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Artist
Betsuni Nanmo Klezmer
12+ albums
13klezmerjapanesejewishtraditional
about
Kazutoki Umezu formed Betsuni Nanmo Klezmer in 1992 and the sprawling ensemble left the world with three public recordings, the 1994 debut Omedeto and two 1996 releases, Waruzu(Waltz) and Ahiru. Betsuni Nanmo Klezmer was Kazutoki Umezu's first klezmer band, prior to his current Komatcha Klezmer project, and boy was it a doozy - a 17(!)-piece orchestra plus heavyweights Makigami Koichi and Tokyo Nammy (who has collaborated with members of Ruins, Hikashu, and others) sharing vocal duties. The group often doubled up on instrumentation (including pairs of drums, bass, violin, clarinets, saxophones, and marimbas, as well as banjo, accordion, trombone, and tuba) and featured members of both Otomo's New Jazz Quintet and musicians who'd later end up in Komatcha Klezmer, among other groups. The group mostly deconstructed traditional Jewish standards, and interpolated arrangements by Naftule Brandwine, Benny Goodman, and Gene Raskin, amongst others. The fantastic thing about t he group is that unlike most klez bands, there's so much going on with the instrumentation and the sheer size of the band that the tunes are often taken out and given ample room to stretch and twist into contorted shapes of their former selves, with twisted melodies flailing about as sturdy polyrhythms anchor the madness; Makigami & Nammy's vocals also add additional madness to the proceedings whilst also being entirely respectful of the genre and its histories - and while Makigami's almost alw
