David Krakauer

David Krakauer at a concert with Klezmer Madness . Innsbruck, 2009

David Krakauer (born September 22, 1956 in Manhattan , New York City ) is an American clarinetist . He is one of the most famous contemporary klezmer musicians and became internationally known primarily as a member of The Klezmatics . Since the 1990s, he has been combining traditional elements of klezmer music with avant-garde movements, e.g. B. with dance floor .

Live and act

Krakauer's mother was a violin teacher, his father a doctor. At the age of nine he began to learn the clarinet after unsuccessful piano lessons. He later studied at the Juilliard School with Leon Russianoff, at Sarah Lawrence College , one year at the Conservatory in Paris , at Vassar College and at the Manhattan School of Music , where he now teaches. His training took place in the classic way. He said:

"I didn't grow up with any Chanukah songs or any Israeli songs. I basically grew up listening to Schnabel playing the late Beethoven piano sonatas, and when I was eleven Sidney Bechet. "

It wasn't until the mid-80s that he found his love for klezmer. Here again Krakauer:

"I realized that klezmer music was the Yiddish language in music, and I felt in a certain way that I had found a kind of musical home."

In 1986 he co-founded The Klezmatics and played on their albums Shvaygn = Toyt (1989), Rhythm And Jews (1992) and most recently Jews With Horns . He left the group in 1994 to start a new project, Klezmer Madness! , as the producer and musician of which he records albums with various musicians. This plays a danceable klezmer that is influenced by jazz, rock, funk, soul, blues and hip-hop.

The first album, Klezmer madness! , he produced himself and recorded it with the musicians Anthony Coleman ( keyboard ), Adam Rogers ( electric guitar ), Michael Alpert ( violin , guitar , accordion ), David Light ( drums ), Juan Ortega (drums, timbales ) and Oscar Ortega ( congas ) on. On his second album, Klezmer, NY , released in 1998 , he worked again with electric guitarist Rogers and with Ted Reichman (accordion), Kevin Norton (drums, percussion ) and Oren Bloedow ( electric bass ).

In 1999 Krakauer switched to the French label Bleu , where the third album, A new hot one , was released in the spring of 2000 . He recorded his songs with accordion player Reichman, drummer Norton as well as electric guitarist Mark Stewart, electric bass player Pablo Aslan and singer Nicki Parrott . With the fourth album, The Twelve tribes , also released by Bleu, he again collaborated with Norton and Parrott and Rogers. The other musicians were Kevin O'Neil (electric guitar), Will Holshouser (accordion) and the Canadian DJ socalled , who experimented with klezmer and hip-hop and was responsible for samples on the album. The production received the annual German Record Critics' Award in 2002 . Krakauer also worked on his sixth album, Bubbemeises , with socalled, with whom he also gave concert appearances, around 2008 at the Spot on Yiddishkeit festival in the Vienna Konzerthaus .

The last album so far, Krakauer's Ancestral Groove , has been released on the Bleu label. Participating musicians: David Krakauer, clarinet / Sheryl Bailey, electric guitar / Jerome Harris, electric bass / Michael Sarin, drums / Keepalive, sampler and the special guests: John Medeski, organ (Track 3) / Marc Ribot, guitar (Track 5) and Rob Curto, acordion (Track8).

Krakauer also worked with the Kronos Quartet , among others .

Albums

• 1995: Klezmer madness! ( Tzadik Records, New York)
• 1998: Klezmer, NY ( Tzadik Records, New York)
• 2000: A new hot one ( Label Bleu , France)
• 2002: The twelve tribes (Label Bleu)
• 2003: Krakauer live in Krakow (Label Bleu)
• 2005: Bubbemeises: Read my gramma told me
• 2014: Krakauer's Ancestral Groove

Awards

• WM Naumburg Chamber Music Award 1984 (in the Aspen Wind Quintet )
• German Record Critics' Prize 2002: Best Jazz Album of the Year for The twelve Tribes
• 2014 Down Beat Critic Poll Rising Star Category Clarinet

literature

• Jaques Cattell Press (Ed.): Who's Who in American Music. Classical . RR Bowker, New York 1983, ISBN 0-8352-1725-6 .

Web links

• www.davidkrakauer.com
• Elaine Strauss. Krakauer on Klezmer, France, and Goose Bumps (accessed January 27, 2010)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Georg Winkler: Klezmer. Peter Lang Verlag, pp. 233-235.
2. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from November 20, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. accessed December 15  
3. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from November 20, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. accessed December 15  
4. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated December 11, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 15, 2010.