Naftule´s Dream

Glenn Dickson – cl
Gary Bohan – tr
Michael McLaughlin – p, acc
Brandon Seabrook – git, banjo
Jim Gray- tuba
Eric Rosenthal – drums

“Feurige Improvisationen in komplexe Arrangements webend, in einem Stil der an Mingus in seinen besten Zeiten erinnert, hat die Bostener Gruppe Naftule’s Dream eine instrumentelle Musik mit Leidenschaft und Intensität geschaffen.Ihr Album “Search for the golden Dreydl” wurde von John Zorn auf seinem “radical jewish culture”- Label “Tzadik” veröffentlicht.Die Band hat ausserdem mit regelmässigen Auftritten in der Knitting Factory in New York und auf dem internationalen Ashkenaz Festival der Neuen jüdischen Kultur in Toronto für Aufsehen gesorgt.
Von abenteuerlichen Originalen bis hin zu überraschenden Wiederauflagen traditioneller jüdischer Stücke,stützt sich Naftule’s Dream auf die exotischen Modalitäten Osteuropas, die improvisierende Ästhetik des New-Jazz und die klar abgesteckten Ränder des Rock, Musik des mittleren Ostens und Klezmer.Mit ihren preisgewinnenden Komponisten und virtuosen Improvisierern, bewegen sich Naftule’s Dream auf der Linie zwischen freier Improvisation und dichter Komposition”.

english

Starting off with an urgent air raid warning, clearing the air, this album tumbles into a joyous energy and urgency that surpass even the wonderful “In search of the golden dreydl.” Opening with a reprise of “Black Wedding”, an instrumental that closed their first Shirim album, “of angels and horseraddish”.

Indeed, even as I want to say that this album moves far beyond klezmer into exploring new music–not particularly Jewish music, rather, new music as is played by a tight, brass-blessed ensemble who have played much klezmer together, who have also listened to a lot of edge music of all stripes. Thus, the “Yid in Seattle”, despite the fact that it more features Dave Harris’ trombone over Glenn Dickson’s clarinet, still has a krechts and even a sense of “kvetch” that inform a freer, more relaxed jazz/prog rock improvisational innard. There is a part of me that finds myself harking back to the approach of, say, Weather Report, at times, and then finding myself going, “oh, don’t be silly! this is klezmer!”.

Here’s the irony. Even though this album feels freer of the “klezmer” label that still haunted the first Naftule’s Dream album, there is more here that is definably, obviously klezmer. The more the band has integrated the various tunes and sounds in its collective head, the more things have become distinct parts of something that feels much more organically whole.

Thus, “Friend of Kafka,” feels like an altered doina that drops periodically into sort of free jazz-ish modes where the sounds, say, trombone and clarinet, bounce off each other, eschewing formal melody. And then, the melody is back, a machine-driven, Chaplin-in-Modern-Times lament against gears and constantly recurring riffs played at incredibly complex, changing and foot-confusing tempos. Oops. That part pulls in everything from cartoon movie music to jazz, and it’s something that sounds great on the ears (assuming that exploratory drive sounds good to you), despite not actually being klez. Then, we have the healing, oriental (in the older sense, referring to Jewish and Eastern European sounds) wanderings of “Something is there,” a doina, after all, despite the occasional heavy guitar riff, the the more complexly rhythmic post-doina ensemble explorations, or the very klezmer musings of the gentle “Yash the Chimney Sweep.”

Here’s another irony. Where many of the musicians recording for John Zorn’s “Radical Jewish Culture” label are using the recordings as a place to explore what “Jewish” means, or might mean for them, looking inward. This does not appear to be Naftule’s Dream’s dream. Rather, having explored Yiddish culture and klezmer, they are looking out to see where it leads them.

In this sense, the music is far more connected to the specific worlds of experimental music than many of the label’s other recordings, and especially true to the sense of creating new music grounded in “Jewish” (whatever that means). Of course, if we follow that thought, we find ourselves right back at the “Haskalah,” the age of Jewish enlightenment and the furor of experimentation created by Jewish creativity breaking beyond the pale. It’s a fascinating turn of thought, and the sort of fascinating turn of thought that one feels whilst engrossed in music as involving and exciting as “Free Klez”, or the urgency of “Speed Klez.” (I might add that the David Harris piece, “Speed Klez,” is a delightful exploration of music which bears no resemblance to the speed-guitar-styled genre, “speed klez,” perfected–if that’s the term we want–by some alleged klezmer/rock fusion bands.)

Thoughts of the Haskalah and Jewish history in the last two centuries are heightened by the use of an El Lissitsky painting on the CD cover. Lissitsky was part of the intense thriving of Yiddish culture in the former Soviet Union that followed the revolution. That particular flowering was destroyed, not by the Nazis, but by Stalin (with Lissitsy being the rare person who managed to die of mere disease in 1941, possibly having finally come to regret some of his work as a propagandist for Stalin; hopefully, not questioning at all the legacy of art and architecture and typography he left behind). But here’s the thing about this particular dialogue and outpouring of passion and creative exploration of the avant garde. It’s back, and one listen to “Smash, Clap!” will make it clear why it couldn’t be suppressed.

Oh, the music. This is music that defines the edges, and will define the edges ten years from now. To have an ensemble of so many amazing musicians, pulling together and integrating so much of the world around them, is actually not so rare. To have it sound so good, that’s special. Smash! Clap! Clap! Clap!

The Klezmershack

“Weaving fiery improvisation into complex arrangements in a style reminescent of Mingus at his best, Boston based Naftule´s Dream has created an instrumental music of passion and intensity. Their album “Search for the Golden Dreydl” has been released by John Zorn on his radical Jewish culture label Tzadik and the band has created a stir with regular performances at the Knitting Factory in New York and the international Ashkenaz Festival of New Yiddish Culture in Toronto.

From adventurous originals to surprising re-interpretations of traditional Jewish classics, Naftule´s Dream draws on the exotic modalism of eastern Europe, the improvising aesthetic of new jazz and the hard edged rhythms of rock, Middle Eastern music and klezmer. With its award winning composers and virtuosic improvisors, Naftule´s Dream walks the line between free improvisation and tight composition”.