Ten best list

[grcomm <grcomm...>]

Khaverim --

Well, I'm ahead of the curve as usual (actually, I just ran off the 
curve into a ditch, but the less said about that the better); here is
my year-end ten-best records list for your amusement, rage or whatever.
(The only reason it's this early is because Hanukah is this early; I'm a good
doggie and I go where my editors kick me.)

Khag sameakh to one and all,
George Robinson


By George Robinson

 The past twelve months have brought such an embarrassment of riches
that my ten-best CDs list could have 19 titles on it. However, for
reasons of space, I limited myself to a ten-best with nine very
honorable mentions. What follows (in alphabetical order) are all of the
five-star records of the previous year; you won?t go wrong with any of
these.
Chekroun, Alain and Taoufik Bestandji: Chants des Synagogues du
Maghreb (Magda). This is one of most exciting albums of Jewish music
I've heard in months. Chekroun is a cantor originally from the Maghreb
and here he joins with an orchestra of top-notch Algerian musicians for
a program of Jewish liturgy set to classical Arabic melodies. His voice
is a boyish tenor, sinuous and supple, and he handles the Arabic-style
melisma with grace and authority. The settings are highly imaginative
and effective and the instrumental backing is superb.(Distributed in the
U.S. by Hatikvah Music -- www.hatikvahmusic.com or 1-323-655-7083.)

Chevan, David and Warren Byrd: This is the Afro-Semitic Experience
(Reckless DC Records). The new Byrd-Chevan CD represents the unveiling
of the eponymous nonet, a band that the duo has been gigging with for a
while. From the opening cut, a hard-swinging, Latin-tinged Eliyahu
Hanavi to the closing Waters of Babylon, the Afro-Semitic Experience
rocks the house. The band is uniformly excellent, with the use of Stacy
Phillips's tangy Harlow resonator and lap steel guitars an innovative
touch. Byrd's muscular, angular solos and rock-solid rhythms from Chevan
and percussionists Alvin Carter Jr. and Baba David Coleman keep things
moving handsomely. There are two pungent originals by Chevan, both
written in a convincingly Yiddish-Middle Eastern vein, Tashlikh and
Nefesh. The band is equally comfortable with the fractured gospel of
Charles Mingus's Better Get Hit In Your Soul, which gets an almost
country-and-western treatment, and the more contemplative strains of
Abdullah Ibrahim's lovely Water from an Ancient Well. I particularly
enjoy the slipping, sliding reimagination of the Yiddish chestnut Sha
Shtil, here turned into a bubbling stew of mambo rhythms and funky
African-flavored percussion, with a powerful, honking tenor sax solo by
Mixashawn.com (hey, that's his name). And this is a good place to note
that I should have given that same five-star rating to their 2001
recording, Let Us Break Bread Together, a CD that has grown in my
estimation with the passing of time.

Divahn: Divahn (Miz Rocky Records). A stunning debut! This quartet of
women musicians, led by vocalist-guitarist Galeet Dardashti, specialize
in astute chamber arrangments of Sephardi and Mizrachi songs and they
play and sing them brilliantly. Darting, stabbing rhythms, throaty,
urgent vocals and intricate and intelligent arrangements, this is a
flat-out thrilling record. (Available from www.divahn.com).

Gendler, Arkady: My Hometown Soroke: Yiddish Songs of the Ukraine
(Jewish Music Festival). There is still a large musical literature in
Yiddish that hasn't been documented, pockets of regional traditions that
will cease to exist when the older musicians and ordinary people who
lived with them die. This CD is an important example of how these
traditions can be saved and transmitted to another generation. Gendler
is a musician from a town in what once was known as Bessarabia and now
is part of Moldova, and he is a living carrier of a bit of the musical
history of the Jews of Ukraine. The voice was probably quite lovely a
decade or two ago, it is still expressive and subtle. The songs are, for
the most part, new to me. An important and often moving recording.
(Available from the Jewish Music Festival of Berkeley -- www.brjcc.org
or 510-848-0237, x226).

Kol Oud Tof Trio: Gazelle (Magda). If you have just a little Hebrew
you know that the name of this group means "voice, oud, drum," and that is what
this Israeli group features. Esti Kenan-Ofri is an Italian-born,
classically trained soprano with a lilting, sweet voice; Armand Sabach
is a Moroccan-born oud player who specializes in classical Arabic music;
percussionist Oren Fried is an Israeli native with an extensive
background in jazz. The result is a seamless and engaging collaboration
that combines Hebrew liturgical poetry, Ladino and Arabic classical
modes in a beautiful blend. (Distributed in the U.S. by Hatikvah Music
-- www.hatikvahmusic.com or 1-323-655-7083.)

