ArtistInfo

The Mazeltones

Band,
Folk

Mazeltones are one of the oldest klez revival bands around, and they have always provided a humor and a variety that are better than the best of local klezmer bands. Their first cassette, Seattle, Tacoma cover "Seattle, Tacoma," on Global Village provided a humorous updating of the Aaron Lebedeff favorite: "Seattle, Seattle, where bridges fall down and it rains all year 'round" (or something like that). That humor hasn't deserted them over the years. On this album's title tune, Wendy Marcus sings "Oh I've been chasing after children / Since a quarter after five / ... / And people wonder why I sometimes / Like to travel with the band." If anything, the band's ability to tap into what it means to be young and Jewish and living a "Jewish" life has broadened that sense in all of their audiences. To close, they remember their roots with a hilarious "Rasputin" ("All that seems distant / all that seems far / from those wonderful days / in the palace of the Czar") True to the goal of diversity, the band does a lovely Barry-Sisters-dich "Eshet Khayil" bringing that 50s jazz-klez fusion to life, then follow several more traditional klezmer tunes, interspersed with several Sephardic and Mizrahi tunes--notably "Laner V'Livsamim", which has been first performed by one of Israel's popular '70s borekas bands Tzlilei Hakerem, and "Jo Hanino," a Sephardic folk song. All-in-all, once again the Mazeltones strike a balance between it all, while only becoming better musicians through the years. Whatever it is, they play it well and with verse. This latest recording is delightful, as usual, and still, just a little better than the one before, "Ay vunder iber vunder...."

Members

	Shawn Weaver g
	Rabbi James Mirel voc, b
	Pat Spaeth voc, acc, rec
	Wendy Marcus voc, vn
	Carol Robbins voc, acc, p
	David Hirsch voc, b
	Charlie Nordstrom dr