True to their name, the Klezmer Conservatory Band are preservationists rather than innovators in this concert recording of klezmer classics from the 1920s through the '50s. For Live!: The Thirteenth Anniversary Album arrangements are updated for modern tastes while remaining true to the heyday of the Yiddish big bands -- meaning that the anachronisms don't really become intrusive until the group has established an affable enough presence that almost any cornball transgressions can be forgiven. The well-paced, revue-style show, intentionally or not, highlights the contributions of klezmer to mainstream American music. The obvious example, Ziggy Elman's "And the Angels Sing," fits effortlessly between a cut from a 1926 Yiddish operetta and the traditional "Russian Sher."
Tracklist:
1. The Epsteins
2. Medley from "The Fool and the Flying Ship"
3. Adesa Mame
4. Feygele
5. And the Angels Sing
6. Russian Sher
7. Abi Gezunt
8. Medley
9. Der Hoyfizinger Fun Varshever Geto
10. Firn di Mekutonim Aheym
11. Tum Balalayke
12. Lena From Palesteena
13. Belz, Mayn Shtetele Belz
14. Dos Geshrey Fun der Vilder Katshke
15. Klezzified
16. Rumenye, Rumenye
Audio CD
