Once we confirm them, we'll have some more details, but we're very pleased to let you know that we'll be having some guests joining us for our 5th anniversary concert!

(And if Keith is going to be in Toronto on December 4th, he's more than welcome to join us!)

Right now, we're talking with the amazing guitarist Brian Katz to do some duo improvisations with me, and we'll be having trombonist and singer Alison White joining us for a couple of songs.  We're hoping to have more info to announce soon, both about this and upcoming gigs!

We're also happy to say that we'll be playing a set of traditional klezmer in addition to our original "neo-klezmer" or "klezmer-fusion" repertoire!

See you all soon!

Greetings all, who reside far and wide!

KlezFactor coming a great gig last night at The Rex in Toronto.  We split the bill with Alon Nechushtan's Talat project.  Alon is a great pianist from Tel Aviv (who currently resides in New York) who made it up to Toronto to share the gig with us!

On our side of things, we unveiled the NEW 7-piece version of KlezFactor, including Ali Berkok on keys, Jaro Dabrowski on guitar, Dave MacDougall on drums, and yours truly on sax and clarinet.  New to the band are bassist Tony McKnight, violinist Jaron Freeman-Fox and cellist Erika Nielsen (although Erika has been kicking around with us occasionally since early 2008)!

Hopefully we can get some video up soon, we'll take a look at how it came out and if we've got some good stuff, you'll be able to find it here and on Youtube!

We also would like to point your attention to Keith Wolzinger's Klezmer Podcast #58, which focuses on a interview we did at KlezKanada, and involves a very dorky photograph of me!

http://www.blubrry.com/klezmerpodcast/510453/klezmer-podcast-58/

Finally, we'll be holding our 5th anniversary concert at The Trane Studio on Friday December 4.  We're working on some more things for the spring.  If anyone out there wants to help us find some great shows in the US, by all means get in touch!

Mike

Well, a new year is upon us (5770), and KlezFactor is just about to embark on their fall schedule.

Tomorrow night (September 29), we'll be at the Tranzac to tune up for our gig at The Rex on October 21.

This also begins the run up to our 5th anniversary concert on December 4 at the Trane Studio, and we'll be unveiling some new material!

If you've been following this blog faithfully, or if you've seen us play at the Free Times Cafe, you'll know that Tony McKnight has joined the band on bass, and Jaron Freeman-Fox has joined us on violin.  We're very pleased to have these great musicians in the band!

If you're also wondering what comes next, KlezFactor is just getting bigger!  Erika Nielsen, who recorded with us on Klezmachine, is now joining the band on a permanent basis!

So that's what's up in KlezFactor-land!

Greetings all, and thanks for those of you following along!

KlezFactor has a couple of new pieces of information.

First of all, we're very pleased to announce that Tony McKnight (bass) and Jaron Fox-Freeman (violin) will be joining the band on a permanent basis.  Both are amazing musicians and will bring their skills and passions to the band!  Also, we're pleased to announce that cellist Erika Nielsen will be becoming a more integral part of the band beginning at our October gig (see below), and hopefully for a long time!

We have 3 gigs in Toronto to announce:

Tuesday, September 29th at 7:30pm at the Tranzac Club (PWYC)

Wednesday, October 21 at 9:30 pm at The Rex Hotel and Jazz Bar (Cover TBA).  This gig may feature Talat, from New York, if we can get them here!

Friday, December 4 (time TBA) at The Trane Studio ($10) for our VERY special show.  This is KlezFactor's 5th anniversary show (I know, you're thinking "5 years already?" and the answer is YES), and also coincides with the week before Channukah, so we very well may have some Channukah music!

ALSO we are planning to record this show for a live EP to be released in early 2010.  Make sure you show up so your very own cheering can be heard on our recording!

Howdy all,

Not much news lately, but we just got word of a new review of Klezmachine.

You can find it here:

http://www.earshot-online.com/reviews/DisplayReview.cfm?DiscID=78873

Thanks to Earshot! . . .

Bonus points to anyone who emails us with the major booboo they made!

KF

Greetings!

Well, unfortunately, we didn't get to blogging quite as much during the tour as we'd have liked!  It was kind of a "blink and you'll miss it" affair.

So, our special guest couldn't make it, nor could Jaro and I get to Osnat's concert, mainly because rehearsal took a while!  After all, we wanted to sound good for everyone out there!

So Boston was a great start, shaking out the kinks in the tricky grooves.....  Thanks to everyone who came out to hear us there.  It was a lot of fun.

