Inside you will find latest news and developments, conversations with musicians and collaborators, personal statements from David on various topics and more!

In this Issue:

1.   Klezmer Madness! plays in Ann Arbor, MI (March 31st)
2.   Classical Appearances for David with The Bard Festival String Quartet (April 10th) and Walla Walla Symphony (April 17th)
3.   In the Artist's words: David's thoughts on performing with funk-legend Fred Wesley at Zankel Hall
4.   Klezmer Podcast with David Krakauer and Socalled

On Saturday, March 31, 8 pm, David Krakauer's Klezmer Madness!, featuring Socalled, will make their debut appearance at the Rackham Auditorium on the University Musical Society series in Ann Arbor, MI. 

The University Musical Society (UMS) is one of the oldest performing arts presenters in the country that has featured legendary performers among which were Benny Goodman, Glen Gould and others, in its 128th year history. 

In their debut David Krakauer's Klezmer Madness! will present an array of titles from their latest CD Bubbemeises such as Moskowitz and Loops of It, Bubbemeises, Ms. N.C., Turntable Pounding, B Flat A La Socalled, (click HERE to listen to samples) along with other original compositions, arrangements and traditional tunes.

Click here for tickets and info: http://www.ums.org/s_current_season/artist.asp?pageid=370

In 1996, David Krakauer worked closely with Osvaldo Golijov and the Kronos Quartet in a collaboration that produced the debut recording of "Dreams And Prayers Of Isaac The Blind,"  and since then has became in a large way a champion of the piece.  The collaboration has also resulted in a close friendship with Osvaldo Golijov and in 2006 David Krakauer and his Klezmer Madness! paid homage to the composer and his music as part of a month-long tribute to the composer on the Lincoln Center's Great Performers series. 

David Krakauer writes: "In preparing this piece, I was immediately struck by the tremendous intensity and imagination of Osvaldo's unique compositional voice. Because the piece is written for "Klezmer clarinet" and string quartet, I am invited to have the freedom to bring my particular klezmer sound to this composition, while at the same time faithfully interpreting what Osvaldo wrote. In short, " The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind" creates a special collaboration between composer and interpreter, and  for this reason is one of the most exciting pieces that I have ever played . It has been my great joy to see this powerful become one of the great clarinet quintets out there in the world today."

About The Piece: The mystical "The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind" is a symphony based on the dictated manuscript of the great cabbalist Rabbi Isaac the Blind.  The piece is "… a kind of epic, a history of Judaism. It has Abraham, exile, and redemption. The movements sound like they are in three of the languages spoken in almost 6,000 years of Jewish history: the first in Aramaic; the second in Yiddish; and the third in Hebrew." - writes Osvaldo Golijov about the work.

Visit http://www.davidkrakauer.com to hear samples of "The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind"  recorded by David Krakauer and the Kronos Quartet. 

On Tuesday, April 17th, David Krakauer will be the featured soloist with the Walla Walla Symphony on the orchestra's 100th anniversary season in a performance of Ofer Ben-Amots' Klezmer Concerto.   Written for and inspired by  David Krakauer, the concerto had its world premiere in Michelstadt, Germany in July, 2006, and has been lauded by critics as "a bolt of lightning" and "a delirious delight" (The Oregonian).

The composer writes: "The source of inspiration to this concerto is the unique musical language of clarinetist David Krakauer. Over the last four years I have collaborated with David on several performance and recording projects. It is, however, the first time that I wrote a composition entirely dedicated to him and with the intention to prominently feature his playing. In October 2004, I visited David in New York City and we went over some early sketches. The few hours we spent together seemed to me more like a wizardry session than a musical rehearsal. David demonstrated amazing sounds, passages, and techniques; something I had never heard before and never imagined possible. Some of these inspiring sounds found their way into the composition and they echo frequently throughout the solo clarinet part."  

On December 12, 2006 at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, in celebration of his 50th birthday, David Krakauer joined forces with one of the great master of funk/jazz trombonist Fed Wesley - known for his work with James Brown, Bootsy Collins, and Parliament Funkadelic - in the world premiere of a new collaborate project between Krakauer and Wesley, as they played to a dancing sold-out audience.  

The exciting new collaboration, is a further testament of Krakauer's mission to push forward the style of klezmer.  Below, David discusses his work with Fred Wesley, his musical language and its direction:

"Ever since I formed Klezmer Madness! in the mid 1990's I've been exploring the possibilities of adding funk, jazz and lately hip-hop influences to klezmer. Improvisation has always been a part of my musical landscape, but it was my embracing of klezmer music in my early 30's that gave me the opportunity to create my own style of improvising and composing within (and under the umbrella of ) the music of my own Eastern European Jewish cultural heritage. These explorations logically led me to my collaboration with Socalled, a kindred spirit in the search for that magic place where a combination of klezmer, funk, jazz and hip-hop can find a commonality of ecstatic trance.

In a conversation with Socalled somewhere on the road in Europe in late 2005, the name Fred Wesley came up. Fred of course is world renowned as one of the great masters of funk through his amazing trombone playing and arranging with the likes of James Brown, Bootsy Collins, Parliament Funkadelic etc., etc . I felt that collaborating with Fred would be a tremendous  (and logical) next step in this musical journey that I've been on for the last ten years. Much to my delight, Mr. Wesley accepted the proposal to join this path of musical exploration."

Check out the new interview with David Krakauer and Socalled on Klezmer Podcast, hosted by Keith Wolzinger. Click here to listen: http://www.klezmerpodcast.com/