This is the video premiere of “Bethema” from klezmer jazz ensemble Queen Kong’s upcoming album ‘Fray.’

Think of ‘Joy’ by Electric Simcha as Jewish party music for the punk set.

A melding of klezmer, jazz and not a little bit of funk, Big Brooklyn’s ‘Purpose’ is a hugely engaging debut – and the first, hopefully, of many more to come.

Dan Blacksberg’s ‘Radiant Others’ is a fresh, nontraditional take on traditional melodies that happens to be Jewish in origin. You don’t need to be an ethnomusicologist to enjoy this one.

Starting perhaps around the time Ben Goldberg assembled his New Klezmer Trio and The Klezmatics was formed, the clarinet went from being a meek instrument associated with the traditional and archaic — like trad jazz and Polish weddings — to becoming You May Also Like: Ben Goldberg School – VolRead More

This Miles-meets-Mosada alchemy offers Interesting new twists.

“I don’t want to bore people to death,” declares Koby Israelite. “My music has always got some edge, and it needs to have a groove.” You May Also Like: Thinking Plague – Hoping Against Hope (2017)

Next week, the progressively minded jazz clarinetist Ben Goldberg will treat us to not one but two new albums, each by nearly entirely different supporting musicians. You May Also Like: Dan Blacksberg – Radiant Others (2017) Ben Goldberg School – Vol 1: The Humanities (2017) David Krakauer and Ancestral GrooveRead More

Clarinetists don’t typically have a reputation of being adventurous (our own Mort Weiss notwithstanding), but it isn’t for the lack of such practitioners as Ben Goldberg and Chris Speed working hard to punch holes into those perceptions. Add Aaron Novik to that list of clarinet insurgents. Novik, who once studiedRead More

Even though I have been burned many times in the past, I still tend to take chances on projects on John Zorn’s Tzadik label. I tend to steer away from his pure-noise exploration, as I simply don’t have the appreciation for it that I wish I did, but I have,Read More