Jazz Klezmer Weekend at Bard College

[Emily Darrow <darrow...>]

THE JAZZ AT BARD SERIES PRESENTS A JAZZ AND KLEZMER WEEKEND WITH 
PERFORMANCES BY NAFTULE'S DREAM AND SHIRIM ON APRIL 13 AND APRIL 14

The weekend at Bard College will also offer a screening of the 
documentary The New Klezmorim

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.--The Jazz at Bard series presents a jazz and 
klezmer weekend featuring concerts by Naftule's Dream, a jazz-klezmer 
band, and the band's traditional klezmer incarnation, Shirim, on 
Saturday, April 13, and Sunday, April 14, at Bard College. Admission to 
each concert is $15, or $10 for Bard faculty and staff, as well as 
non-Bard students and senior citizens. Bard students will be admitted 
free. The weekend also offers a free screening of the documentary The 
New Klezmorim: Voices Inside the Revival of Yiddish Music.

Organized by two Bard alumnae, Raissa St. Pierre '87 and Sheila Moloney 
'84, the Jazz at Bard series is an ongoing effort to bring 
internationally recognized jazz performers to the Hudson Valley region. 
St. Pierre says that the choice of presenting performances by both the 
jazz-klezmer band, Naftule's Dream, and the traditional klezmer group, 
Shirim, was made so the series could continue to offer multidimensional 
programs that explore the connections between jazz and music of other 
genres and cultures.

On Saturday, April 13, at 8:00 p.m. in the multipurpose room of the 
Bertelsmann Campus Center, there will be a performance by Naftule's 
Dream, whose sound is "without a doubt the most startlingly original, 
audacious music I've heard," according to Bill Milkowski of Jazz Times. 
The group emerged as a major force in the radical Jewish music movement 
out of New York City in the 1990s and continues to break new ground with 
its unique blend of modern classical, freely improvised rock fusion, and 
Jewish roots music. The six musicians weave fiery improvisation into 
complex arrangements in a style reminiscent of Charles Mingus and Henry 
Threadgill. The American Reporter describes their music as "what you 
might hear were Ornette Coleman to play a Jewish wedding."

Based in Boston, Naftule's Dream has performed internationally, 
including at the Berlin Jazz Festival, Ashkenaz Festival of New Yiddish 
Culture in Toronto, Montreal Jazz Festival, Chicago World Music 
Festival, Bell-Atlantic Jazz Festival, New York Jazz Festival, as well 
as in clubs throughout the United States and Europe. They have been 
awarded an Arts International Fund grant for United States artists for 
tour support. Their three recordings--Job; Smash, Clap!; and Search for 
the Golden Dreydl--are released on John Zorn's radical Jewish culture 
label, Tzadik. Naftule's Dream is named for Naftule Brandwein, a klezmer 
clarinetist from the 1920s to '50s. The musicians formed this group in 
order to create a new sound without alienating the traditional klezmer 
audience of their other band, Shirim.

On Sunday, April 14, at 1:00 p.m. in Bard Hall, the band members' more 
traditional klezmer group, Shirim, will perform and give an informal 
talk on klezmer and Jewish music. Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times 
writes of their style that it is "great ecumenical fun. Tchaikovsky 
rocks, and so do klezmer versions of Mahler, Satie, and other classical 
composers." Shirim performs classic klezmer music combined with 
ingenious arrangements of Tchaikovsky, Brahms, and Enesco. The group's 
holiday special with Ellen Kushner, The Golden Dreydl: A Klezmer 
Nutcracker, has become an annual program on National Public Radio. 
Shirim is also featured on the soundtrack of Woody Allen's film 
Deconstructing Harry. Their recordings include Oy! It's Good; Klezmer 
Nutcracker; and Of Angels and Horseradish.

The members of both the Naftule's Dream and Shirim are clarinetist Glenn 
Dickson, trumpeter Taylor Ho Bynum, pianist and accordionist Michael 
McLaughlin, electric guitarist (Naftule's Dream) and banjoist (Shirim) 
Brandon Seebrook, tubist Jim Gray, and drummer Eric Rosenthal.

On Sunday, April 14, at 4:00 p.m. in Preston Hall, there will be a free 
screening of the documentary The New Klezmorim: Voices Inside the 
Revival of Yiddish Music. This film by David Kaufman is a celebration of 
what has been called the most important popular Jewish cultural 
phenomenon of recent times: the revival of klezmer and Yiddish music. 
Leading figures in today's jazz and klezmer music scene are featured in 
concert, and there are extensive interviews with performers and devotees 
of the music.

The weekend programs are presented by the Jazz at Bard series and the 
Jewish Studies Program at Bard, and are cosponsored by Alison Wines and 
Vineyards of Red Hook. For further information, to purchase tickets, or 
for reservations, call 845-876-7666 or e-mail stpierre (at) bard(dot)edu(dot) 
Reservations and advance ticket purchase for the concerts are recommended.


---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+