KlezCalendar

11am
Dor Chadash & the Festival present:
"The World's Largest Klezmer Brunch"
Sit down to lox and bagels on the lawn at Riverside Park and join us in creating the World's Largest Klezmer Brunch!
Featuring the "Klezmer Brunch All-Stars"
Aaron Alexander (Drums)
Josh Dolgin (AKA SOCALLED) (Accordion, vocals)
Alex Kontorovitch (Clarinet, Sax)
Rachel Lemisch (Trombone)
Jason Rosenblatt (Harmonica, piano)
+ Bass player TBD

12noon
Juez
Juez is a breakbeat-klezmer-jazz band of Orthodox kids from D.C., Chicago and New York. Their diverse influences range from Yemenite Niggunim to Fugazi, and John Zorn to DJ Shadow. Juez's live shows are filled with manic solos, frenzied interplay, audience call-and-responses and stage-diving.

Juez has performed with diverse performers ranging from Frank London, Satlah, Matisyahu, Aloha, Black Ox Arkestar, Golem, Gutbucket, and Daniel Carter at Tonic, The Black Cat, Hillel International, Art-O-Matic, the Jewish Folk Arts Festival, Harvard, and The Knitting Factory just to name a few.
Matt Wetstein - trumpet
Gilad Suberri - saxophone
Eyal Maoz - guitar
Yoshie - bass
Erez (dj handler) - drums

1pm
Avishai Cohen
Bassist/Composer Avishai Cohen, born April 20, 1970 in Israel, a musician who has been called a “jazz visionary of global proportions” by DownBeat, and was declared one of the 100 Most Influential Bass Players of the 20th Century by Bass Player Magazine.

Until late in 2003, Avishai was a member of the Chick Corea New Trio, and accompanist to other jazz note-worthies, including Bobby McFerrin, Roy Hargrove, Herbie Hancock, Nnenna Freelon, Claudia Acuña, Paquito D’Rivera and many others. Avishai has become a first call musician in multiple genres. In 2003 he made a studio recording with pop-soul artist Alicia Keys, and has also performed concert works with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and The Boston Pops Symphony.

Since the autumn of 2003 Avishai has been touring the world with his Trio and Quartet. This new line–up, featuring Sam Barsh on piano and Mark Guiliana on drums, provided energy and inspiration in abundance that led to the creation of his latest CD At Home.

2pm
Joshua Nelson & the Kosher Gospel Singers
When Joshua Nelson sings his Kosher-Gospel music, he commands attention. It's not just because of his fire-and-brimstone voice, the comparisons with the late Mahalia Jackson or even his discovery by Oprah Winfrey who called him "The Next Big Thing" in music, and whom he also counts as a friend. It's the places he performs, mostly synagogues, JCC's, concert halls, outdoor festivals, and national television. Joshua, who is black and Jewish, as combined the sounds of soul with Jewish liturgical music and first appeared on the Jewish music circuit several years ago with the release of the national PBS special about his life, "Keep on Walking," which has been a big hit at Jewish Film Festivals around the globe. Joshua's appearance last year on the "Oprah Winfrey Show" has catapulted his career nationally and internationally. He and his Kosher Singers have performed with such notables as Aretha Franklin, Jamie Fox, Maya Angelou, Ashford & Simpson, Cicely Tyson, Harry Belafonte, Billy Preston, Wynton Marsalis, Stephanie Mills, Cissy Houston, Dionne Warwick, Melba Moore, The Klezmatics, Former President Bill Clinton and at the funeral of jazz legend Sarah Vaughan.

3pm
Blue Fringe
\With record-breaking CD sales and numerous sold-out performances, Blue Fringe is quickly establishing itself as America’s favorite Jewish rock band.

Captivating large Jewish audiences of all denominations throughout the U.S. and abroad, Blue Fringe has successfully mixed pop, rock, funk and R&B with Jewish themes that are particularly relevant today. The emotionally charged songs on Blue Fringe’s breakout first album, My Awakening, include original English and Hebrew compositions that run the gamut from soul searching to irreverent. Written in the vein of popular artists such as Coldplay, Phish, and John Mayer, Blue Fringe sets a new standard for popular Jewish music.

The band, comprised of four 20-something friends who met at Yeshiva University, includes: Dov Rosenblatt, guitarist and songwriter, who supplies the band with his compelling, lyrical voice; Avi Hoffman, also a guitarist and composer for the band, known for his electrifying, bluesy guitar playing; drummer Danny Zwillenberg who incorporates rhythms from diverse musical sources, including Latin, reggae, funk, and rock; and Hayyim Danzig on the bass, both electric and upright, who gives the group its soul with bass-lines deeply rooted in old-school funk and jazz.

Based in New York City, Blue Fringe performs regularly on the East coast, including major NY clubs such as Irving Plaza, BB King’s Blues Club and Makor. Internationally, Blue Fringe has toured South Africa, Australia, and the UK. The band has performed several concerts in Israel including a “Rock n’ Soul Festival” in Beit Shemesh that hosted 10,000 fans.

