Some of My Best Friends Are Musicians
Generally speaking I don’t review their work, but once in a while I do
(HUDSON, N.Y., January 20, 2024) - For the most part, I make it a point to avoid reviewing books, music, theater, dance, visual art – really, anything creative – that is made by friends. First of all, to do so and not let readers know about a personal connection with the artist would be unethical. Secondly, it is just good policy on the friendship level. Having a standing policy whereby I just don’t review friends’ work makes it easier to avoid the few sticky situations in which a friend asks for a review of something that does not particularly appeal to me. Better to head that possibility off right from the get-go. Also, even if I love the work and say so, it is all too easy for an artist to find something not to like about what I write even in the context of the utmost praise or positive evaluation. I speak from experience on both sides of the coin.
All that being said, there are times, rare for the most part, where I bend my policy of not reviewing friends’ work. Rules, after all, are made to be broken. (I wonder who originally came up with that dumb equation.) Sometimes it’s because I really believe in the work, and I want to spread the good word. I also sometimes justify doing so when I just happen to be one of the most qualified people to assess the work, given my deep and abiding understanding of and/or familiarity with the artist’s work. And occasionally, a friend makes something great that, given the difficulty of getting reviewers interested in writing about the work, will otherwise languish or receive little to no recognition if I do not write about it in some form or fashion.
Given those prefatory remarks, I wanted to share with you, my readers, some thoughts about a few recent projects made by friends of mine. I will leave out my reasons for breaking my no-reviews-for-friends policy in these cases, and instead just confess up front my connection to the artists and let you decide how to measure my ideas and feelings about the work, and possibly to dismiss them outright due to an inherent bias in favor of the work.
Chronika, Frank London’s Klezmer Brass Allstars (Borscht Beat)
As a founding member of both the Klezmer Conservatory Band (1980) and the Grammy Award-winning Klezmatics (1986), Frank London has been a leading force in the revival and renaissance of klezmer and Yiddish music over the past four-plus decades. (He has also been a leading force in other styles of music, including several sui generis, but I stray….) The fiddle and clarinet are often thought of – and for the most part, rightly so – as the lead instruments of the klezmer ensemble. But as a trumpet player, London created his heavy-on-the-brass Klezmer Brass Allstars, to celebrate the sounds of the trumpet, trombone, and tuba – along with the clarinet and some heavy percussion.
On record and in concert, the group’s joyous, rhythmic blasts variously conjure the sound and spirit of New Orleans marching bands and Balkan brass bands while maintaining the connection to the Yiddish modes and melodies (and occasionally featuring Yiddish vocals by a revolving cast of singers, including Sarah Gordon and Michael “Meyshke” Alpert). Chronika, the group’s “latest” album, features tracks that were originally recorded in 2008 yet sound as funky and fresh as last night’s ecstatic dance party. London’s musical vision is expansive enough to include a celebration of cross-cultural collaboration in his “Unity (Carnival in Crown Heights),” featuring Caribbean vocalist Michel “Meshach” Nestor, and in “Satisfaction (Sabeinu),” based on a traditional tune given a spritz of ska in the rhythmic syncopation. The aptly titled “Booze (Drinking Song)” features woozy keyboards and one of several guest appearances on the album by the late, great guitarist Yossi Piamenta, the “Hasidic Hendrix.”
Snowcake, Lauren Passarelli (Feather Records)
Boston-based Lauren Passarelli is a multiple threat: a guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, singer-songwriter, recording engineer, arranger, and producer, and a professor of guitar at Berklee College of Music. Lauren has a command of many musical idioms, and on her latest album, Snowcake, her versatility is showcased in songs drawing on pop, rock, blues, soul, and modern jazz, just for starters, and often mixed together in a single song. Passarelli puts equal care into her guitar playing, her vocals (and vocal harmonies), her melodies, her lyrics, and her groove-based arrangements, chock full of surprising twists and turns while never distracting from the overall flow of the songs.
At its heart, Snowcake is a soulful, pop-folk singer-songwriter album, full of catchy melodies and musical hooks, as funky and sophisticated as classic Steely Dan or Carole King. Passarelli could just as easily have made a guitar-centric album showing off her virtuosity on that instrument, but here the songs rule and the guitar parts (and her other instrumental contributions) always serve the songs. Most of all, Lauren Passarelli has excellent taste as a composer and instrumentalist. She doesn’t chase any of the latest trends or fads; this is brilliantly executed, entertaining, and thoughtful pop-folk music for the ages.
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Editor, Everything Is Broken
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