Search - David Krakauer :: 12 Tribes

Clarinetist David Krakauer shifted his focus to klezmer in the late 1980s, and has since become one of the leaders of the so-called neo-klezmer music scene. Having grown up listening to and studying rock, jazz, and classical, he imbues his current explorations with a potent range of depth and experimentation. Krakauer's fourth album has a raw edginess that's more in keeping with older klezmer 78 rpm records. Eschewing the restrained recreations of many contemporary ensembles, his music is full of the passions that still spring to life in those recordings from the 1920s. On the composition "Table Pounding," Krakauer's clarinet lines entwine with those of a gently distorted electric guitar, which are then joined by exuberant drumming and rolling accordion washes, making this music sound like the past, the present, and the future. --David Greenberger