Satchmo, streimel and all that jazz

Keren Friedman, Jazzraelites ensemble give Jewish, Israeli folk music a magical contemporary twist.

By MAURICE PICOW
Jazz ensemble (photo credit: Roman Belashov)
Jazz ensemble
(photo credit: Roman Belashov)
Her voice is smooth and sultry, and closely resembles iconic female jazz singers of years gone by. But this is not all local jazz vocalist Keren Friedman, 37, and her musical ensemble, The Jazzraelites, offer adoring audiences. Friedman and the Jazzraelites also perform “Jewish music” and Israeli tunes, giving these songs a contemporary jazz sparkle, bringing to mind the melodies of jazz greats such as Louis Armstrong and the Dave Brubeck Quartet.
“I originally formed an ensemble called Keren Friedman Jazz Group in the mid- 1990s, and we later changed its name to the Jazzraelites when we began to...
include ‘Jewish music’ such as popular Israeli and Jewish songs as well as hassidic numbers,” Friedman says following a concert in February at Netanya’s Cultural Center and Music Hall.
The concert, billed as “Louis Armstrong Plays Streimel,” included jazz numbers from American greats like Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald such as “Get Happy” and “As Time Goes By”; George Gershwin classic “Ain’t Necessarily So,” from the musical Porgy and Bess; and Billie Holiday’s “I’ll be Seeing You.”
Jewish jazz music renditions included “Tumbalalaika,” “Shir Hama’alot,” “Song of Jerusalem” (Shir Yerushalayim), “Har Hatzofim” (Mount Scopus) and “Jerusalem the Golden.”
The ensemble’s members included pianist Tamir Miller, clarinet and saxophone player Erez Bar-Noy, double-bass player Gilad Efrat and drummer Doron Hirsch.
The Jazzraelites jazz group has now been together for seven years and combines hassidic-style music with jazz.
Friedman’s choice of career dates back to when she was a child living in the coastal city of Netanya. Her mother had made aliya from England and married a local man, but they later parted ways.
“My father left home when I was less than two years old. It was very hard for my mother as she received no financial support from my dad and had to work several jobs to support my sister and me. We were ‘adopted’ by an English religious family in Netanya who exposed us to Jewish life and songs, especially on Shabbat and holidays,” says Friedman.
Through her mother, she and her sister were also exposed to contemporary pop tunes from the 1960s and ’70s.
“We were also big Danny Kaye fans,” she adds.
Her musical career began when she was 12. The school she attended convinced her to join a local school choir, Banot Aviv, after her teacher heard her singing at school.
“I was a very shy child, and people persuaded me to join a choir... to help overcome my shyness. That’s when I discovered I had... potential... as the choir wanted me to sing solo. This would later influence my singing career,” she says.
Two years later her family moved to Zichron Ya’acov, and there Friedman became exposed to what later became her day job: Feldenkrais exercise instruction, which she originally enrolled in due to back problems.
“People in Zichron were very supportive of us, and I am lucky to have been ‘adopted’ by both the English family in Netanya and by the family of my Feldenkrais instructor in Zichron. Israel is full of good people who reach out to help, and this often helped me get through some very difficult periods in my earlier life,” she says.
Friedman’s music career received a further boost at age 16 when she met Yitzhak Gracious, a well-known conductor for the IDF Army Band for many years. During this period she sang occasionally with army singing groups. Later, during her army service, she was a field medic, although she still occasionally sang with army singing troupes.
Following army service, Friedman attended Rimon Music College in Ramat Hasharon.
“Rimon is well known for its jazz music and other contemporary music. It is also connected with Berklee College of Music in the US,” she says. She began singing jazz numbers in her 20s and formed the Keren Friedman Jazz Group. After getting married, she lived a couple of years in Folsom, California, where she met guitarist Sandy Suarez, who played in the band of Engelbert Humperdinck.
“We were about to build a musical group in the US when I had to return to Israel,” she says.
DANNY HOFFMAN, the Jazzraelites’ violinist, came to Israel 15 years ago from Los Angeles. A graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, Hoffman has performed with the American Davka Classical Middle Eastern Jazz Group as well as the Klezz-X klezmer-style jazz band, which he founded.
Hoffman says that he has developed a unique style of playing Yiddish violin music, which he combines with contemporary jazz as well as Middle Eastern rhythms.
“I composed music for the musical David in Shadow and Light, which premiered in Washington, DC, in 2008,” he says. In addition to playing with the Jazzraelites, he plays regularly with other Israeli groups Trio Carpion and Echo 3.
“I am now involved in a documentary film project entitled Violin Around the World in which various violin and other string instrument melodies in a number of countries will be brought together.
These will include 13 episodes with 13 unique destinations – each focusing on a particular violin style in depth,” he says.
The pilot episode is set for filming this summer in Ireland, and will also include performances in Albania, Canada, Egypt, India, Moldova, Morocco, Sweden, Turkey and the US.
Another featured Jazzraelites member, saxophonist Erez Bar-Noy, is a graduate of the Mannes College New School for Music in New York and also studied under jazz saxophone greats Billy Harper and George Gerson. Bar-Noy is well known on the Israel jazz scene and has played at a number of jazz festivals, including the Red Sea Jazz Festival and “Jazz Stream in Tel Aviv.” Erez is as versatile on clarinet as he is on sax, and demonstrated this beautifully at the Netanya concert, where he played solo renditions on both instruments.
However, no jazz group is complete without a good percussionist. Yonatan Oleiski is a top drummer on the Israeli and US jazz scene, and is well known for his musical taste and flexibility. He was mentored by legendary trumpet player Clark Terry and gained recognition playing in New York at famous jazz clubs such as the Village Vanguard, Jazz Standard and Small’s.
Oleiski was awarded the 2008 “Jazz Player of the Year Award” at the Rimon Music College, and has since been featured in master classes at the college. He has performed worldwide with renowned artists coming from groups such as Jazzsteppa; singer, songwriter and composer Efrat Gosh; Yaron Gottfried; Yonatan Avishai; and the Manila Symphony Orchestra.
Pianist Tamir Miller, who is also the ensemble’s music arranger, graduated from Boston’s Berklee College of Music and is currently head of the Be’er Ya’acov Music Conservatory. Miller has been active in a number of local jazz groups as well as the Tel Aviv and Givatayim jazz festivals. Miller grew up on Kibbutz Ein Hahoresh and began to study piano at age 10.
The Netanya concert also included a guest performer, guitarist Bruce Burger, known locally and abroad as Rebbe Soul.
Burger added a special touch by playing an electric balalaika in “Tumbalalaika” and “Jerusalem the Golden.”
Upcoming Jazzraelites performances include a concert in Zichron Ya’acov’s cultural center in late April, another concert in Haifa; and a midsummer performance in Modi’in. Regarding the future of The Jazzraelites, Friedman says, “We want to take our group abroad, especially to Europe and the US.”