Customer Reviews

Tanz! With Dave Tarras and the Musiker Brothers

5 star:		(6)
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What I know about klezmer, you can put in a thimble -- but this disc has not left my player in days. This is a rare recording (according to the liner notes), and is really addictive. Five stars and fabulous!

The back cover of Tanz trumpets its 16 cuts as "simply one of the greatest klezmer recordings ever issued," a seemingly fantastic claim that also happens to be true, particularly if listeners equate clarinet-dominated orchestras--and solos--with ambrosia.

Dave Tarras (1897 to 1989) was a Klezmer clarinetist of legendary talent, schooled in classical music by his Ukrainian Jewish family, which had performed for generations. Tarras' father was a wedding poet (badkhn) and trombonist, who began teaching his son to read and write music, and to play the flute, when he only nine. At 13, dissatisfied with the flute's quality, Tarras studied clarinet with a local player for three weeks before he could "play a little," meaning he was expert enough to play at a non-Jewish wedding.

Tarras was exposed to but somewhat insulated from the brutal World War I era Ukrainian anti-Semitism; he escaped serving in the Tsar's army by playing in a military band and quickly graduating to conductor. He also conveniently played the guitar and balalaika.

By 1921, though, pogroms and the Russian Revolution had overwhelmed the family and Tarras left for New York, where his older sister had emigrated some time earlier. He started in a furrier factory at $10 a week, working up to $50 for a 50-hour week, with overtime.

After a year, he finally replaced the clarinet that had been destroyed by fumigation at Ellis Island and took a small job in a Brooklyn catering hall. He was soon playing in a band with Joseph Cherniavsky's Yiddish American Jazz Band.

One cut, Rumanian Fantasy, is also available on Tarras' Klezmer Music: 1925-1956. But otherwise, this is music I have not heard elsewhere. And every bar is brilliant, from trills and harmonies to the rich embroidery of a Middle Eastern Yemenite Tanz.

The recording was cut in 1955 at Columbia's 30th Street Studios in New York, but remastering has eliminated any tinny quality it might have had then. Distilled here is a set of remarkably colorful and vibrant quality, as if it had been produced yesterday. If notes could cry, this CD would produce a flood every time one played it.

--- Alyssa A. Lappen

This is one of those albums that should be on the shelf of every Jewish Music Listener. With wonderful informative updated linernotes by Henry Sapoznik, this album is put into a perfect historical perspective.

A must! Sam Musiker has the most delicious sound, and is often overlooked in the klezmer scene. One of my faves!

I was disappointed that the CD arrived packed only in an oversized jiffy bag, and with no cardboard protection, and consequently, the case was broken on arrival. The company, after I emailed them about this, only told me a replacement case would cost $1, but should have sent this gratis, since the damage was most probably caused through poor packaging.

After reading the readers' reviews of this record, I expected something more swinging (like Benny Goodman plays Klezmer). Instead, the rhythms are very European-traditional sounding. That's not a bad thing; I love this album too. Dave Tarras' clarinet playing is impeccable and Sam Musiker's arrangements are great. If you want to hear a more swinging approach to Klezmer, try Mickey Katz: Simcha Time.