Jazz Articles

Alex Kontorovich: Deep Minor

by Jim Santella
October 12, 2007

With his program of eight original compositions, clarinetist and alto saxophonist Alex Kontorovich combines klezmer with modern jazz on Deep Minor, his debut as leader. While expressing the exotic nature of his quartet's unique sound, the title also reflects the spiritual feelings evident in the music. Progressive in concept, the album soars with genuine emotion, a sincere combination of the acoustic tradition and more contemporary textures. The leader's clarinet floats aloft like a human voice and his ...

Alex Kontorovich: Deep Minor

by Eyal Hareuveni
October 5, 2007

Twenty-six year-old, Russia-born/New York-based clarinetist/saxophonist Alex Kontorovich is a phenomenon. He's a martial arts black belt, math professor at Brown University, “Bird-head" by his own definition, but one that is also well versed with John Coltrane's legacy. He's also a key member of Klezmer and Ska bands including Frank London's Klezmer Brass All-Stars, The Klez Dispensers, Aaron Alexander's Midrash Mish Mosh, KlezSka and King Django's Roots and Culture band. A resourceful and disciplined musician, he integrates his Jewish musical heritage ...

Alex Kontorovich: Deep Minor

by Troy Collins
September 12, 2007

The Radical Jewish Cultural movement, spurred into existence by avant-garde composer John Zorn, is already in its second decade and steadily progressing into the future. Russian-born saxophonist/clarinetist Alex Kontorovich is part of a new generation embracing the wild and wooly rhythms and primal harmonic inflections of an ancient ethnic subculture.

Co-founder of the Klez Dispensers, Kontorovich is a well-regarded member of the Klezmatics and Frank London's Klezmer Brass All-Stars. This solo outing features a slightly different side of ...

Nikitov: Vanderlust

by Elliott Simon
January 6, 2007

Original Yiddish/klezmer music was most likely string-based, with a heavy accent on violins, cellos and guitars, evolving during a time when the lines between Jewish and Gypsy musicians were quite fluid. Much later, Gypsy met jazz, and the result was perhaps the pinnacle of string-based jazz, the “hot club sound of guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stéphane Grappelli. It would seem then that a marriage between Yiddish music and “hot club jazz should be made in heaven. Happily it is, ...