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Naftule's Dream | Shirim | The New Klezmorin
Naftule's Dream Saturday, April 13, 2002
Based in Boston, Naftule's Dream has performed internationally, including at the Berlin Jazz Festival, Ashkenaz Festival of New Yiddish Culture in Toronto, Montreal Jazz Festival, Chicago World Music Festival, Bell-Atlantic Jazz Festival, New York Jazz Festival, as well as in clubs throughout the United States and Europe. They have been awarded an Arts International Fund grant for United States artists for tour support. Their three recordings— Job; Smash, Clap!; and Search for the Golden Dreydl—are released on John Zorn's radical Jewish culture label, Tzadik. Naftule's Dream is named for Naftule Brandwein, a klezmer clarinetist from the 1920s to '50s. The musicians formed this group in order to create a new sound without alienating the traditional klezmer audience of their other band, Shirim. The members of both the Naftule's Dream and Shirim are clarinetist Glenn Dickson, trumpeter Taylor Ho Bynum, pianist and accordionist Michael McLaughlin, electric guitarist (Naftule's Dream) and banjoist (Shirim) Brandon Seebrook, tubist Jim Gray, and drummer Eric Rosenthal. The concert is $15 or $10 for Bard Faculty, Staff, Non-Bard Students, and Senior Citizens. Bard Students are admitted free. Shirim Sunday, April 14, 2002 Naftule's Dream's more traditional klezmer group, Shirim, will perform and give an informal talk on klezmer and Jewish music. Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times writes of their style that it is "great ecumenical fun. Tchaikovsky rocks, and so do klezmer versions of Mahler, Satie, and other classical composers." Shirim performs classic klezmer music combined with ingenious arrangements of Tchaikovsky, Brahms, and Enesco. The group's holiday special with Ellen Kushner, The Golden Dreydl: A Klezmer Nutcracker, has become an annual program on National Public Radio. Shirim is also featured on the soundtrack of Woody Allen's film Deconstructing Harry. Their recordings include Oy! It's Good; Klezmer Nutcracker; and Of Angels and Horseradish. The members of both the Naftule's Dream and Shirim are clarinetist Glenn Dickson, trumpeter Taylor Ho Bynum, pianist and accordionist Michael McLaughlin, electric guitarist (Naftule's Dream) and banjoist (Shirim) Brandon Seebrook, tubist Jim Gray, and drummer Eric Rosenthal. The concert is $15 or $10 for Bard Faculty, Staff, Non-Bard Students, and Senior Citizens. Bard Students are admitted free. The New Klezmorim Sunday, April 14, 2002 The New Klezmorim: Voices Inside the Revival of Yiddish Music is a film by David Kaufman is a celebration of what has been called the most important popular Jewish cultural phenomenon of recent times: the revival of klezmer and Yiddish music. Leading figures in today's jazz and klezmer music scene are featured in concert, and there are extensive interviews with performers and devotees of the music. Admission to the screening is free.
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Naftule's Dream is, according to Bill Milkowski of Jazz Times, "without a doubt the most startlingly original, audacious music I've heard." The group emerged as a major force in the radical Jewish music movement out of New York City in the 1990s and continues to break new ground with its unique blend of modern classical, freely improvised rock fusion, and Jewish roots music. The six musicians weave fiery improvisation into complex arrangements in a style reminiscent of Charles Mingus and Henry Threadgill. The American Reporter describes their music as "what you might hear were Ornette Coleman to play a Jewish wedding."