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  Klezmer Conservatory Band 
  A Taste of Paradise
  (Rounder) 

   review by John Chacona
  2004-03-15
Klezmer Conservatory Band: A Taste of Paradise (Rounder)

Hankus Netsky�s Klezmer Conservatory Orchestra is a performing body, but it is also an ongoing research project into the conversation in 20th century Jewish demotic music between east and west. Think of their new A Taste of Paradise as the seventh paper Netsky has published to reveal his findings. And it works that way, demonstrating the influence on (and from) swing (pianist Art Bailey�s jump band chart of �Kaye Show,� the theme from Chaim Towber�s radio show), the Yiddish theater (vocalist Judy Bressler�s broad take on �As Der Rebe Elimeylekh�) and even Cannonball Adderley (a faithful recreation of Cannon�s version of �Sabbath Prayer� from �Fiddler on the Roof.�). Taken another way, though, this cd is a pretty fair party record. The Dave Tarras-inspired medley of the old Greek tune �O Mortis� (�The Tough Guy�) and �Doividl Bazetst Di Kale/Khusidl� (�David Seats the Bride�) goes right to the feet while showing off Ilene Stahl�s impressive clarinet chops. In anthologies such as this, one speaks of moments rather than flow, and the twin high points come on performances not by the band, but rather deeply felt solos. Bressler�s a capella reading of the old song �A Fischele� burns with the fresh ardor of the turn-of-the-(20th)-century Zionists who sang it. But the best moment comes from the leader himself, on a tender setting of the love song �Oyfn Oyvn� (�At the Hearth�) soaked with Strayhornian jazz harmony. Tradition teaches that heaven is a place of many rewards and delights, and by that measure, this Taste is aptly titled.





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