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Listen to excerpts from Close Enough for Klezmer |
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The Alexandria Kleztet On Close Enough for Klezmer, The Alexandria Kleztet continues to define their own brand of "alternative" klezmer music, using original compositions and creative arrangements to expand and renew traditional Jewish musical forms. Over the past seven years, the band has developed a reputation for using diverse influences from jazz, classical, rock, and world music in their unique sound. It is an approach that has earned the band nine Washington Area Music Association (WAMA) Awards including Best World Music Recording for all three of their CD releases. The band was named Best World Music Group in 2003 and 2004 and leader Seth Kibel was chosen as Best World Music Instrumentalist in 2003, 2004, and 2005. On Close Enough for Klezmer, the band shows its range on creative re-imaginings of traditional and well-loved Israeli, Hebrew and Yiddish material such as "Bashana Haba'a," "Ma Navu," and "My Yiddishe Mame." Four compositions by Kibel, a skilled swing and jazz instrumentalist, and one by bassist Scott Harlan, a noted jazz-fusion player, demonstrate strong jazz roots, as do numerous improvised sequences within songs. Kibel and Harlan are joined by percussionist Tim Jarvis and Helen Hausmann, making her debut as the band's new violinist and mandolinist. Violinist Claire Cardon makes a final appearance, recorded before she moved to the Midwest. Visit The Alexandria Kleztet website! |
