Jazz Articles

Various Artists: Hungarian Noir

by James Nadal
April 15, 2016

When Billie Holiday released “Gloomy Sunday," in 1941, accompanied by the Teddy Wilson Orchestra, no one could possibly imagine the back story and consequent repercussions associated with this song. Originally composed by Hungarian Reszo Seress in 1933 as “Szomorú Vasárnap," it was quickly rewritten with lyrics by poet Laslo Javor, and recorded by Pál Kalmár in 1934, becoming the infamous “Hungarian Suicide Song," among the populace. It has been imputed for the countless suicides connected with it, and considered a ...

Maurice El Medioni meets Roberto Rodriguez: Descarga Oriental: The New York Sessions

by Chris May
June 6, 2006

The less-traveled byways of cross-cultural exploration sometimes reveal the most fascinating new horizons, and this meld of Cuban and Algerian musics does exactly that. For Descarga Oriental, Cuban-born, New York-resident percussionist Roberto Rodriguez meets Marseilles-based Algerian pianist Maurice El Médioni at the grass roots of Andalusian music, and a rainbow-hued romp of a party breaks out.

The liaison isn't, in fact, as strange as it might appear. Southern Spain's Andalucia region contributed some of Cuban music's formative influences, a consequence ...

Frank London's Klezmer Brass Allstars: Carnival Conspiracy: In the Marketplace All Is Subterfuge

by Elliott Simon
March 11, 2006

Trumpeter Frank London's Klezmer Brass Allstars jump-started New York City's globalFEST this past month. The two-day smorgasbord of sound, now in its third sold-out year at Joe's Pub, featured three concurrent stages of the best in world music. London's aggregation included a bevy of brass, clarinets, vocalists, Brazilian percussion ensemble Scott Kettner & Maracatú New York, and the furiously pumping rhythm section of drummer Aaron Alexander and tubaist extraordinaire Ron Caswell. Coupled with London's sweet horn and manic stage presence, ...

The Klezmatics: Brother Moses Smote The Water

by Eyal Hareuveni
May 7, 2005

On its first live disc this alt-klezmer band chooses to celebrate the theme of liberation from bondage, but not only in the strict Jewish context or heritage, usually focused around the Passover and the story of Exodus, the liberation from slavery in Egypt. The Klezmatics, together with black Jewish gospel singer Joshua Nelson, find inspiration in the freedom songs and spirituals from the African-American tradition that celebrate the struggle for emancipation during the American Civil War and the Civil Rights ...

Frank London's Klezmer Brass All Stars: Brotherhood of Brass

by Elliott Simon
August 9, 2002

The mystical high priest of New Wave Avant-Klez jazz, Frank London, has released an album that defies phony political barriers and exposes solid musical commonalties among Gypsy, Jewish and Arabic music. ?Brotherhood of Brass?, the second release from Frank London?s Klezmer Brass All Stars, is a concept album that reaches across multiple millennia to present a view of musical cultural inter-relationships. For this purpose, London has enlisted the aid of two other brass bands, the Boban Markovic Orkestar (Serbia) and ...