4pm
Golem
New York-based Klezmer/Rock band GOLEM (named after the legendary Jewish Frankenstein of Prague) has infused the World Music scene with a breath of fresh air from Eastern Europe. GOLEM’s explosive onstage attitude gets Klezmer to rock by injecting Eastern European melodies and Old World tunes with ferocious energy, sex, and humor. Fronted by Annette Ezekiel - bandleader, accordionist and singer - as well as madcap vocalist Aaron Diskin and violin virtuoso Alicia Jo Rabins, the band’s six members, all in their 20’s and 30’s, create GOLEM’s powerfully vibrant sound. Through updated versions of old Yiddish tunes, Golem seduces audiences of Klezmer fans and rockers alike, and is equally at home in venues as varied as rock clubs, synagogues, and concert halls, from Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park to the rock clubs of the Lower East Side. GOLEM’s Jewish music is for the cool kids, not just your grandma!

5pm
Pharaoh's Daughter
Blending a psychedelic sensibility and a pan-Mediterranean sensuality, Basya Schechter leads her band, Pharaoh's Daughter, through swirling Hasidic chants, Mizrachi and Sephardi folk-rock, and spiritual stylings filtered through percussion, flute, strings and electronica.

Basya's sound has been cultivated by her Hasidic music background and a series of trips to the Middle East, Africa, Israel, Egypt, Central Africa, Turkey, Kurdistan and Greece. She began retuning her guitar to sound like a cross between an Arabic oud and a Turkish saz, with harmonic minor melodies, and odd time signatures. With the many amazing musicians, named below and others as well she has recorded three albums as Pharaoh's Daughter.

Pharaohs' Daughter has toured extensively through America, Eastern and Western Europe, as well as Greece and the UK. Pharaoh's Daughter had the honor of debuting at Central Park's Summer Stage series in August 2004, and has played such presigious stages as Lincoln Center's Damrosch Park, and Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. When she's not touring or performing, Basya plays darbuka, riq and frame drum as part of the B'nai Jeshurun music ensemble that accompanies Friday night services.

6pm
Surprise Performance!
We can't say who it is, but trust us - it will be a performance you won't soon forget!

7pm
Soul Farm
SOULFARM consists of four guys from New York who are forging an exciting new sound by combining the musical roots of their heritage with a shared passion for melodic song writing and modern, progressive arrangements. Their unique sound offers the rare combination of a multigenerational and cross-cultural appeal. Live, the band's riveting world-beat energy turns heads and makes every audience take notice.

Founded in New York City by guitarist and lead singer Noah Solomon Chase and lead guitarist-singer C Lanzbom, SOULFARM plays New American music. C, Noah and drummer-singer Mark Ambrosino comprise the band’s uniquely positioned three-part harmony. Together with bass player Jeff Langston, they create a potent sound that screams originality as it melds a wide range of influences from rock and Latin, to Hebrew and Celtic folk music. Fueled by Lanzbom’s captivating guitar leads, SOULFARM delivers it all with a flavor some like to call Mediterranean with a strong mix of native percussion, dance rhythms and confident, driving rhythm guitar that forces the listener to not only hear, but become the music.

8pm
Blackfield featuring Aviv Geffen & Steven Wilson
Two years back and forth on the London-Tel-Aviv flight path, a mutual artistic curiosity, and a close friendship are the components that gave birth to Aviv and Steven's Blackfield project.

Aviv Geffen, a highly successful solo artist and outspoken (not to mention controversial) peace campaigner, with a string of gold albums in his own country, discovered the music of Steven's band Porcupine Tree in the mid 90's and followed their career development. In 2000 he invited the band to perform some concerts in Israel and met with Steven in London to discuss the idea. Something clicked and before long they had already collaborated on the very first Blackfield song. In 2001 the two met in a studio in Tel Aviv with the intention of recording a one-off EP. So pleased were they and the record company with the results however, that the EP originally scheduled for release in 2001 was cancelled and the decision was made to continue writing and recording with the aim of completing a full length LP. Over the next 18 months the pair fitted in Blackfield writing and recording sessions whenever they could between their other commitments and finally in October 2003 the album was complete.

The collaborative songs alongside songs written by each separately brought a unique meeting of cultures, which resulted in a sophisticated, melodic and melancholic rock album.

The 10 track album was first issued by Helicon/Universal in Israel in February 2004 and spawned two huge hit singles in "Hello" and "Pain". The success of the album meant that the next step to making Blackfield a live band could be taken, and in February a 5 piece band version of Blackfield made their debut by performing on several prime time Israeli TV shows.

In the meantime an international release for the album was arranged through Snapper Music in the UK, and the album was issued in August to phenomenal reviews in Europe and America, many hailing it as a masterpiece and an instant classic. Aviv and Steven undertook a major promotional campaign and the live band played two special concerts to launch the album, one each in their two home towns of Tel Aviv and London. The Blackfield album looks set to be one of the most important releases of 2004.