We’ve been getting some pretty good music in the mail these days, so we’ve given a few a listen so you can post them on the tunes section of your Hanukkah list.
‘Til Chelm Freezes Over
What The Chelm
What The Chelm, Inc.
What The Chelm, the nine-member klezmer band from the college town of Bellingham, a couple hours north of Seattle, has been performing since 1993, making it the Energizer Bunny of the local Klezmer scene. The players have the musical training, practice, and years as a band to make their newest effort, ‘Til Chelm Freezes Over, a solid effort on their part. “Sisu” in particular is a stand-out track for the energy and passion put into it. What The Chelm is a decidedly American Klezmer, evocative of East Coast Yiddish theater while still paying tribute to the European heritage that forms the canonical sounds of the genre. The band has always been family friendly, album to album, and ‘Til Chelm Freezes Over is no exception. If your synagogue had a klezmer band, or your neighborhood JCC was throwing a party, this is the affable, wholesome Klezmer music you might hear. Hear samples and purchase at www.whatthechelm.com.
Oy Yeah
Klezwoods
Accurate Records
The Klezwoods’ album Oy Yeah is Klezmer for people who want their music in fast, intense doses. Due to the brief lengths of songs, modern microbloggers might consider them to be “Tweets” of Klezmer music. The 11-piece Boston-based band’s album serves as an example of one of my favorite genres, “bar band” music. At once homey and familiar, while avoiding the stodginess of some of the Klezmer genre, the album straddles a comfortable divide where honesty to the genre allows for the openness to the influences of the time — in this case, ska — to make for a unique, yet familiar sound. The album doesn’t have any tracks that stand out, but this acts as a rare advantage instead of a detriment. While each composition is unique, they flow seamlessly into each other, making for a modern Klezmer playlist that will neither bore nor distract. This is not an album for an historical purist, but it’s a fantastic album for someone new to Klezmer and unafraid of mixing genres. Available online at
barnesandnoble.com, www.allegro-music.com, and amazon.com.
Jerusalem Trilogy
Matt Herskowitz
2010 Justin Time Records
Matt Herskowitz’s Jerusalem Trilogy
is not for the faint of heart. From riffs on pieces of classical music by Chopin and Prokofiev, to the three-fisted grab of jazz, European and Middle Eastern musical components, it’s an album that goes beyond “incredible technical proficiency.” Herskowitz’s album is an elegant, sharp collection of music that interrelates and connects to
the other pieces and their source materials of inspiration. The title collection, “Jerusalem Trilogy,” was written for the Lyric Chamber Music Society of New York. “Andante Moderato” is a moving piece in a rather classical style, and my favorite of the trilogy. Among the other tracks, “Gottingen” comes across as an evocative tango, but “Duologue” on Under Your White Starry Heaven may outshine it. The WWII-era song “Unter Dayne Vayse Shtern” is where it takes its melody and mood, using the English translation of the name in the title. The instrumentation of the piece takes the familiar, emotional melody, and sets it apart from the rest of the versions I’ve heard as two string players hold a conversation through the composition together, one version of the melody speaking to the other, only joined briefly by other instruments at the end. The entire album from start to finish is a brief but skillfully filled hour of music. Available at www.justin-time.com.
Celebrations
Eugene Marlow’s Heritage Ensemble interprets festive melodies from the Hebrew songbook
MEII Enterprises/BMI
Eugene Marlow, East Coast-based jazz composer and bandleader at private parties, has mastered his genre. My first thought upon putting this CD in was: If my parents threw jazz—music-fueled Hanukkah parties, this CD would totally work. However, upon painstaking perusal of the rest of the tracks, I can say that if you are over the age of 40 and prefer your “holiday” music as the staid and conservative backdrop for a party that ends before 10 p.m., this is the album for you. Four of the nine tracks are devoted to Hanukkah, and as sick as I am of uninspired takes on “I Have a Little Dreidel,” the rest of the music is just as uninspired. If “smooth jazz” makes you want to run, not walk, from the vicinity of the CD player, then this is a CD you will happily miss out on. This album is
as uninspired as it is technically proficient, in addition to being utterly unremarkable and lacking a single memorable outtrack. This includes the ninth, a six-minute
history of the band. Available at www.
meiienterprises.com.