TZADIK RADICAL JEWISH CULTURE FESTIVAL
The Sixth Street Community Synagogue and John Zorn’s Tzadik Records present the Tzadik Radical Jewish Culture Festival, running September 14 – December 28 at the historic synagogue in New York’s East Village. A celebration of avant-garde and experimental Jewish music, the festival is curated by Jon Madof of the band Rashanim.
Concerts will happen on Wednesday nights at 9:00pm and will be preceded at 8:00pm by a weekly lecture series given by Rabbi Dovid Neiburg. Class admission is free; admission to the concert is $15 per person, which includes one drink.
Artists in the series include Frank London, Marty Ehrlich and Hankus Netsky, Ned Rothenberg, Tim Sparks, Jamie Saft, Basya Schechter and many more. See below for complete schedule.
The Sixth Street Community Synagogue is a modern orthodox synagogue housed in a historic building in Lower Manhattan. The congregation is as diverse as its East Village neighborhood, with Jews from a wide variety of backgrounds.
Tzadik Records is dedicated to releasing the best in avant-garde and experimental music, presenting a worldwide community of contemporary musician-composers. The label was established in 1995 by John Zorn, a MacArthur Foundation “genius” award-winning composer and saxophonist.
Upcoming Tzadik Festival Concerts:
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Past Tzadik Festival Concerts:
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A celebration of avant-garde and experimental Jewish music
Sept. 14 - Dec. 28, Wednesdays at 9 PM
Rafi Malkiel
“Rafi Malkiel is an Israeli trombonist and euphonium player with a brightly confident new Latin jazz album, My Island…” - The New York Times
Composer, trombonist and euphonium player Rafi Malkiel, from Israel, has delighted audiences around the world, performing with artists such as Willie Colon, Arturo O’Farrill, Ray Anderson, and with Grammy-nominated Colombian singer Toto La Momposina, and he participated in Reggie Workman’s John Coltrane Africa Brass Live project and Jason Lindner’s Big Band.
Admission $15, includes one drink
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A celebration of avant-garde and experimental Jewish music
Sept. 14 - Dec. 28, Wednesdays at 9 PM
Ned Rothenberg Solo
"America's most intimate composer and improviser" - Thom Jurek, All Music Guide.
This is not about virtuosity, in spite of Rothenberg’s superb technique. In the way he combines circular breathing, overblowing, playing through half-opened keys and the technique of using the keys percussively, he forms tonal loops of timeless beauty. Other kinds of music might entertain you, cheer you up or pump the blood, but his clarifies the mind and throws your soul wide open". - Manfred Pabst, Neue Züricher Zeitung
For over 30 years, Ned Rothenberg has been internationally acclaimed for his solo and ensemble music. He performs primarily on the alto saxophone, clarinet , bass clarinet, and shakuhachi - an endblown Japanese bamboo flute. More info at www.nedrothenberg.com
Marty Ehrlich
Acclaimed saxophonist and clarinetist Marty Ehrlich celebrates his recent release Fables, his second recording for the Radical Jewish Culture series on John Zorn’s Tzadik label. Ehrlich is joined by renowned Jewish klezmer musician and scholar and founder of the Klezmer Conservatory Band, Hankus Netsky. Friends for decades, Ehrlich and Netsky join forces for the first time in a fabulous program of compositions by Marty Ehrlich that meets in the nexus of the jazz and the Jewish tradition. “Exciting, touching and soulful, Fables is a real tour de force.” - John Zorn
Marty Ehrlich: Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Flute, Alto Sax, Soprano Sax
Marcus Rojas: Tuba
Hankus Netsky: Piano, Accordion
Admission $15, includes one drink
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A celebration of avant-garde and experimental Jewish music
Sept. 14 - Dec. 28, Wednesdays at 9 PM
Barbez
Gorgeous old-world cabaret collides with modernity in Brooklyn’s one-of-a-kind punk chamber ensemble. Wringing elements of Eastern European folksong, post-war classical, and experimental rock into an otherworldly soundscape this unique musical configuration shifts between haunting, meditative moments and explosive outbreaks. The group will be presenting Force of Light its homage to the Romanian-Jewish poet and Holocaust survivor Paul Celan. With Dan Kaufman, guitar; Danny Tunick, vibraphone, marimba; Peter Hess, clarinet, percussion; Catherine McRae, violin; Peter Lettre, bass; John Bollinger, drums.
