Customer Reviews

Old World Beat

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This collection of Klezmer music is alive and powerfully moving. You cannot help but sway uncontrollably to the hauntingly soulful melodies so skillfully rendered as to make musician and instrument ONE. Judy Bressler's vocals are full bodied, rich with the spirit of all that is truly Klezmer....Show me a person who listens to this album for the first time, and I'll show you a Klezmer fan for Life! L'chiam!

The Klezmer Conservatory Band was formed at the New England Conservatory of Music in the early eighties, really just for a jam session of Jewish music. When they got requests to play at weddings and b'nai mitzvot, they realized they had something special and organized as a band. Along with the Klezmatics, KCB was one of the leaders of the modern klezmer revival. Klezmer Conservatory Band is more traditional, while the Klezmatics are a bit edgier. Many other groups have followed, and the roots are interconnected between many of the groups.

I am a fan of both the Klezmatics and the Klezmer Conservatory Band and have each of the ten KCB CD releases. This is one of their better CDs and has some true gems on it. With Judy Bressler as vocalist, KCB is truly something special - Judy brought beauty and comedy to the songs, as appropriate, and her voice became an integral instrument in many of their better songs. Though sadly, Judy has left the group, their recordings capture the spirit of American and Eastern European Jewish music at its best.

While this was an average CD, track 4 (Watch Your Step) is one of the funniest songs I have heard in a while. It alone is worth the purchase of the CD. It takes a highly satirical look at the modern age.