Special thanks to Shlomo and Carson at the City Winery in New York.  They really made our show there so comfortable and relaxed.... especially after driving four hours through the night from Boston to crash in Brooklyn for a few hours!  The show itself was a lot of fun, with a great audience!  Thanks to the Seidmans from Brooklyn for coming out to help sell some CDs and take some photos!

Our show in Philadelphia was probably the best of the three.... we were definitely starting to start to loosen up and enjoy playing together!  Thanks to Tommy at MilkBoy Coffee for getting the setup so smoothly!  Also HUGE thanks to Lilli Klotz's parents for hosting the band and helping to get people out!

Unfortunately, we didn't record anything, but we're getting ready for a gig in the coming months in Toronto.

Now the bad news.... our show in Montreal for May 10 has been cancelled.  Casa del Popolo has been having problems with their liquor license, and they've cancelled all their shows.  We're looking to make it up in the fall, so stay tuned!

Hello!  For those brave souls following along, most of the band has arrived.  We're just waiting for the intrepid Matt Temkin, who had a gig in NYC last night.

Jaro and I met up last night with a friend of mine, Osnat Netzer (visit www.myspace.com/osnatnetzer) who'll be playing a concert of her original Israeli pop/jazz at Rutman's violins at 8pm tonight in Boston.  She may have a couple of special guests..... hmmm? who could that be?

If you're in the Boston area, come out! 

The Klezmer fusion revolution has begun!

Greetings KlezFactor-ites!

We're just about to get our US mini-tour under way, and we're going to blog about it!  If you're not excited now, just wait..... excited yet?

So, tomorrow night, Saturday, April 18th at 10pm, we'll be at Lilypad (see below for more details) in Cambridge.

Sunday morning, April 19th at 11am, we'll be in New York at the City Winery, and Sunday evening, at 7pm we'll be at MilkBoy Coffee in Ardmore, Pennsylvania.

If you're in any of those areas, come out! We'll rock!

KlezFactor (America):

Mike Anklewicz - clarinet/saxophone
Jaro Dabrowski - guitar
Jon Feldman - keyboard/piano
Lilli Klotz - violin
Matt Temkin - drums
Dan Turkos - bass

Come out and support the Klezmer Fusion Revolution!

Greetings all,

I would like to remind you of our quickly approaching Klezmachine US Tour!  We'll be hitting 3 east coast cities, so if you're in Boston, New York, or Philadelphia, come on out for some great Klezmer-fusion with our All-Star international band!

Mike Anklewicz (Canada) - saxophone, clarinet
Jaro Dabrowski (Poland/Canada) - guitar
Jon Feldman (Canada) - keys
Lilli Klotz (US) - violin
Matt Temkin (US) - drums
Daniel Turkos (US) - bass

First is our show at The Lilypad in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Saturday, April 18th at 10pm.

Then we play the Klezmer Brunch at the City Winery in New York City on Sunday, April 19th at 11am.

Finally, we hit Milkboy Coffee in Ardmore, Pennsylvania at 7pm on Sunday, April 19th.  $10 cover at all 3 shows.

Also, some sad news for those of you in Montreal.  Our show on May 10th has been cancelled, due to Liquor License issues with Casa del Popolo.  We're looking for another venue, so keep checking back!

Don't forget to check out http://radio3.cbc.ca/bands/klezfactor to hear more of our music if you like what you hear here.  On the CBC Radio 3 website, we have all of the tracks from Klezmachine as well as most of The Golem of Bathurst Manor.

If you like the music, and live in one of these cities, come on out and check us out live!  You can also visit CD Baby to purchase our CDs as well as iTunes to buy downloads.

As promised, we've confirmed our date in Philadelphia!

We'll be at Milkboy Coffee in Ardmore, Pennsylvania on Sunday, April 19 at about 7:30 pm!

This concludes the KlezFactor (America) tour.  You can see us at:

The Lilypad - Cambridge, MA - Sat, April 18, 10pm
The City Winery, New York - Sun. April 19, 11am
Milkboy Coffee, Ardmore, PA - Sun. April 19, 7:30pm

That's right - blink and you'll miss us.

Cover at all 3 shows is $10.

We'll have copies of both "The Golem of Bathurst Manor" ($10) and "Klezmachine" for sale ($15), or you can buy both for $20.

We'll also be continuing our "buy the download for cheaper" promotion!  Bring a USB memory drive (or other USB-pluggable memory unit), and you can get "Golem" for $5, and the special Klezmachine e-Release package* for only $10.

* The Klezmachine e-Release Package consists of the complete Klezmachine album, a printable insert for a CD Jewel case, complete liner notes, live tracks of "Rumanian Rhythm" and "Negev", an alternate take of "Bulgarian Dance (Kopanitsa)", AND our special 20-minute "Making of Klezmachine" podcast!