Jews and the Abstract Truth

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The Hasidic New Wave is a quintet drawn from the ranks of New York's finest Jewish wedding bands; leaders Greg Wall (tenor sax) and Frank London (trumpet and organ) are joined by guitarist David Fiuczynski, bassist Kenny Davis and drummer Aaron Alexander. Wall and London's own description of this music's origins couldn't put things more plainly: "The Hasidic wedding scene is hot. Ecstatic trance dancing, wild revelry, singing and shouting; a raucous meeting of sacred and secular". The chops needed to perform such music - chops in ample evidence here - are intense, for the music's rich and diverse musical heritage suck in a bewildering range of Eastern European and Middle Eastern folk influences alongside those of jazz, pop, tin pan alley and rock. That musicians proficient in the music should be drawn to play more openly experimental music is hardly a surprise. In any case, the last few years have demonstrated very clearly the easy relationship between much Jewish music and contemporary jazz; cf. John Zorn's ongoing Masada project, Don Byron's recent work, and the wonderfully -timed reissue on Zorn's avant label of Joe Maneri's earliest solo sessions. HNW enter the fray with total passion, commitment and aggression. The tunes here are by turns melancholic and ferocious; all are played with awesome virtuosity. They're joined by several guest players, including NYC New Music stalwarts Anthony Coleman on organ and Gary Lucas on guitar.