Ray Musiker CD released by Living Traditions
Ray Musiker: A Living Tradition was released at this last KlezKamp with a release concert. The band, led by pianist/arranger/co-producer Pete Sokolow and Ken Maltz on tenor sax, Mike Cohen on alto sax, Jim Guttmann on bass, Aaron Alexander on drums and Henry "Hank" Sapoznik on guitar, swinging through some of the great performances featured on the recording. This CD, along with all releases from Living Traditions, is available through our office and at our online EpesCenter webstore: www.livingtraditions.org/docs/store.htm
On the same bill was the subject of our next issue, pioneering drummer Elaine Hoffman Watts, the 2007 winner of the National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship. With a terrific band headed by Elaine's daughter Susan Watts on trumpet, Mike Cohen on clarinet, Ken Maltz on tenor sax, Mark Rubin on tuba, Dan Blacksberg on trombone and Henry "Hank" Sapoznik on tenor banjo, the new CD, produced by Aaron Alexander, will showcase the klezmer music played in Elaine's childhood Philadelphia including the mythic and never before fully recorded "Philadelphia Sher."
In order to insure the release of the new Elaine Hoffman Watts CD recording, we look for support from our Living Traditions/KlezKamp community. The Living Traditions CD series documents and celebrating our living klezmer masters—something commercial labels no longer do—and helps support the positive and growing role of women in Yiddish and klezmer music. Please consider supporting the recording, production and release of this new CD which we plan to have out in time for KlezKamp 24. All donors, no matter how modest their support, will be listed proudly in the CD credits. You may contact us for further information via our website.