Ack! I forgot to mention how much I enjoy Steven Bernstein's two discs --
"Diaspora Soul" and "Diaspora Blues." Sex Mob is a terrific project, but I
enjoy his solo albums even more.
Tom
In a message dated 10/8/02 10:35:25 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
efrendv(a)yahoo.es writes:
> Hi,
>
> Besides the Masada stuff, I've enjoyed the RJC
> material quite a lot.
> One of the first I purchased was Anthony Coleman's
> "Sephardic Tinge", which is pretty good. It obviously
> deals with a mixture of Spanish-Jewish traditional
> melodies plus a good Monkian-piano trio sound. Really
> entertaining. It mixes Coleman originals with those
> Hebrew traditionals, Jelly Roll Morton and Monk's
> tunes if my memory serves. I recently bought their
> latest outing, "Our Beautiful Garden is Open" and
> despite sticking with the same formula, is a totally
> enjoyable album (Kurt Weill cover included).
> Two that I've incessantly recommended are Tim Sparks'
> "Tanz" and "At the Rebbe's Table". Beautiful
> renditions of Jewish traditionals as well, this time
> arranged for strings and percussion. I didn't hear his
> first solo album on Tzadik but it's probably as
> delightful.
> The two Krakauer cds are really good too. If you are
> looking for a more straight-ahead klezmer style, this
> should definitely match your tastes. Krakauer is
> absolutely amazing on clarinet. Although they deal
> with the same stuff, the albums are pretty different,
> with "Klezmer NY" clearly more funk-oriented. It's
> definitely a good mixture.
> Although at first it sounded the same throughout,
> Steve Berenstein's "Diaspora Soul" is really
> enjoyable. It blends Jewish melodies with Latin
> rhythms and a nice Wurlitzer sound.
> Then there are other RJC releases that have little or
> nothing to do with traditional Jewish folk music like
> Marty Ehrlich's "Sojourn" (amazing album), Marc
> Ribot's Shrek live, the Kramer album, or Anthony
> Coleman's "Selfhaters".
>
> Some of my biggest disappointments: the Roberto
> RodrÃguez album, Satlah and Davka. Just an opinion,
> but I wouldn't invest a cent on this.
>
> Best,
>
> Efrén del Valle
>
>
>
>
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Discs I'm listening to at work:
Elvis Costello Glastonbury Festival 6/20/87
Bruce Springsteen 12/8/01
Golden Smog -- Keys and Filler