Klezmer Pioneers: European and American Recordings 1905-1952

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About Klezmer Pioneers: European And American Recordings

Product Description The rare recordings featured in this collection are a real link with a vibrant tradition of a previous generation. With no sense of `posterity' or `preservation,' those early musicians simply played what they hoped their community wanted to hear. What for the recording companies was a disposable commodity to be sold in an ethnic market has, in the intervening years, emerged as an historic matrix of culture and tradition which until recently existed mainly in memory. The revival of interest in the study and performance of klezmer music in the last two decades means that these recordings, made by artists born in the 19th century who recorded in the 20th, will continue to have great meaning well into the 21st. --Henry Sapoznik, from his liner notes Amazon.com Spirit triumphs handily over fidelity on this generous, informatively annotated package. And with a klezmer revival in full swing, it's fascinating to return as near as possible to its source to listen to what the Eastern European klezmorim thought the Yiddish community ought to hear on the first 78s full of this vital and joyous music. What first hits you are the unexpectedly sophisticated arrangements of the several klezmer orchestras represented here. The ensembles looked to American ragtime, jazz, and even military marches for inspiration after crossing the ocean. Vaudeville provided an excuse to add exotic theatrical elements to klezmer, while clarinets (played by virtuosos Dave Tarras and Naftule Brandwein, among others) gradually replaced fiddles with the advent of the swing era. Treading a fascinating balance between folk music and jazz, this vintage music seems to thrive in a world all its own. -- Richard Gehr