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A TASTE OF PARADISE
(Rounder)
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Having long ago established itself as the world’s premier klezmer repertory ensemble specializing in mid-20th-century Yiddish swing and theater songs, Boston’s Klezmer Conservatory Band has in recent years extended its reach backward to include neo-traditional, 19th-century shtetl klezmer and forward to reflect some of the modernistic innovations of the recent klezmer revival. A Taste of Paradise continues in this vein, taking stabs at Old World Chassidic melodies and Klezmatics-style klezmer-funk fusion even as individual members explore their areas of interest by breaking off into duos and trios — only about half of the tracks here are full-band numbers. Singer/guitarist Jeff Warschauer takes the spotlight on several Yiddish folk songs accompanied only by the dizzying fiddle of Deborah Strauss; vocalist Judy Bressler sings a five-minute, early-20th-century Zionist ballad a cappella; bandleader Hankus Netsky enjoys a rare solo-piano turn on a jazzy version of the classic Yiddish love song "Oyfn Oyvn (At the Hearth)"; and cornettist Mark Berney is showcased on Cannonball Adderley’s delicious and deliriously schmaltzy arrangement of "Sabbath Prayer," from Fiddler on the Roof. The group haven’t forsaken the big-band sound for which they’re best known — they’ve merely refined it and applied it more sparingly to immigrant-era band numbers, Russian waltzes, and Greek dances.
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