Yiddishe Renaissance
Released in 1981 at the peak of the klezmer revival bubbling up in urban folk circles, the first album by this still-important neotraditionalist ensemble hues hard to the letter and only slightly less to the spirit of Eastern Europe's funkiest dance music to date. Folky yet swinging, frolicsome yet yearning, the klezmer canon had mostly been relegated to dusty attics by the time Boston Conservatory pianist Hankus Metsky formed this 14-piece group, which at the time included such subsequently groundbreaking bandleaders as trumpeter Frank London (who went on the form the Klezmatics) and jazz clarinetist Don Byron. The KCB performs these memorable folk tunes, melodic theater hits, nostalgic ballads, and lively dances borrowed from the repertories of famous klezmer bands of the 1920s and '30s with clarity, respect, and the excitement of rediscovery.--Richard Gehr