"Force of Light is among the most profound settings for poetry in music....sophisticated yet accessible to anyone, heartbreaking in its articulation, and provocative in its assertions."–Allmusic.com
Admission $15, includes one drink
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A celebration of avant-garde and experimental Jewish music
Sept. 14 - Dec. 28, Wednesdays at 9 PM
Tim Sparks
"I mean it as the greatest of praise when I say that it doesn’t even sound like guitar playing – Sparks is one of those rare players, like Bill Frisell, who transcends the inherited vocabulary of the instrument to create something other than guitar music with it – something both simpler and more complex. In a word, music, and not just any music, but music of multi-dimensionality, music that shimmers and sustains and speaks directly to the soul of a listener …in much the same way as the crying voice of the cantor." - Seth Rogovy, author of The Essential Klezmer
Admission $15, includes one drink
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A celebration of avant-garde and experimental Jewish music
Sept. 14 - Dec. 28, Wednesdays at 9 PM
Greg Wall's Later Prophets
Greg Wall’s Later Prophets, Tzadik recording artists, bring a highly literate Jewish sensibility to the forefront of jazz. Wall, has found the perfect partners in his bandmates keyboard wiz Shai Bachar, drummer extraordinaire Aaron Alexander, and the effervescent David Richards on bass. Together, they are able to simultaneously straddle the gates of the ancient and avant-garde. A leading figure in NY’s downtown music scene, “rabbi and fiery, eclectic Jewish-jazz luminary” (Time Out NY) Greg Wall was ordained in 2006 and may well be the only recording and touring jazz musician who is also a rabbi. His work is “a surprising multicultural collision worthy of Bill Laswell or Kip Hanrahan at their best,” noted Jon Andrews in DownBeat.
Admission $15, includes one drink
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A celebration of avant-garde and experimental Jewish music
Sept. 14 - Dec. 28, Wednesdays at 9 PM
Eyal Maoz Crazy Slavic Band
Eyal Maoz, guitarist, composer, ensembles leader, Tzadik and Ayler Records artist and a guest member of John Zorn’s Cobra, performed with his ensembles, and in solo concerts in New York City, Tel Aviv, China, Austria, and London, in notable events such as the Montreal Jazz Festival, Red Sea International Jazz Festival, NYC 2007 Winter JazzFest, and the New York Jewish Music and Heritage Festival just to name a few. He was featured on MTV and NPR. Based in New York City, Crazy Slavic Band's rare appearance will showcase the wild side of ethnic - Jewish influenced - slavic- eastern european - original music.
Even Crazier Crazy Slavic Band:
Frank London and Rob Henke - trumpets
Ron Caswell - tuba
Yuval Lion and Yoni Halevi - drums
Eyal Maoz - guitar
Admission $15, includes one drink
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A celebration of avant-garde and experimental Jewish music
Sept. 14 - Dec. 28, Wednesdays at 9 PM
Kohane of Newark
Enlisting a veritable Who's Who of underground NY music legends, Kohane of Newark's (aka Ricky Orbach) critically acclaimed alt-rock operetta "New Midlife Crisis" introduces listeners to the aural landscape and lyric mythology of an American-Jewish middle class experience gone awry in a way that a Velvet Underground fan might appreciate. Guitar genius Gary Lucas calls it “Killer Jew-punk...musical manna from heaven” The Forward describes Ricky’s art as a “…cholent of angst and wisdom” while Steven Lee Beeber - author of “A Secret History of Jewish Punk” – compares Orbach to “An American Serge Gainsbourg.”
Admission $15, includes one drink
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A celebration of avant-garde and experimental Jewish music
Sept. 14 - Dec. 28, Wednesdays at 9 PM
Jamie Saft Solo
"The dazzling array of new sonic nuance brushed by Saft captures the imagination." - Echoes Magazine
Jamie Saft is a virtuoso pianist, keyboardist, producer, and composer from New York and a mainstay of the Downtown scene. Saft's stylistic versatility, multi-instrumentalist capabilities, and production skills have been featured with The Beastie Boys, Bad Brains, The B-52's, Laurie Anderson, John Zorn, John Adams, Donovan, Bobby Previte, Dave Douglas, Antony and the Johnsons, and scores of other artists. Saft is a core member of bands such as The Dreamers, Electric Masada, The Beta Popes, Whoopie Pie, Swami LatePlate, The Shakers and Bakers, OV, and Kalashnikov.
Saft has composed a number of original film scores including the Oscar nominated film "Murderball", Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner "God Grew Tired Of Us", and the HBO documentary film "Dear Talula". Saft has also contributed score music for Nickelodeon, MTV, and A&E. Saft has released a number of albums as a leader, including "Breadcrumb Sins" (Tzadik), "Trouble- The Jamie Saft Trio Plays Bob Dylan" (Tzadik), "Sovlanut" (Tzadik), “Astaroth- The Jamie Saft Trio Plays Masada Book II” (Tzadik), and Swami LatePlate's "Doom Jazz" (Veal).
Admission $15, includes one drink
A celebration of avant-garde and experimental Jewish music
Sept. 14 - Dec. 28, Wednesdays at 9 PM
Frank London
Frank London is among the most well-known and prolific of active klezmer musicians in the world today. One of the few to find crossover success he is in-demand as a composer, bandleader, and trumpet player all over the world. A founder of the Grammy winning Klezmatics, Hasidic New Wave, Niggunim, Zmiros and countless side projects, his Klezmer Brass All-Stars have released 3 CDs on the Piranha label, the latest of which, “Carnival Conspiracy” just won a German Grammy. London composes music for theater, dance, and film, teaches at Klez Kamp, Klez Kanada, London Klezfest, SUNY Purchase among others, and it would be hard to overstate his importance to the NY klezmer scene.
