CD-Charts Position 61
Average Rating:

Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill

CD-Charts > Music > Jewish and Yiddish Music
by: Various Artists

Release Date March 18, 1994
If your idea of Weill is the Doors doing "Alabama Song," this is the perfect place to expand your knowledge. Sting's performance of that song is the weakest performance here. Marianne Faithfull's interpretation of 'Ballad Of The Soldier's Wife' is one of her best performances and really captures the pathos of the song, and Tom Waits is great on 'What Keeps Mankind Alive?' For me, a dream project would be a whole CD of the two of them doing Weill.

Just to prove that Weill has a softer side, Lou Reed does the ballad 'September Song'

That tells you what kind of disc this is! Lou Reed does the 'soft' pretty music.

Because this is a Hal Willner production, and because Willner doesn't want to get too close to ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 62
Average Rating:

Friday Night Live

CD-Charts > Music > Jewish and Yiddish Music
by: Craig Taubman

Release Date February 20, 2007
This CD not only changed they way I looked at Shabbat but the way I look at Judaism. It opened my eyes and heart to the beauty of the Jewish tradition as well as new possibilities.
It is at once new and old. It is powerful!

CD-Charts Position 63
Average Rating:

At the Mountains of Madness

CD-Charts > Music > Jewish and Yiddish Music
by: John Zorn, Electric Masada

Release Date November 22, 2005
Nothing in modern-era music this ferocious, powerful, utterly beautiful and, ultimately, non-categorizable since Mahavishnu in its '70's prime. Nothing. Check out the 2 live versions of "Metal Tov".

CD-Charts Position 64
Average Rating:

Astaroth: Book of Angels, Vol. 1

CD-Charts > Music > Jewish and Yiddish Music
by: Jamie Saft Trio

Release Date June 07, 2005
At the end of 2004, John Zorn wrote 300 (yes, that IS 300) songs for his Masada project, each song named after an angel. As such, the new material is Masada Book Two: The Book of Angels. The Masada pieces were written using the "Jewish" scales, which lends a sort of Middle Eastern meets Eastern European sound to the pieces. The first batch of Masada pieces was written primarily for the Masada band to play, Zorn has stated that this time, he doesn't want the music associated with a particular band, but rather wants this to be a songbook performed by a number of bands. This volume, by a piano trio led by Jamie Saft, is the first.

The group, consisting of Saft (piano), Greg Cohen (bass), and Ben Perowksy (drums) largely works best on the slower ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 65
Average Rating:

Volac: Book of Angels, Vol. 8

CD-Charts > Music > Jewish and Yiddish Music
by: Erik Friedlander

Release Date September 25, 2007
In December of 2004, John Zorn premiered new works for his Masada project-- some 300 songs written in the previous few months and collectively referred to as "Masada Book II: The Book of Angels". During four nights of perfomances at the dearly-missed Tonic, Zorn revealed his plan to have different groups perform and record songs from the new book. Virtually everyone I spoke to left the shows talking about two things, the unnerving intensity and power of Electric Masada and the delicate beauty of Erik Friedlander's solo performances. In over two years since, we've yet to see an Electric Masada studio record, but "Volac: Book of Angels Volume 8" presents a dozen of the pieces performed by Friedlander's solo cello.

Before going further, just in case ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 66
Average Rating:

23 Most Famous Israeli Folk Songs

CD-Charts > Music > Jewish and Yiddish Music
by: Various Artists

Release Date June 12, 2007
In December of 2004, John Zorn premiered new works for his Masada project-- some 300 songs written in the previous few months and collectively referred to as "Masada Book II: The Book of Angels". During four nights of perfomances at the dearly-missed Tonic, Zorn revealed his plan to have different groups perform and record songs from the new book. Virtually everyone I spoke to left the shows talking about two things, the unnerving intensity and power of Electric Masada and the delicate beauty of Erik Friedlander's solo performances. In over two years since, we've yet to see an Electric Masada studio record, but "Volac: Book of Angels Volume 8" presents a dozen of the pieces performed by Friedlander's solo cello.

Before going further, just in case ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 67
Average Rating:

Sing Shalom: Songs for the Jewish Holidays

CD-Charts > Music > Jewish and Yiddish Music
by: Peter & Ellen Allard

Release Date January 01, 1998
I have never really enjoyed listening to "Jewish" music until this recording! What a fun romp through the holidays, simply the best sounding and most playable music I've heard in years. These people can really play, and the lyrics are easy and memorable. But it is the catchy tunes I find myself humming, and my kids always want to hear Sing Shalom, all the year through! I highly recommend this CD, especially for interfaith or sorta-faith families. Makes us want more from the Allards!

CD-Charts Position 68
Average Rating:

Sephardic Journey

CD-Charts > Music > Jewish and Yiddish Music
from: Dorian Recordings

Release Date March 23, 1999
I have never really enjoyed listening to "Jewish" music until this recording! What a fun romp through the holidays, simply the best sounding and most playable music I've heard in years. These people can really play, and the lyrics are easy and memorable. But it is the catchy tunes I find myself humming, and my kids always want to hear Sing Shalom, all the year through! I highly recommend this CD, especially for interfaith or sorta-faith families. Makes us want more from the Allards!

CD-Charts Position 69
Average Rating:

Essen

CD-Charts > Music > Jewish and Yiddish Music
by: Paul Shapiro

Release Date June 24, 2008
I have never really enjoyed listening to "Jewish" music until this recording! What a fun romp through the holidays, simply the best sounding and most playable music I've heard in years. These people can really play, and the lyrics are easy and memorable. But it is the catchy tunes I find myself humming, and my kids always want to hear Sing Shalom, all the year through! I highly recommend this CD, especially for interfaith or sorta-faith families. Makes us want more from the Allards!

CD-Charts Position 70
Average Rating:

Mahler: Urlicht - Primal Light / Caine, Bensoussan, et al.

CD-Charts > Music > Jewish and Yiddish Music
by: Uri Caine

Release Date June 23, 1998
I've owned this album for years and I still come back to this piece as one of the best interpretations of the Resurrection symphony out there. It captures perfectly the dissonance that Mahler was trying to convey in this symphony in a striking, innovative way and I think he would have approved.