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| If you're thinking "I've never heard
of this guy, but he sure looks familiar", perhaps it's because
Howard Leshaw was featured in the PBS special "In the Fiddler's
House", about Itzhak Perlman's journey to discover the roots
of Klezmer. Or maybe you saw him soloing on Broadway in the Tony
nominated musical "Those Were the Days". Then again,
perhaps you caught him leading the orchestra for Joel Grey in
his "Music of Mickey Katz," or on stage with one of
the several jazz and klezmer bands with whom he travels the world,
appearing in concert halls, jazz clubs and every venue in between.
He has also been featured on Jewish recordings by artist as diverse
as Bruce Adler, Debbie Friedman, Eleanor Reisa, Phyllis Berk,
Paul Zim and the Original Klezmer Jazz Band - not to mention
on his own popular recording of Yiddish favorites "Howard
Leshaw and The Golden Land Klezmer Orchestra". |
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| If you were in Thailand last April, you would have seen Howie
(as he is generally known) electrify the crowd at a major jazz
festival when he put down his sax, picked up his clarinet and
played the first 'doina' ever heard in that part of the world.
But then again, if you're at all familiar with Leshaw's legendary
virtuosity as a player of both jazz and klezmer, you wouldn't
have been a bit surprised. Howie's prominence in the world of
jazz is undeniable and the liberal dose of swing he applies to
traditional Yiddish music is all it takes to make listeners both
old and new sit up and take notice. |
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| His approach to the music is that of a contemporary
American musician. Rather than trying to recreate that nostalgic
sound of old records, he attempts to reveal how the Klezmer masters
of yesteryear might sound if they were alive and playing today.
With a band comprised of top-notch New York City jazz players
who combine superb musicianship with genuine improvisatory flair,
Howie and friends have mixed together a unique combination of
musical imagination, ethnic integrity and simple, straight-forward
virtuosity that regularly leaves audiences breathlessly begging
for more."Jazz by any other name is still Jazz,"
intones Howie, bearing in mind that klezmer was to its originators
what Be-Bop is to the players of today. Howie and friends have
discovered that rare and special place where the past and present
meet, shake hands, then produce the kind of musical energy that
always raises the roof. |
