All Stars bring klezmer groove to the Ark

If klezmer is the traditional Jewish music of celebration, then the version of this style played by the New Orleans Klezmer All Stars would be the soundtrack to an after hours, Mardi Gras-style drunken blowout.

Perhaps the only band that can inspire rabbis to dance with prep-school hippies and elderly jazz cats to groove alongside small children, the All Stars are at the foreground of a modern rejuvenation of the age-old Yiddish genre.

In the eight years since the band's formation, it has created a high-energy sound that equally blends Old-World flavor with modern jazz-funk elements. Swirling clarinet and saxophone melodies skitter above a foundation of neo-gypsy guitar, swamp-heavy bass, bright accordion and shifty second-line rhythms.

In other words, it's not your average Sunday afternoon walk through the musical park.

"(The band) came together out of an interest in the music," accordion player Glenn Hartman said. "I mean, the last thing in our minds was that this was how we'd be making our livings."

Presently, though, the band is a full-time career for its six members - and a rewarding profession at that. The Allstars have released four recordings, and their newest effort, "Fresh Out the Past" on the Shanachie label, is an invigorating collection of original klezmer compositions.

"I've been quite proud lately," Hartman said. "I really love this new record."

And the Allstars have a formidable list of accomplishments worthy of self-satisfaction. They've become mainstays at some of the nation's most prestigious musical gatherings, including the High Sierra Music Fest, the H.O.R.D.E tour and Ann Arbor's own Jazz and Blues Festival. The band was given the Big Easy Award for best world music group in 1997, and it won the enviable Best Crowd Participation prize for two straight years at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Fest.

"I love the fact that we do well in New Orleans, which is a town where if you do well, it means you've definitely got something going on," Hartman said.

In fact, the band's Crescent City origins have meant a tremendous amount to its current success.

"I don't think we'd be the band that we are today if it wasn't for New Orleans," Hartman said. "People down there really love live music, and they expect to hear good, original music. Therefore, you have the opportunity to develop as a live band."

In a city that thrives on nightly performance, weekly gigs give up-and-comers like the Allstars the chance to stretch out on-stage.

"You have the whole night to play music, so you play from 10 until two in the morning," Hartman said. "You have to learn how to stretch your repertoire, you have to learn how to jam and you have to learn how to make the people dance."

"And eventually it gets to about one in the morning and it doesn't matter if you're playing Yiddish music over funk grooves, because everyone's already drunk," Hartman said with a laugh.

New Orleans playing connections also led to the band's past recording collaborations with drummers "Mean" Willie Green of the Neville Brothers and Stanton Moore of Galactic.

"That just wouldn't happen in another city," Hartman said.

And perhaps the most refreshing aspect of the Allstars is their true passion for the music.

"It wasn't like 'Let's try to twist this music in a new kind of way,'" Hartman said. "This mix of styles - it all just happened so naturally, which is why I think it sounds so real. You know, the energy is just real."

03-24-99