Mames Babegenush With Strings

This fifth helping of Babegenush is as joyous, sorrowful and deftly produced as the group's previous albums, and this time it comes with a side serving of strings. This truly is high-end klezmer, which accurately locates the beating heart of the tradition while simultaneously transcending it with inflections from other genres. The instrumentation of the Danish ensemble combines the usual suspects of clarinet, upright bass and accordion with the less predictable flugelhorn, sax and drums. The result is a sound that conjures up the old scene of klezmorim; learning whatever instruments were available to them in the shtetls yet melding their individual voices into a life-affirming whole.

That said, while the band have one foot firmly in the past, the other is thrust fervently into the future. The string quartet accompanying them here provide the perfect voicings for close jazz harmonies and bolster the horn improvisations on tracks such as ‘Mountain Dance’ to bring the wild music of Eastern Europe and the sounds of the New York cellar bar ever closer together. Party tune ‘Tornado Albastru’ and the thoughtful ‘View from a Drifting Room’ are just two notable points on an invigorating journey packed with enjoyable diversions to a carousing close.