London, Frank, Lorin Sklamberg and Rob Schwimmer: The Zmiros Project
(Traditional Crossroads). London and Sklamberg continue to explore the
heart of Jewish religious music in this spirited, moving followup to
1999's Nigunim. Swapping that set's Uri Caine for another keyboard
player, Rob Schwimmer, they essay the table songs associated the
Sabbath, the zmirot and do so with fervor and wit. This
is one of the most exciting albums of Jewish music I've heard since . .. well, 
since Nigunim.

Miriam: Wings of Light (Hatikvah Music). Miriam Maron Emhoff, a nurse
who has been active in meditation and other forms of non-medical
healing, offers a low-key album here of songs from a range of composers,
and the sheer minimalism of the set is a refreching change from the pile
of overproduced stuff that crosses this desk. Her voice is a bit like a
lighter version of Neshama Carlebach's, a little smoky, sweetly naive.
The material is mostly slow, reflective, contemplative and the
arrangements are very simple, mostly just acoustic guitar and a little
harp. As always, I could live without the synthesizer, but it's pretty
unobtrusive here.  Less is more. This is a very pleasing album, although
there is a certain sameness to the selections; I'm not qualified to
comment on whether it has medicinal value, but the musical worth is
indisputable. (Available from www.hatikvahmusic.com or 1-323-655-7083.)

Naye Kapelye, Di: A Mazeldiker Yid (Oriente). An intense and very
entertaining examination of the Jewish music of the regions of Marmures
and Bukovina in  Northern Rumania, a particularly fertile ground for
cross-pollinating musicians from Jewish, Gypsy and Hungarian
communities, with Hasidic and klezmer elements intermingling in ways
that will fascinate the ethnomusicologist and delight anyone. Di Naye
Kapelye's usual excellent quintet is beefed up with the addition of
Mihaly Sipos and Peter  Eri of Muszikas. This is a splendid example of how
to revisit a tradition without embalming it. Great music and great fun.

Rodriguez, Roberto: ?El Danzon de Moises? (Tzadik). A charming and
evocative record. Rodriguez is a world-class Latin percussionist who was
involved musically with Havana?s Jewish community and here revisits both
that connection and his own musical roots in the danzon music of Cuba.
This is pre-salsa Cuban music, made by small string orchestras, here
augmented by some terrific jazz and world-music horn players. If you
know the great Orquesta Aragon, you know what I mean. There are definite
echoes of Eastern Europe, although you could debate how Jewish this is.
A lovely record that I keep returning to.

Tarras, Dave, with the Musiker Brothers: Tanz! (Columbia/Legacy). You
can have Brandwein and Beckerman, I'll take Tarras. Maybe it's my
affinity with jazz that makes me favor the divine Dave over his main
rivals, but I prefer to think it's his superior musicianship (not that
they weren't also brilliant). This 1955 set shows him in peak form, with
a great band that includes several survivors of the Swing Era. This is a
great party record -- okay, maybe a bar mitzvah record -- mirthful and
tuneful, with Tarras play entirely in a klezmer vein (as opposed to the
jazz-inflected work heard on the Radio Project set). Classic stuff and a
must-have.

Honorable mention:
>From Avenue A to the Great White Way: Yiddish and American Popular
Songs from 1914-1950" (Columbia/Legacy).

Chants de Traverse (Hatikvah Music). (Distributed in the U.S. by
Hatikvah Music -- www.hatikvahmusic.com or 1-323-655-7083.)

Chicago Klezmer Ensemble: Early Recordings, 1987-89
(Oriente).(Distributed in the U.S. by Hatikvah Music --
www.hatikvahmusic.com or 1-323-655-7083.)

Klezmatics, The: Rise Up! Shteyt Oyf! (Rounder). [The release of this
CD has been held up, apparently due to upheavals in the band. When it
comes out, grab it.]

Krakauer, David and Klezmer Madness: The Twelve Tribes (Label Bleu).

Layman, Sandra: Little Blackbird (Rosin Dust).

Parfums de Mediterranee  (EMI France). (Distributed in the U.S. by Hatikvah 
Music --
www.hatikvahmusic.com or 1-323-655-7083.)

Reich, Steve: Tehillim/The Desert Music (Canteloupe).

Schwartz, Abe: The Klezmer King (Columbia/Legacy).


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