Naftule's Dream - Job (2001)

Without any advance notice it might be difficult to discern that this is a live recording -- thanks to Bill Laswell's superb mix translation and the engineering team's state-of-the-art post-production techniques. No doubt, the sound processing denotes a mere additive to this band's intelligent melding of Jewish traditional music with modern jazz and hard rock-style backbeats. With their third effort, this sextet pronounces a rather quixotic demeanor via intermittent spurts of pathos, fun, and frolic. On "Dirge Sirba," tubaist James Gray's pumping lines serve as a catalyst for clarinetist Glenn Dickson's wailing choruses, where accordionist Michael McLaughlin's chord clusters might parallel the role of rhythm guitarist. And while the musicians frequently pursue climactic opuses amid a few nimbly devised time changes, guitarist Pete Fitzpatrick injects some hardcore psycho guitar into the grand mix. The band also probes a few dark corners, evidenced by the dreamscape-like passages on "Back in the Sewer." With their fusion of klezmer with airy Mediterranean motifs and festive choruses, the band tops it all off with a few nods to the avant-garde. Hence, the musicians' shrewd genre-hopping coupled with their ability to assimilate vast ideas into an identifiable group sound signifies just one of their many calling cards. Emphatically recommended.