Music:
Member Since: 7/11/2006
Band Website: metropolitanklezmer.com
Band Members:
Pam Fleming - trumpet & flugelhorn
Debra Kreisberg - clarinet & alto saxophone
Eve Sicular - drums
... accordion:
Carmen Staaf
Patrick Farrell , guest klezbian!
Rachelle Garniez ("Greetings from the Isle of Klezbos" CD); Art Bailey (Abi Gezunt swing ’05 live)
... vocals:
Deborah Karpel ("Greetings from the Isle of Klezbos" CD), Judith Berkson, Melissa Fogarty, Mira Stroika
... bass:
Saskia Lane
Anna Milat-Meyer ("Comes Love")
Catherine Popper ("Greetings from the Isle of Klezbos" CD); George Rush (Abi Gezunt swing ’05 live)
... guest trombonist - Jacob Garchik! (Szol a Kakas Mar live)
Influences: Where to begin? The klezmer ancestors (Naftule Brandwein, Dave Tarras, and our dear departed Howie Leess), Yiddish forebears (Menashe Oppenheim, Solomon Mikhoels, Isa Kremer, Lev Pulver, Henokh Kon, Molly Picon, Grandpa Phillip Karpel), and then... so many other people and bands too: Nina Simone, Lionel [Begleiter] Bart, Lionel Belasco, Joni Mitchell, Harold Arlen, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Chopin, Gershwin, Beethoven, Kodaly, Bartok, Horace Silver, Herbie Hancock, Mavis Staples, Jule Styne, The Roches, The McGarrigles, The Beatles, Regina Spektor, Bjork, Radiohead, Burning Spear, Charlie Parker, Vinicius Cantuaria, Los Mas Valientes, Leonard Bernstein, The Klezmatics, Aretha Franklin, Miriam Makeba, Erik Satie, Stravinsky, Alfred Schnittke, Rachelle Garniez, Alison Bechdel, The Five Lesbian Brothers, Gregg Bordowitz, Vito Russo ~ and: Metropolitan Klezmer (check that page for more of our influences)!
Sounds Like:
“Isle of Klezbos tests the elasticity of the genreâ€
- The New Yorker
"One of the finest young klezmer bands ever to appear on the block"
- Phat Planet (UK)
“Talent as strong as its name is provocative... The all-female group is to Eastern European Jewish music what Cherish The Ladies is to Celticâ€
- Courier News
“Great ears and great heartsâ€
- Der Pakn Treger, National Yiddish Book Center
"A supergroup... with an offbeat sense of humor and a relaxed sense of swing"
- George Robinson, Jewish Week
"Internationally acclaimed and much-loved... We'd make a joke, but they beat us to it."
- Time Out New York
"The absolute top of the klezmer genre"
- RootsTown, Belgium
"Excellent, haunting all-female klezmer band... featuring the human crescendo Pam Fleming on trumpet, a slinky frontwoman, and the astonishingly inventive Eve Sicular on drums"
- Lucid Culture
"Powerhouse, soulful all-female klezmer sextet... These women will make you shake your tushies!"
- Village Voice Choices Pick
"For a musical holiday, procure a ticket to the the Isle of Klezbos... an upbeat getaway... a refreshing fluidity...'irreverent respect.'"
- Ginger Mason, X-tra West, Vancouver BC
Record Label: Rhythm Media Records
Type of Label: Indie
