RE: Jazz Klezmer Weekend at Bard College

[Mel Korn <mkorn...>]

Can someone tell me where Bard is in relation to I 87. It sounds like a
weekend that would make the drive from Toronto worthwhile. The added bonus
would be to see Donald Fagen & Walter Beckers Old School!
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org
[mailto:owner-jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org]On Behalf Of Emily Darrow
Sent: March 8, 2002 5:22 PM
To: World music from a Jewish slant
Subject: Jazz Klezmer Weekend at Bard College

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.



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