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On this page, you'll find free sample MP3 tracks from each of our CD's, plus bonus tracks never released on CD. These are the complete tracks. Feel free to pass these MP3's along for anyone to enjoy. You can purchase any complete CD and find special offers by going to our web store.
Baby Blue Arts | Trumpet: Dave Jensen Drums: Jay Epstein Woodwinds: Dale Mendenhall Bass: Chris Bates Piano: Joseph Vass Violin: Gary Schulte
All music except I Got Rhythm composed by Joseph Vass. |
A live-in-studio performance recorded for Baby Blue Arts television, now streamed on the Web (not available for download). |
See
and hear us perform Tango De Klezmerica Bulka's Song Song of Ruth I Got Rhythm |
The Chosen | Piano and other instruments: Joseph Vass
Copyright (p)© 2007-2010 Joseph Vass All Rights Reserved. |
Joseph Vass composed,
p,erformed and recorded incidental music for the "The Chosen" at the Park Square
Theatre. These are selections in MP3 form. |
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Live From Klezmerica! | All music except Hava Nagilah and
Heyser Bulgar composed by Joseph Vass. Trumpet: Dave Jensen Drums: Jay Epstein Woodwinds: Dale Mendenhall Bass: Chris Bates Piano: Joseph Vass Violin: Carolyn Boulay (except Heyser Bulgar -- Gary Schulte performs on violin)
Copyright ®© 1998-2010 Joseph Vass and Frozen Chozen Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
We recently recorded a live concert in St. Cloud, Minnesota. In the column to the right, you'll find eight free MP3 tracks from that live performance. These are the complete tracks. Feel free to pass these MP3's along for free for anyone to enjoy. | The Wedding |
The World Hangs In The Balance
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About 800 years ago, Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon (AKA Maimonides or The Ramba'm) challenged each of us to live continuously as if the world hangs in the balance. In each moment, he advised, act as if your next single decision could turn the entire universe to good or to evil. Thats a challenging standard for creating music. As if the next note, the next pluck of a string or whack of a drum could save the world. As if it matters that much. Because it does. |
Soloing on original Joseph Vass compositions, Yuri Merzhevsky's violin playing soars into what one critic called "an ethereal realm": (Copyright © 1995 Joseph Vass. All Rights Reserved.) |
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Jerusalem Of Blue
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Our first exclusively instrumental CD. A journalist once wrote about our live performance: "The sound is wonderful. It could have come from a dozen countries and times. You hear prayers from ancient Hebrew times wrapped in American Blues. The Gypsies are here, Hasidic Jews, too, bumping up against cool jazz and a marching tune. It makes your feet pump. If there was room...you'd grab somebody and dance. Or sing every sorrow and joy you ever felt. The music is boisterous, gaudy, and brimming with tears." Our goal: was to capture that sound in this recording. Did we? Check a review: "...klezmer as it could be played only in America, with a healthy dose of jazz behind the krechts. In many of the best ways, this recording exemplifies the type of mainstream klezmer many of us Jewish-Americans would like played at our weddings, music that reflects both the Americanized (but still, to us, very Eastern European Jewish) klezmer, and straightforward, well-played, American Jazz. Unlike most crossovers, Klezmerica has managed to do this without losing the soul of the music." Ari Davidow, Ari Davidow's Klezmer Shack. |
The opening track--a traditional tune
associated with the joyous Jewish holiday of Purim
The title track Jerusalem of Blue; Joe wrote this for the liner notes: "The question I asked myself: 'What if the blues had been invented by Jews?' The answer was this composition, for which I provided the melody, the harmony, the rhythm, and the form. The band turned my composition into this collective improvisation." (Copyright © 1995 Joseph Vass. All Rights Reserved.) |
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Gershwin The
Klezmer
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The original cast album from the hit musical The Soul of Gershwin; The Musical Journey of an American Klezmer. We celebrate the Jewish connection in the music of George Gershwin. Check out reviews, more information and more music samples from The Soul of Gershwin; The Musical Journey of an American Klezmer. | A traditional hot Jewish dance; one radio DJ called this track "careening klezmer": An original Joe Vass composition performed in the show: (Copyright © 1998 Joseph Vass All Rights Reserved): |
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BONUS! NOT ON
ANY ALBUM: History Of The Melodica Narrated by Desmond Goldfarb. |
Back when we started out as "The Minnesota Klezmer Band," Joe Vass played the melodica instead of the piano on 3 tracks of our first CD Bulka's Song. People often ask us, "What is that instrument Joe is playing? What is its history? Is it really made of plastic?" So Joe wrote History Of The Melodica and we enlisted the aid of noted ethnomusicologist Desmond Goldfarb (portrayed by Donny Maseng).. |
(Copyright ®© 1998 Joseph Vass All Rights Reserved): |
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Klezmerica retains all copyright in these sound recordings. Klezmerica makes these sound recordings available only to individuals for their personal downloading, listening and copying for free distribution to others. No commercial or religious use whatsoever is authorized without permission. Copyright ®© 1998-2010 Frozen Chozen Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
2 SPECIAL OFFERS!
Order Jerusalem of Blue now and receive
Gershwin The Klezmer for only an additional $5--
Both for only $20!
Or order the entire set of all 4 CD's for only $40!
VISIT OUR SECURE WEBSTORE NOW!
To the cautious customer: Our webstore is secured by Earthlink, a nationally reputable web services provider which operates it on our behalf. Despite this, if you'd rather not use your credit card over the Internet, you can order our CD's by mail. The cost is $15 per CD, plus a one-time charge of $2.95 for Shipping and Handling (the one-time charge is only $2.95 no matter how many CD's you order.). Please send your check and your return name and address to:
Klezmerica
2018 Kenwood Drive West
Maplewood, MN 55117-2226