Old Roots New World - More High Octane Music out of Maxwell Street...

[R.A.S. <richards...>]

It may not be entirely new to many or even most fellow listers, but I only
just had the great pleasure of catching up with the latest album by The
Maxwell Street Klezmer Band, "Old Roots New World", and I just feel
compelled to share this wonderful experience with you all.

My previous listening pleasure of Maxwell St. has so far sadly been limited
to their previous album, "You Should Be So Lucky". (If you haven't got this
one yet, it's also most highly recommended!) This had left me positively
craving for more, with its eclectic mix of big band klezmer, Yiddish song,
swing, and even a touch, a "feel", of blues and trad jazz, and the sheer
high energy and obvious enthusiasm and enjoyment of the band. Now, with Old
Roots New World, I have finally been able to extend that listening
pleasure.

To say that Old Roots New World is Maxwell Street's usual high octane brand
of eclectic music would be doing the band a grave injustice. This album
goes well beyond the eclecticism I so enjoyed on their previous album and
also embraces the world of contemporary classical music, with one
composition by the band's arranger/violinist Alex Koffman - Leah's
Saraband, originally written for bandleader/singer Lori Lippitz's wedding
as can be gleaned from the excellent liner notes -, and a second by
composer Ilya Levinson, specially arranged by the composer from the
original orchestral score, entitled Klezmer Rhapsody. Needless to say
almost, these excursions into the classical realm are not only completely
successful but, to me and my ear at least, a great joy indeed. As a
dedicated and life-long "genre-bender" myself, I doubly appreciate these
efforts and would like to thank and commend everybody involved; take it
from me, it took quite a bit of chutzpah to undertake. And I dare say one
even has to acknowledge the label, Shanachie Entertainment, for being
adventurous enough to support such a wonderful project. (Being adventurous
is something that record cos. can be, generally, only very, very rarely
"accused" of these days.)

One song that perhaps needs singling out is "Friling", a "Ghetto Tango".
Like virtually all of its genre, this is a very poignant, deeply moving
song, performed with the utmost sensitivity by vocalist Bibi Marcell and
the rest of the band and made all the more poignant for me by the broad
similarities between its underlying story and one that a close personal
friend learned only a week or so ago concerning a member of his family in
those dark days.

The remaining tracks are a delightful mix of Yiddish theatre songs (Molly
Picon being also represented), traditional songs, traditional klezmer tunes
and klezmer "standards" from the golden era of New World klezmer, the first
three decades of the 20th Century. All the material is beautifully and
sensitively arranged for Maxwell Street's big band sound by Alex Koffman,
and beautifully performed by the whole band, with just the right balance of
gusto and restraint. Their boundless enthusiasm and energy, as well as
their huge enjoyment of what they're doing, come across the inherently dead
medium of the CD and are highly infectious. Lori's and her fellow singers'
vocals are, as ever, a heavenly delight - they make it all sound so easy
and effortless, hallmarks of truly great singers. The instrumentalists are
all an equal delight, and it would be most unfair to single any of them
out, ordinarily. However, the circumstances are not entirely ordinary, and
indeed tinged with some sadness, in that the album is dedicated to
trombonist Sam Margolis who, the liner notes inform, sadly passed away
after recording this album but before its completion. His soulful, jazzy
trombone will no doubt be sadly missed by the band and music lovers in
general alike, just as he himself is doubtlessly missed deeply by all who
knew him or even knew of him. Old Roots New World makes for a wonderful and
loving epitaph.

Maxwell Street's web site ( http://www.klezmerband.com ) modestly claims,
"...we are not....... nor even authentic" [klezmer], well, I feel this does
need qualifying. If we're talking historically authentic, i.e., e.g., a
historically accurate re-creation of the style and sound of a 19th Century
klezmer ensemble, then fair enough. However, if we're talking klezmer music
per se, then Maxwell Street is as authentic as any band. It is precisely
because of the work of bands such as themselves that klezmer remains a
_living_ tradition rather than turning into a piece of "museum culture".
And within a living tradition, a living culture, there not only is always
room for all manner of styles, be they historically accurate recreations of
the past, or experimental, or anything in between, but there is indeed an
absolute _need_ for _all_ such differing styles if the tradition is to
remain a living one. Within that definition, any style can be authentic.
And, indeed, who is to define what does and what does not constitute
authenticity?

If you have not caught up with Old Roots New World yet, I cannot recommend
it highly enough - go grab it if you can! It's on the Shanachie label (as
is the earlier "You Should Be So Lucky"), so should be universally
obtainable, or of course I expect directly from the band. Old Roots New
World is just wonderful music, whichever way you want to look at it. It
doesn't really matter whether or not you are specifically interested in
klezmer/Yiddish music or even Jewish music in general, or classical or
whatever. If you just like _good_ music, chances are very high indeed that
you'll enjoy this highly contageous music. The liner notes are excellent
and informative, and the cover features very attractive (and quite
appropriately symbolic) artwork by Arlin Robins.

Treat yourself, and "support your local artist/s" (or even not so local as
the case may be).


Richard

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