WHAT IS KLEZMER MUSIC?
Klezmer music is the party music of the eastern European Jews, the folk music behind Broadway’s Fiddler on the Roof. The music developed hundreds of years ago and has traveled with the Jews of eastern Europe throughout Europe and to the New World. Wherever they went, the Jewish musicians – known as klezmorim – would pick up the musical styles of the host culture and integrate it with their own klezmer music. In America the klezmorim fell in love with jazz and Latin dance music.  Jim Guttmann’s Bessarabian Breakdown continues that tradition, blending traditional klezmer with various jazz styles, salsa and rhythm & blues.WHO IS JIM GUTTMANN?
Bassist Jim Guttmann’s career has taken him from smoky dives to Carnegie Hall, performing with the Klezmer Conservatory Band, violinist Itzhak Perlman, Broadway star Joel Grey,  jazz singers Eartha Kitt and Mark Murphy, the legendary Boston string band Cheap Trills, blues masters Johnny Shines and James Cotton, Texas Swing legend Tiny Moore, guitar virtuoso Russ Barenberg, jazz & bluegrass violin wizard Matt Glaser, the Artie Shaw Orchestra and the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. Whether he’s swinging a jazz tune, holding down the tumbao in an Afro-Cuban song or nailing a lively sirba with a klezmer band, he plays with warmth, sophistication and flawless time. The music in this program showcases his versatility as both a soloist and an ensemble player, and in each fusion new aspects of the original song provides him and his band mates with musical challenges that are fun and entertaining for the audience.WHO’S IN THE BAND?
The band is made up of some of Boston’s finest ethnic, jazz and improvising musicians including violinist Mimi Rabson, clarinet and sax man Ted Casher, Tom Hall on baritone sax, several current Klezmer Conservatory Band members including drummer Grant Smith, trombonist Mark Hamilton and cornetists Mark Berney & Gary Bohan. Percussion virtuoso Ernesto Diaz, jazz guitarist extraordinaire Jon Damian and pianist/accordionist Joe “Sonny” Barbato fill out the rhythm section. Truly a killer band.

ABOUT THE HOMEGROWN COFFEEHOUSE
The Homegrown Coffeehouse, celebrating 30 years at First Parish UU in Needham, is llocated just off the Needham town square at 23 Dedham Avenue (route 135).

The new space is a treat, visually and acoustically, so come on down for this great show!

Shows starts at  8:00 pm; doors open at 7:30 om. Tickets for all shows will be available online (see TICKET INFO below). Remaining tickets are sold at the door beginning about 7:30 p.m.

 

For more information about the show:

Tel:   (781) 444-7478

E-mail:  homegrownneedham@gmail.com

Twitter:  @Homegrown02492

Web page here

TICKET INFO
Tickets for the show are $20, $15 for students and seniors and can be purchased in advance here.