[Burton Greene / Larry Fishkind / Roberto Haliffi / Perry Robinson / Marek Bałata]
muzycy:
Burton Greene: piano
Roberto Haliffi: percussion, drums
Larry Fishkind: tuba
Perry Robinson: clarinet
Marek Bałata: vocals
Editor's info:
Tzadik is proud to present the cutting edge music of the legendary avant garde pianist / composer Burton Greene. A pioneer of free jazz in the 1960's and mastermind of the creative Klezmer band Klezmokum, his newest project Klez-Edge brings together both streams of Greene's music together in a sparkling new ensemble that jumps from old to new in a heartbeat. Featuring some of Greene's long time associates and some young new discoveries, the band is spontaneous, humorous and a perfect match for the Radical Jewish Culture series. A playful blending of jazz and klezmer by this astounding virtuosic quintet!
Although rewards can come from listening to a recording where mixing styles is done through patching different samples together, the music on Ancestors, Mindreles, NaGila Monsters radiates out of the mindful integration of several identifiable musical idioms within the same performance spectrum.
A child of pianist Burton Greene's 1989 band Klezmokum, the group Klez-Edge does more than blend traditional Jewish, Eastern European folk and improvised musics; it also equalizes them in terms that are spiritual, joyful, plaintive, humorous and political. The latter two characteristics are most effectively displayed in the titles of several songs and within the riotously amusing parody "Have Another NaGila Monster."
The structure of the band strongly influences an approach for hearing new sound mixtures. The tuba is an exhilarating bass component of the rhythm section that also includes a standard drum set, while the piano, clarinet and vocalist exchange places constantly as the main voices of the group. They each float organically through the other's substantial transparencies. When one voice moves ahead, it is to claim its own aural space, subsequently give entrance to another, and then become silent. The cadences are key to recognizing the nature of the musical material being explored.