Search - Abby Rabinovitz :: We Used to Dance

Flutist and composer Abby Rabinovitz takes the audience on an unforgettable journey. Drawing from different world music traditions, she transcends boundaries to create music which is powerful and new. Her compositions are inspired by a wide variety of sources---klezmer, Indian, Latin American music and jazz. Her flute playing is passionate and "deeply haunting" (Delhi Diary). Full of surprises, she evokes the broad range of human emotions, moving the listener from laughter to tears. "We Used to Dance" confounds easy categories. Here is music that comes out of the klezmer revival but goes beyond...a calypso with a klezmer twist, a jazz composition with a Middle Eastern melody and driving African rhythms, a Jewish freylekhs which metamorphosizes into a serious Balkan groove with a hint of a sixties rock tune. Rabinovitz is joined by her outstanding world music ensemble Kaleidoscope and a stellar group of guest artists. Among them are internationally acclaimed drummer Bob Moses whose jazz, African and Latin rhythms propel many of the compositions and virtuoso accordionist/pianist Evan Harlan whose intense performance is a unique fusion of klezmer, jazz, Balkan and 20th century classical music. Mimi Rabson is one of the top klezmer violinists and her passionate playing provides some of the album's highpoints while the tabla playing of Nishikant Sonwalkar adds an almost mystical quality. Jim Guttmann (bass) and Grant Smith (drums) are longstanding members of the Klezmer Conservatory Band, an ensemble which tours world wide. They are masters of groove and take the music to the next level.