Search for the Golden Dreydl

Amazon.com
Boston sextet Naftule's Dream are thrilling in their delivery of klezmer's trademark brassy-woodsy mix. Glenn Dickson's clarinets zip around the lumbering tuba of James Grey and the more fleet trombone of David Harris. Like Klezmorim, Naftule's Dream can play extremely complex music with a magnetic joy, never losing sight of the improvisational skills necessary to play creative, forward-looking traditional music. They turn the classic "Oy Tate (Oh Father)" into a roiling funky storm, thanks in part to Pete Fitzpatrick's gritty guitar. Naftule's Dream is sometimes unrepentantly unorthodox, playing klezmer's quick rhythmic shuffles with the muscular energy of New Orleans brass band romps. Just as often, however, the group pays homage to klezmer's traditions with top-notch musicianship and jazz-tinged improvisation, much like the music's early pioneers. --Andrew Bartlett

Tracks:

Blake Prelude
Oy Tate (Oh Father)
The Unseen
The Farshtunkene Hobo (The Stinky Hobo)
Search For The Golden Dreydl
So Nu
The Spinoza Of Market Street
The Crooked Walk
Nakhes Fun Kinder (Joy From Children)

Amazon.com

Boston sextet Naftule's Dream are thrilling in their delivery of klezmer's trademark brassy-woodsy mix. Glenn Dickson's clarinets zip around the lumbering tuba of James Grey and the more fleet trombone of David Harris. Like Klezmorim, Naftule's Dream can play extremely complex music with a magnetic joy, never losing sight of the improvisational skills necessary to play creative, forward-looking traditional music. They turn the classic "Oy Tate (Oh Father)" into a roiling funky storm, thanks in part to Pete Fitzpatrick's gritty guitar. Naftule's Dream is sometimes unrepentantly unorthodox, playing klezmer's quick rhythmic shuffles with the muscular energy of New Orleans brass band romps. Just as often, however, the group pays homage to klezmer's traditions with top-notch musicianship and jazz-tinged improvisation, much like the music's early pioneers. --Andrew Bartlett

Customer Reviews:

a masterpiece.......2003-03-10

If it's klezmer (Jewish wedding/dance music) you're after, you can't go past this, the first cd by Naftule's Dream. In fact, even if you're not too keen on klezmer, I'd still be inclined to recommend this, to any adventurous music-lover.

The cd certainly has a klezmer flavour (the band's name refers to Naftule Brandwein, a pioneer klezmer clarinettist from the 1920s) but the tunes are mostly originals. Apart from Brandwein and Jewish music, influence seems to come from people like Frank Zappa and Charles Mingus.

The players are remarkable - clarinettist Glenn Dickson and trombonist David Harris are two of the best in the business, both suitably agile and humourous. Michael McLaughlin (piano) and James Grey (tuba) accompany solidly and tastefully. The two 'spanners in the works' who help to freshen the sound are guitarist Pete Fitzpatrick and drummer Eric Rosenthal - Fitzpatrick uses a gritty, often distorted tone, and Rosenthal is one of the funkiest drummers I have heard in a while.

What makes this album so outstanding is that each track is a winner, from the traditional klezmer tune 'Oy Tate' here given a rocky cut-up treatment; to the title track, a raucous oompah dance piece; to the beautiful, atmospheric 'Spinoza Of Market Street'.

You may also want to check out their second and third albums on Tzadik ("Smash, Clap!" and "Job") which got progressively more grungy and abstract. Also, Shirim's "Klezmer Nutcracker" where Naftule's Dream members give classical pieces the klezmer treatment. But for my money, "Search For The Golden Dreydl" is their most solid effort.

Great fun.......2001-02-26

With apologies to David Krakauer, of the more klezmery klezmer on Tzadik, these guys take the dreydl any day. They're VERY smart, playful, skilled musicians having a LOT of fun, it sounds like, working with klezmer structures. It's apparently their best album, too. For people interested in more ADVENTUROUS interpretations of Jewish traditional music, I'd point you towards Masada or the New Klezmer Trio; for fans of klezmer -- I really don't think you'll be disappointed by disc. One of the most fun Tzadik releases in the Radical Jewish Culture series(after that Burt Bacharach tribute).

World Music:

World Music

world music

World Music

Ellpee [Import]

Beethoven: Sonatas for Cello and Piano, Op. 5, Nos. 1 & 2; Handel & Mozart Variations

Ballades 1 & 2

Man in the Mirror

Box [Box set] [Import]

Anthology

Asa De Aguia [Import]

Believer

Best of Steps [Import]

Bach: The Sonatas & Partitas for Violin Solo

Breach (Limited Edition)

20 Super Sucessos [Import]

Antologia

Rossini - Il barbiere di Siviglia / Blake Â· Serra Â· Dara Â· Montarsolo Â· Teatro Regio di Torino Â· Campanella

Amor [Spanish Version]