Joy of Klez--unsolicited praise

[dchevan <dchevan...>]

I've been meaning to share this with the list.  For the past five years I've 
been giving a Family Concert at my synagogue, Mishkan Israel in Hamden, CT.  
Unlike my other performances this rarely involives more than one or two other 
professional musicians.  The group consists pretty much of amateur 
musicians--computer programmers, dentists, etc. who come together for three or 
four rehearsals and then we give the concert.  While we always have a good time 
it is challenging to obtain the  quality performance I seek.  So I am happy to 
report the wonderful results that I obtained using the Maxwell St. Band's Joy 
of Klez book.  It is really a terrific introduction to Klezmer for musicians 
who are not familiar with the idiom.  The charts are not overly challenging for 
these part-time musicians and I was surprised how quickly everyone was able to 
feel the music.  It was so much easier to get my trombonist and clarinetist to 
get the right sound and figures than ever before.  I highly recommend this set 
of charts to anyone--especially the type of ensemble I worked with.  

My only complaint is that there are only ten charts in the collection. I hope 
there will be a volume two as I will probably be giving these concerts for 
years to come!!

David