Admission $15, includes one drink
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A celebration of avant-garde and experimental Jewish music
Sept. 14 - Dec. 28, Wednesdays at 9 PM
Tzadik Radical Jewish Culture Festival
A celebration of avant-garde and experimental Jewish music
Sept. 14 - Dec. 28, Wednesdays at 9 PM
Yoshie Fruchter's Pitom
Pitom is a Jewish jazz-punk-sludge-metal hybrid - the kind of band that could only come from a culture known for wandering. Coming off a successful first album on Tzadik records, which the Wall Street Journal called a "dazzling debut," Pitom continues to evolve their unique brand of music with their second release entitled, “Blasphemy and Other Serious Crimes," an intense exploration of the mental and spiritual intensity associated with the Jewish holiday of repentance. Pitom has performed all over the country and in Eastern and Western Europe including the Atlantique Jazz Festival in France, Otwarda Twarda festival in Warsaw, and Jewish music festivals in Washington DC, Montreal, Detroit and New York.
Aram Bajakian’s Kef
Brooklyn based guitarist Aram Bajakian started performing at the age of ten, emulating Jimmy Pages "Dazed and Confused" violin bow on guitar cacophony at the Fifth Grade talent show. Since then Bajakian has performed/recorded with Lou Reed, Grammy winner Yusef Lateef, Marc Ribot, James Carter, and Billy Martin among others.
Drawing inspiration from a variety of musical cultures and styles, Bajakian¹s study of music has brought him to West Africa, India and Morocco. He has performed in some of New York City¹s greatest venues, including Town Hall, Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, Prospect Park Bandshell, the Stone, Joe¹s Pub and the Living Room.
Bajakian leads several of his own groups, including Kef, a chamber string trio that plays arrangements of traditional Armenian Songs, "Beat Down," an Afro Punk Ensemble, and "Killing Floor," a blues/RnB Project.
Bajakian also performs regularly with Lou Reed in NYC, and played guitar in his band during Lou's 2011 European tour. He also regularly performs with Can singer Malcolm Mooney's group, as well as various songwriters around the city.
Admission $15, includes one drink
A celebration of avant-garde and experimental Jewish music
Sept. 14 - Dec. 28, Wednesdays at 9 PM
Paul Shapiro's Midnight Minyan
“As on his new album Mr. Shapiro transforms the ritual of a Friday night Shabbat service into a rollicking downtown jam.” - The New York Times
Paul Shapiro, saxophonist, bandleader and composer is best known for his critically acclaimed recordings on John Zorn’s Tzadik label, Midnight Minyan, It’s in the Twilight and Essen. Paul has also written a jazz score for the feature length 1925 silent film His People which has been performed at Festivals in San Francisco, Denver, San Diego, The National Yiddish Book Center and at New York’s Museum of Jewish Heritage, Abrons Arts Center and the Museum at Eldridge Street.
Shapiro was a charter member of the Microscopic Septet and Brooklyn Funk Essentials and his recording credits include Queen Latifah, Yoko Kanno, Rufus Wainwright, David Byrne, Lou Reed, Jay-Z, Majek Fashek, Frankie Knuckles, Ofra Haza and many others. He led his own avant funk band throughout the 1980’s called Foreign Legion.
Admission $15, includes one drink
A celebration of avant-garde and experimental Jewish music
Sept. 14 - Dec. 28, Wednesdays at 9 PM
Uri Gurvich
Born and raised in Israel, Uri Gurvich won the Jazz Player of the Year competition in Israel before relocating to Boston to attend the prestigious Berklee College of Music studying under Joe Lovano. He has played at prestigious jazz festivals and venues in Europe, Japan and the US, including Lincoln Center and Blue Note. Now located in New York City, Gurvich is an in-demand saxophonist who also won acclaim as a leader with his 2009 debut record, The Storyteller (Tzadik Records) featuring Leo Genovese on piano, Peter Slavov on bass, Francisco Mela on drums and Chris Cheek on tenor sax, some of the most prominent voices on the contemporary New York jazz scene. The music places Israeli, Yemenite, East European and North African music into a progressive jazz context. With Uri Gurvich (alto saxophone), Asen Doykin (fender rhodes), Edward Perez (bass) and Nick Falk (drums and percussion).
Admission $15, includes one drink
A celebration of avant-garde and experimental Jewish music
Sept. 14 - Dec. 28, Wednesdays at 9 PM
Basya Schechter and Avi Fox Rosen - 'Khumesh Lider'
Basya Schechter and Avi Fox Rosen present their original settings of selections from Itzik Manger’s Khumesh Lider. Manger wrote his collection of “Khumesh Lider”, or “Bible Songs”, in the interwar years in Warsaw. Manger adapted the stories and characters of Genesis, and reframing them in the Shtetl's of Eastern Europe. He uses his keen wit, sensitivity, and impish parodic sensibility to radically reinvent Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and Leah, and many more. Manger juxtaposes Turks with tailors, caravans with cossacks, creating an absurd yet emotionally resonant mythic landscape that is equal parts Canaan and Poland.
Admission $15, includes one drink
For more information on the festival, please contact Jon Madof – jonmadof [at] gmail [dot] com
