New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Klezmer/Jazz fusion group Klazz-Ma-Tazz will release its debut album Tangibility on OneTrickDog* Records. Founded by violinist and composer
Benjamin Sutin, in 2014, Klazz-Ma-Tazz blurs the boundaries of labels and genres. Rooted in the jazz idiom, the music reflects the influences of folk music from around the world, but particularly from the varied ethnic backgrounds of its band members: Klezmer and Balkan Folk music, Indian Classical Music, Native American Tribal Dance and English Folk Music, among others. Tangibility is a musical journey that explores the unique chemistry of gifted musicians working to forge a new musical form. The resulting musical melting pot finds an authentic home and voice in a city that has always had its identity in the confluence of diverse cultures. The majority of the tracks on Tangibility are Sutin's original compositions. Tangibilty will be available for purchase
September 1, on Bandcamp.com and iTunes.
Listen to Tangibility at: https://soundcloud.com/klazzmatazz-tangibility
Purchase Tangibility at: iTunes and Bandcamp.com
Following a trip to
Israel in 2013, Sutin wrote Tangibility to embody his musical vision of fusing his cultural roots in klezmer with his love of jazz, and to offer a tangible form for this fusion. Motivated by this track, Sutin continued writing music in this vein, including Thank You, Speak The Truth, Kluez, and a fiery interpretation/re-harmonization of the Greek Folk Song Miserlou. Tbilisi, a composition of the band's bassist Mathew Muntz, is a Balkan- and African-inspired contra-fact and a play on words of the jazz standard, Sweet Georgia Brown. The album opens with the band's arrangement/medley of Papini, written by Sutin's klezmer mentor, Yale Strom, and with the Turkish Folk Song Sari Cicek.
Ben Sutin began his career in Philadelphia, where he studied with legendary jazz violinist, John
Blake Jr. Sutin has had the privilege of performing in venues such as NJPAC's
Victoria Theater, Dizzy's Club Cocoa Cola, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Nassau Coliseum, Clifford Brown Jazz Festival and more. He has performed with the likes of the Tran-Siberian Orchestra, Larry Harlow,
Bobby Sanabria, Pandit Samir Chatterjee, Ronnie Burrage, Benito Gonzalez,
George Burton,
Diane Monroe, Tommy Byrnes, and he has also garnered acclaim in the jazz violin community from the likes of Jean Luc Ponty,
Regina Carter, Christian Howes and Sara Caswell.
On hearing Sutin, Caswell wrote, "His adventurous musical lines and under-lying creative energy left me feeling I'd witnessed a unique voice destined for something great."
In addition to Sutin on violin, band members include: saxophonist and clarinetist Elijah Shiffer (who studied with Dave Liebman and Jim McNeely), pianist Ben Rosenblum (ASCAP/Downbeat winner), guitarist Grant Goldstein, bassist Mathew Muntz, drummer Matt Scarano, tabla player, Ani Challa, and current drummer Tim Rachbach.
Klazz-Ma-Tazz online - https://www.bensutinmusic.com/#!klazzmatazz/c22nf
OneTrickDog* is a small independent record label, specializing in jazz, jazz fusion, and occasional blues. The members are a loose collective of recording artists, sound and graphic designers, sound engineers and composers, and are affiliated with Avidon Audio Labs (which has tracked, mixed and mastered numerous jazz, classical and blues albums, and film sound tracks). Several of the members work as a production team, doing original screenplays, videography and sound work. In the past year, OneTrickDog* have released three new albums (crosstalk by Andres Boiarsky, Second Row Behind the Painter by Roy Assaf Trio, and Interloper by Jonathan Parker). This summer, they look forward to the release of: Tangibility by Klazz-Ma-Tazz, Loving Losing by People vs. Larsen, and When I Was A Child by trumpeter Wayne Tucker. Later in 2015, they will begin a series featuring established jazz artists playing with up and coming artists.
