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The title track and opening song "Kabalah Dreams"
opens with a harsh funk, that periodically devolves into a frantic klezmer-derived
progression, then opens out into a Miles Davis-style space before returning
to its klezmer roots. The piece nicely showcases trumpeter Paul Brody's
latest ensemble as a delightful, hard-edged fusion of klezmer and jazz.
Later, on the composer's reworking of the traditional "Sadawi"
the band shows an entirely different side to intensity, but never losing
its tightness or edge or drive.
The inventiveness and scope of the opening number foreshadow the fun yet
to come. This is a very exciting jazz album that incorporates a wide variety
of Ashkenazic Jewish elements. As I wrote elsewhere, recently, this is a
rare Tzadik album that actually seems to have something to propose in terms
of fusing Jewish and Jazz and coming up with something new, something approaching
the edges of what we know musically. It's also impossible not to enjoy an
album with song titles as delightful as "Holy Man's Hum" or "Buber's
Big Boat." The latter especially seems to embody the spaciousness and
even I-Thou connectedness of such a name. Other lighter moments include
"Sleeping on a Rock" which gives room for everyone in the band
short solos before Brody's own lyric trumpet returns to tie things together.
This is also the sort of album that breaks a bit away from the Tzadik sound.
There is the usual clarity, but the music feels far more original than most.
If it resemble's anyone's work it is that of the other band that doesn't
fit Tzadik's categories well, Naftule's Dream. That may come as much as
having Eric Rosenthal, that band's long-time drummer, along with Boston
regular (and I believe, new Naftule's Dream member) Brandon Seabrook on
banjo, guitar, and electronics. The relaxed energy and nice integration
with the rest of Berlin-based Brody's ensemble is wonderful.
I have to say, as I did on the first album, how much I enjoy what Brody
is doing, and how inventive I feel his music is. From that opening funk
klezmer, to the closer bells of "(Born) Smaller than a Banana,"
this album is worth listening to, and a pleasure to listen to. Brody has
fused a variety of Jewish musics with jazz in a way that is both approachable
(albeit, not excessively so) and yet retains edginess and progressive elements.
It's a pleasure.
by Ari Davidow - klezmershack.com
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