Hasidic New Wave - From The Belly Of Abraham (2001)

Klezmer-jazz being one of the most welcome hybrid music forms to rise in the last ten years, Hasidic New Wave now adds further excitement to that mix with From the Belly of Abraham. Joining the quintet are Alioune Faye & Yakar Rhythms, a Senegalese drum group that brings an unprecedented level of drive and pulse to the melodies constructed by bandleaders Frank London (trumpet, flugelhorn) and Greg Wall (tenor sax, soprano sax, clarinet). With the sessions subtitled "Adventures of the Afro-Semetic Diaspora," Hasidic New Wave and friends make a powerful statement about the ancestral connections (musical, religious, cultural) between sub-Saharan Africa and the traditional Jewish Holy Land. A Wolof-language invocation to Mohammed from Faye and a new arrangement of the 19th century Jewish hymn "Yemin Hashem" over the top of a beat constructed by Yakar add considerable substance to the message. Expressive, modern, and highly danceable too. -- John Duffy