Performing Bands

 

SIORA

 

Contemporary world jazz is how the Philadelphia-based band SIORA describes its music. What that means is a vocalist who sings in 12 languages and a composer/keyboardist whose love for different musical traditions grew out of his post-graduate studies with third stream pianist/educator Ran Blake. And it means what it says: a borderless melange of world musical influences --Brazilian. Afro-Cuban, Middle Eastern, European--shaken and stirred with all-American jazz.

"We struggled with being all over the map, and then we embraced it!" says Dan Kleiman, keyboardist and founding member along with singer Phyllis Chapell. "We had people advising us, 'You should do just one thing.' But finding a person who sings in so many languages gave me an excuse to be all over the place stylistically and have a unified concept at the same time. Our music, wherever it comes from, passes through the prism of jazz, allowing us the freedom to navigate--to cross musical borders."

SIORA plays contemporary world jazz: a blend of music from Latin/South America, Europe,the Middle East, and the U.S. (including American jazz and popular music), all with their own unique arrangements--as well as original compositions.

SIORA has been joined on recordings and in concert by Howard Levy (Bela Fleck, Trio Globo), Ralph Bowen (Michel Camilo), Grammy-winners Dave Valentin and Raphael Cruz, plus local phenoms John Swana and Marc Adler, among others. Their live performing ensemble is rounded out by Rob Swanson (who has played with Giacomo Gates and the Clifford Brown & Stan Getz All Stars), Paul Jost on drums and vocals (4-category Billboard Song Contest Winner, who has played with Billy Eckstine, Mark Murphy, Ann Hampton-Calloway), and master drummer/percussionist Cuban-born Francois Zayas.

SIORA has released 3 CDs --their CD "Vis-á-Vis" received a 4 star rating by Scott Yanow (Downbeat, Jazz Times, All Music Guide) who has also included Chapell in his new book on the top 521 jazz singers of all time, "The Jazz Singers: The Ultimate Guide", published by Hal Leonard. In 2009, they released a Jewish Jazz Project called "Vision of the Dry Bones" which is receiving rave reviews.

Sounds Roots (Spin the Globe) says that SIORA has a "...special chemistry that makes this modern genre-bending music deeply satisfying and highly recommended."

"Blending world music and contemporary jazz into a soundscape that needs no translation, SIORA takes you on a journey of the soul, touching down in Rio, Paris, Mazer-e-Sharif and points beyond." (William Page, Straight No Chaser, UK).

"SIORA Live at Sunset Jazz Series on Camden-Philly Waterfront"


Read more: http://www.myspace.com/sioraworldjazz#ixzz0uirtdGCq



 

ZETZ!

 

The Jewish “fusion” group, Zetz, out of Buffalo NY, combines the musical talents of Marty Kerker (keyboard and vocals), Leah Saada (guitar and vocals) and Alex Gordon (percussion and clarinet).  Their repertoire offers an array of Jewish genres, including Klezmer, Israeli and Ladino music.  All their songs bear their own unique identity, keeping the music fresh, contemporary and entertaining –in other words, it’s Jewish music like you’ve never heard before!

 

SUSAN GAETA - Nona's Songs

 

Susan Gaeta is a vocalist and guitarist. She performed jazz and both American and Argentine folk music as a soloist in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Under the auspices of a Folklife Apprenticeship Program of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, Susan completed studies with National Heritage Fellow, Flory Jagoda, a Bosnian Sephardic composer, singer and musician honored by the National Endowment for the Arts for her contribution to preserving a traditional art form. This apprenticeship included studying and performing with Flory in numerous venues.

Susan performs nationally as a soloist, as well as a guest accompanist of Flory Jagoda. She has appeared at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, at the Greater Washington Jewish Folk Arts Festival, the Holocaust Museum and before numerous Jewish and Inter-faith communities. From Her Nona's Drawer, was recorded to preserve and continue the music of her mentor. This recording traces the evolution of the authentic a cappella women's Sephardic vocal tradition and Ladino language that Flory learned from her grandmother, to Susan's interpretation of the composer's more contemporary pieces.




WEST OF ODESSA & Friends

The Buffalo-based band, West of Odessa, with Roberta Levine and Alan Sisselman, features clarinet, tsimbl, percussion, and accordion. The group performs klezmer music from regions of the former Soviet Union (Ukraine, Moldavia) and the Carpathian Mountains of Eastern Europe. Much of their music is taken from the repertoire of the late Moldavian klezmer clarinetist German Goldenshteyn. The group welcomes Syracuse’s own Sam Young on baritone horn.

 

JONATHAN DINKIN &

KLEZMERCUSE


Jonathan Dinkin and Klezmercuse play a mix of traditional and new composed klezmer music. Members of the group are Jonathan Dinkin piano, Judy Cohen Stanton violin, Mike Fixler clarinet and saxophone, Sam Young euphonium, Art Bronstein guitar, Mark Wolfe drums and percussion, Judy Schmid accordion, and vocalist Aveeya Dinkin.  " Lily's Hora, the second CD by the group is a welcome addition to the rapidly expanding world of Jewish musical recordings.... in Central New York, Dinkin may be the only composer who has produced a diverse selection of new klezmer works. from a Jewish Observer review by Dr. Ken Frieden. From his City Eagle review, entertainment writer Russ Tarby says of the band," With its ecumenical outreach, its extremely pleasing melodies, its insistent dance rhythms and animated musicianship, Lily's Hora is a disc to treasure now and for many years to come". Lily's Hora is available from CD Baby and oySongs.com.

 

 

KEYNA HORA KLEZMER BAND

 

 

Lively, ethnic klezmer dances and Yiddish songs of love and joy are the specialty of the KHKB. Their venues are Jewish and other institutions and private parties for joyous occasions of all kinds. Players are Sid Lipton, founder and banjo; Carl Borek, sax and clarinet; Allen Kosoff on drums, Megan Mawhinney on clarinet; Neil Novelli on banjo; Harvey Pearl on mandolin; Elaine Meltzer on violin; Ernie Wass on violin, Sue Wass on keyboard, Mark Watkins on trombone; Mimi Weiner conductor and violin; Mark Wolfe on drums and Sam Young on euphonium. Harry Sommer and Cheryl Wolfe are dance leaders and vocalists. Their CD demo is Manna and Matzoh.


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