Klezmer Conservatory Band

From the shtetls of Eastern Europe, through the emigration to America, from the jazz clubs of cities and the stages of Yiddish theater comes the music of the Klezmer Conservatory Band. Klezmer music began in medieval Europe, where bands of itinerant Jewish musicians went from town to town playing for Jewish festivals and special events. By the 19th century, klezmer music had become a well-developed musical style, taking its inspiration not only from the synagogue, but from the non-Jewish culture that surrounded it.

Jim Guttmann's "Bessarabian Breakdown"

After performing with the  Klezmer Conservatory Band since its beginnings in 1980 and and performing with klezmer band leaders Margot Leverett, Frank London, Pete Sokolow, Andy Statman and Alicia Svigals,  Jim has taken what he's learned about klezmer music and recorded an album that successfully threads klezmer music through his work in other musical genres.

Fascinatin' Rhythm

Fascinatin' Rhythm, built around the trio of guitarist Jon Damian,  Jim on bass and drummer Grant Smith, expands to a quartet or quintet at your request. The group plays jazz standards, bossa nova and be-bop from the heart of the jazz tradition. Burnin' in a club or swinging politely in your home. 

Jimmy & the Kleztones

Great klezmer, swingin' jazz, classic R&B

Jim's wedding band, Jimmy & the Kleztones, features Boston klezmer, jazz and R&B veterans. Dance a hora, jitterbug or just get down and boogie.

RESQ - The Really Eclectic String Quartet

Led by Boston violinist Mimi Rabson, with violinist Eric Bindman and violist Melissa Howe, RESQ  explores and adds to a world of music not traditionally intended for string quartet. The quartet plays fiddle music from around the world, jazz & Afro-Cuban standards and some original compositions.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY:

Jeff Warschauer Klezmer Ensemble

Jeff Warschauer's first outing as a band leader. I originally met Jeff at the Springfield Street Saloon, Cambridge's country music emporium in the late 1970s, when he was playing with Columbus East and I was playing with the legendary Cheap Trills. What a surprise it was to run into him years later as we were both beginning to explore klezmer music.

Art Bailey's Orkestra Popilar

With what we eventually learned was Art Bailey's can do attitude, he auditioned for the Klezmer Conservatory Band having never played accordion until two weeks before the audition. A true musical omnivore, he continues to learn all he can about the accordion and has since moved to New York to be in the heart of the creative music scene and learn all he can about Afro-Cuban, modern classical and contemporary rock  music. This album reflects his appreciation for the klezmer tradition.

Itzhak Perlman & The Klezmer Conservatory Band

In the mid-1990's the ever musically restless Itzhak Perlman began his ongoing exploration of kezmer music by recording and touring with ther Klezmer Conservatory Band and three other leading proponents of the klezmer music revival, the Klezmatics, with KCB alumnus Frank London, Brave Old World, led by KCB alumnus Alan Bern and Andy Statman. Two recordings, In The Fiddler's House  and Live in the Fiddler's House and tours around the US and perfoamnces in Mexico City  and, more recently,  Moscow, Russia resulted from this collaboration.

Blackened Whitefish

Cajun, Zydeco and New Orleans R&B, with or without old world spices. Featuring fiddler Mimi Rabson, accordionist Evan Harlan, drummer Grant Smith and Your Neighborhood Sax Quartet's tenor saxophonist Joel Springer.

Frank London & Strings

A collaboration between trumpeter Frank London, Art Bailey's Orkestra Popilar and the Lincoln Center Institute for the Arts in Education's program bringing the performing arts into schools.