Klez Dispensers

Klez Dispensers: New Jersey Freylekhs

by Elliott Simon
July 25, 2004

With their exuberance, musicianship and ability to have any audience get up and dance, The Klez Dispensers have become the house band for klezmer's newest wave. New Jersey Freylekhs draws inspiration from the experimental jazz/Jewish interchanges of the late '50s where bop added to klezmer's established relationship with swing.

It is obvious throughout that the Dispensers are filled with “players"; clarinetist/saxophonist Alex Kontorovich, trumpeter Ben Holmes and saxophonist Audrey Betsy Wright use the genre to highlight their technical ability while ...