variety of forms and to varying
effect.

He puts it all together on "Garden of Yidn," which with its combination of
original compositions and Yiddish and Sephardic folk melodies in jazzy
arrangements has the feel of late-night Jewish cabaret.

The revelation of the album, however, is vocalist Elizabeth Schwartz, who
channels her wide-ranging background in musical theater, blues, rock and
jazz into a vivid, contemporary Yiddish idiom that needs no translation.

--Seth Rogovoy
author of "The Essential Klezmer: A Music Lover's Guide to Jewish Roots and
Soul"

“An informative and entertaining guide….Seth Rogovoy lucidly explains what’s
culturally significant about klezmer; better yet, he captures the music’s
fun.” – jazz critic Francis Davis, author of "Bebop And Nothingness" and
"The History Of The Blues."

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