Album Notes

Metropolitan Klezmer's third CD is their most expressive disc yet, encompassing dynamic live and studio tracks, a wide range of approaches to traditionals (embracing Greek, Turkish, Rumanian, Russian, and Arabic roots of klezmer styles). The disc won a 2004 Outmusic Award for Outstanding New Recording/Instrumental -- though we also include many fabulous vocals, including lesser-known treasures. Interspersed among the band's studio tracks and live cuts is a series of excerpted archival gems. The group even revisits "Pick a Pocket or Two" from Oliver!, with a version that is surprising indeed.

Fun and virtuosic, the eight-piece ensemble's tight and imaginative arrangements bring new life to these pieces, adding trombone for the first time to their mix of clarinet, sax, accordion, violin, trumpet, vocals, ney flute, bass, tuba, drumset, dumbeq, and kanun (78-string plectrum zither). Rarely heard folk and theater songs are sung not only by luscious vocalist Deborah Karpel, but also through the miracle of reel-to-reel tape, by her grandfather Phillip Karpel, whose Yiddish tenor has a breathtakingly lovely old-world feel. A clarinet doyna and yearning hora by klezmer legend/original Greater Metropolitan Klezmer Band member Howie Leess are also featured.

Bonus tracks bring the energy of live performances from noted NYC clubs such as Joe's Pub at the Public Theater and the Knitting Factory, with great on-stage solos. And at the very top and finish of the CD, vocal samples of the great Yiddish theater and screen star Maurice Schwartz in his 1932 role as Uncle Moses, a drunken sweatshop owner, add flavor to the mix.

"Talk about a surprising find! ... the absolute best in the klezmer style. Whoever listens to Metropolitan Klezmer opens the encyclopedia of klezmer. It's a history lesson. Every song has the right liner notes and information on the original composers and performers in the accompanying booklet. Musically everything fits. All styles get their turn, from pieces of Yiddish musicals, from jazzy swing, pure Balkan, tango, and waltzes to a few very strong wedding dances. Some of the songs are presented live, others are medleys that fit together seamlessly and four short pieces are live recordings of Deborah Karpel's grandfather, taped in the mid-Sixties... A mandatory buy for the true lover of Klezmer, to whom I also recommend visiting their website. It is as well-tended as the CD's and booklets." - RootsTown Folk & Roots music magazine [Belgium], translated from Flemish

In addition to wonderful sounds and booklet graphics, all lyrics are printed in Yiddish, with both transliteration and translation into English. And the British reviewers at The Phat Planet (Music from the Whole Wide World) included "Surprising Finds" in their Top 30 Picks for all of world music in 2003.