Jewish Sounds

Looking for some summer listen-
ing? I don't know if you'd want to take
the Kernis or the Western Wind sets
to the beach, exactly, but Jane Ira
Bloom and the Ziegelbaum/Leon-
Cohen will both travel well:

favor of new settings of standard litur-
gical texts, so brownie points to
Taubman for the effort, but the overall
effect of the recording is a bit unfo-
cused because of the profusion of styles,
and the highs are very high, the lows,
well you can guess. *x:x* 1/2

The Western Wind: Taste of Eternity:
Jane Ira Bloom: The Red Quartets
A Musical Shabbat (Western Wind)
(Arabesque)
Speaking of all-star casts, this one is a
Bloom is one of the best of the post-
beauty, a stunning a cappella choral
Steve Lacy, post-Coltrane soprano play-
recording that features not only the
ers, and here she is backed by an all-
always dependable Western Wind but
star team of a rhythm section — Fred
also guests like Alberto Mizrahi, Benjie
Hersch, Mark Dresser, Bobby Previte.
Ellen Schiller and conductor Matthew
The result veers between the Lacyish
Lazar (of the Zamir Chorale). A lively
playfulness of "Monk's Rec
introduction to a wide range
Room," the genteel Latin
of Jewish musical traditions,
y
ti-451. p, of" C 17;
swing of `lax Calypso" and a
this first volume of Shabbat
harshly abstract "Chagall,"
music includes everything
which segues into a moody,
from the Lewandowski "L'cha
throaty "How Deep Is the
Dodi" to a Schubert setting
Ocean." A warm and enjoy-
of "Tov L'Hodot," as well as
able album. **x:x* 1 /2
Shabbat table songs from

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INF WESTER N WIND V.:.r.K.1

Aaron Jay Kernis, performed by the
Lark Quartet: String Quartets Nos. 1
and 2 (Arabesque)
It's not hard to see why Kernis won a
Pulitzer Prize for String Quartet No. 2;
it's thoughtful, accessible but intelligent
music that pays homage to the past in
witty and often moving ways. Its imme-
diate predecessor makes a logical pair-
ing, complementing the jagged rhythms
of No. 2 with some intricacies of its
own. Kernis' voicings make the quartet
sound like a much larger group, and
this recording is superlative, expressively
played and warmly recorded. *****

Lost Tribe: Many Lifetimes (Arabesque)
There are two kinds of fusion jazz (at
least). There's "smooth jazz," pop-ori-
ented pablum that has as much to do
with jazz as Lawrence Welk, and
there's the spiky, angular stuff that this
quartet produces. The fusion aspect
comes from the rock-ish instrumenta-
tion and 'rude. These guys sound like
a lot of the bands that turn up at the
Knitting Factory, pacey and spacey,
with superb musicianship and a lot of
ideas. Not that they always follow
through on the ideas. It will be inter-
esting to see where they go. *** 1/2

Craig Taubman: Friday Night Live
(Sweet Louise)
An entertaining but uneven set of
Shabbat tunes by singer-songwriter
Taubman. Some of these are downright
inspired, a "Romemu" that is equal
parts klezmer and zydeco, and a bluesy,
rockin' "Yigdal" being particular stand-
outs. Others are a bad idea (like the
faux-Dixieland "L'cha Dodi"). I'm all in

Sephardic, Judeo-Spanish and
Chasidic sources. Needless to say, the
singing is uniformly superb. x:xx:xx:x**

Amy Ziegelbaum and Laura Leon-
Cohen: Blessing of Beauty (Musical
Tapestries)
A sweet, pensive album of piano-
flute duets on Jewish tunes both famil-
iar and not. The duo draw their materi-
al from a wide and interesting range:
Kurt Weill's "Kiddush," David Amram's
"L'cha Dodi," Billy Joel's "Lullabye,"
among others. I'm not the biggest flute
fan in the world, but Ziegelbaum
explores the instrument's expressive pos-
sibilities adroitly in ways that suggest
how well it fits into the emotional range
of Jewish music. A set with considerable
charm. ****

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Detroit Jewish News

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