Marian Etoile Watson, WNEW-TV Metromedia, New York: « They look like modern-day troubadors, these six brilliant musicians from Berkeley, California, the leaders of the revival of klezmer, America's least known style of folk music... Klezmer is family: Rumanian, Polish, Russian and Lower East Side, New York. It is conversation and light opera. Loony-tune music with a dash of Viennese waltzes and proud roots. Throw in a twist of Dixieland and pepper it with ragtime and Black blues and you've got klezmer: Yiddish jazz... It's a spiritual shot in the arm and you better hold on to your hat, 'cause they will be back... »
Philadelphia Daily News: « Loony-spirited... fast-moving, big-hearted river of surrealistic schtick... A six-man group of wacked-out players who pack so many oompah-pahs, laughing clarinet lines, and downright raunchy horn riffs into their Twenties-style, Eastern European-flavored jazz-baby brew that what comes out sounds a whole lot like circus music for an inebriated dancing elephant act or the greatest New Orleans street band you ever heard kicking out the jams... »
American Way: « A wild, wheedling, passionate blast from the European past... high spirits and fine musicianship... Audiences loved them; fans multiplied... there were rows of screaming teenaged girls in Denver... the musicians were recognized from California beaches to Chicago sidewalks... Next stop? Carnegie Hall. The Klezmorim passed, with standing ovations and two encores... a man in the audience shouted, 'Beautiful!' And so it is. »
Twin Cities Reader, Minnesota: « Clever/mesmerizing... a street-level energy reckless and honest enough to knock off your kneehighs... When The Klezmorim take their show on the road, they play to sell-out crowds at concerts and festivals around the world... young music makers and fans are sparked with fascination for the wild, rowdy klezmer synthesis of jazz, folk, classic, and operatic idioms with complex, discordant ornamentation that even a diehard New Waver can live with... Hey, they're really hot! »
The Record, New Jersey: « Six young men from the West Coast came to Carnegie Hall to play two concerts, one at 3 p.m., the other at 7 p.m. The last time I saw scalpers hustling tickets outside the venerable old hall on West 57th Street was when Vladimir Horowitz returned to the concert stage after a 12-year absence. The hall was not only full. It was jumping. From the opening number... The Klezmorim had the audience stamping its feet, clapping its hands, shouting bravos, finally dancing in the aisles even though the house lights had gone on. This was for the 3 o'clock show. I don't know how they managed to clear the place for the 7 p.m. set. »
The New York Times: « Melodies of strident, compelling joy and pulsating rhythm... the music makers are a half-dozen klezmorim, young Californians who call their band simply by the name of their art, The Klezmorim. »
New York Daily News: « On stage, they bounce around like a bunch of squirrels who just ate a bag o' coffee beans. It's as dull as the Mardi Gras. »
Philip Elwood, San Francisco Examiner: « The Klezmorim is unquestionably the most entertaining and fascinating instrumental ensemble in our midst... blending 19th-century Balkan street sounds with pre-Depression era Duke Ellington speakeasy music... superbly competent, free-spirited, instrumental souls playing... gut-level, foot-stomping music... brilliant individual and collective instrumental improvisations and good-time sounds... The Klezmorim put on a great musical show — they play, they dance, they sing, they shout; they entertain. »
San Francisco Chronicle: « A night of wild fun, music and madness... A wonderfully invigorating sound... The effect is to set the pulse a-racin', the toe-a-tappin', the face a-smilin'. »
Peninsula Times Tribune, Palo Alto, California: « Expert musicians with a pleasing period jazz sound [and] the bright eyes and boogie gait of a '30s cartoon character... The show has the intimacy and wit of jazz, the daring and outrageousness of a circus, and much that is totally original. It's outstanding entertainment... inspired madness at its best. »
Wall Street Journal: « Balkan beatniks... » 1984 press >>