The Alexandria Kleztet - The Alexandria Kleztet - News

Wammies & more!

Sun, 21 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0700

On Saturday, February 28, the 24th annual Washington Area Music Awards (or "Wammies") were held at the State Theatre in Falls Church, Virginia. We're happy to report that, once again, The Alexandria Kleztet was honored with two Wammies from our colleagues in the greater Washington musical community. Band leader Seth Kibel was awarded the Wammie for "World Music Instrumentalist" for the SEVENTH year in a row, and "Peace, Love and Coffee" became our fourth consecutive album to receive the Wammie for "World Music Recording."

In other news, we want to hip everyone to the brand new album from SONiA & disappear fear. It's called "Blood, Bones & Baltimore," and it's really an amazing record. It features contributions on almost every track from The Kleztet's own Seth Kibel and Helen Hausmann.

The Most Klezmery Time of the Year!

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0800

'Tis the season!

'Tis the season to shower your friends and family with presents to show them how much you love, value and cherish them!

May we recommend that you give them the gift of Peace, Love and Coffee? The album, that is.

Our newest album is winning rave reviews everywhere, and is available just about everywhere fine music is sold on the World Wide Interweb. Both as digital files and as physical CD's.

But probably the easiest way to get your copies is to purchase them from our good friends at CDBaby.com or from us directly at one of our live shows.

So please check out some of our schedule highlights below, or find our complete schedule on our website at www.kleztet.com.

Here's wishing you and yours a VERY happy and healthy holiday season!

- Seth & The Alexandria Kleztet

Schedule highlights

Saturday, December 5 -- Burke Library Multicultural Open House Celebration

11 am - noon

5935 Freds Oak Road, Burke, Virginia 22015

703-249-1520
Free!

Saturday, December 5 -- Concert at Rust Library

6 - 7:15 pm

380 Old Waterford Road, Leesburg, Virginia 20175

703-777-0323
Free!
Yes, I know, we're playing two libraries in one day. Go figure.

Thursday, December 10 -- Concert at Sussex County Community College

7 - 8:30 pm
1 College Hill Road, Newton, New Jersey 08201
973-300-2100

We'll be in the "A" Building, in the Performing Arts Center.

Earlier in the day, we'll be doing an educational program for students at the college.

My understanding is that evening concert is free for students, and costs $7 for anyone else. So please pass this along to all your Jersey friends!

Sunday, December 13 -- Takoma Park/Silver Spring Performing Arts Center

"Hungry for Chanukah Music" benefit concert

7 pm

7995 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910
240-567-5775
This is our annual benefit concert for Hungry for Music, featuring some of the best and brightest in Jewish music in the Mid-Atlantic. In addition to The Kleztet, featured performers will include Klezcentricity, Lox and Vodka, Alan Oresky, and Mark Novak a.k.a. MC Macabee.

Reserved tickets are $20 and $25 and can ONLY be obtained by going to www.hungryformusic.com or by calling 240-582-6193.

YouKlez

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

We've just posted a whole slew of fine, fine video clips from The Alexandria Kleztet's August CD release show at The Kennedy Center.

Please check 'em out. And pretend the internet is toast, and our videos are klezmer jelly -- in other words, spread 'em around! Tweet 'em, post 'em on your Facebook profiles, rate 'em, comment on 'em, share 'em with your loved ones, watch 'em on company time -- it's all good!

Ketsad M'rakdin

Bei Mir Bist Du Schein

Cantina Band (yep, from Star Wars)

Youkali

Mi Ha'ish

If what you see (and hear) whets your appetite for more, please check out our December performance schedule here. We're playing all up and down the East Coast throughout next month, so you'll have plenty of chances to catch us live.

Kleztoberfest!

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Saturday, October 3 -- Art on the Avenue Festival
10 - 11 am
Mount Vernon Avenue & East Oxford Avenue, Alexandria, VA
Free!

Sunday, October 4 -- Interview/live performance on WRNR
9 am-ish
This won't be the full band, but Seth, Helen, and our good friend, pianist Sean Lane, will be playing a few songs live, on-the-air, as well as discussing the new album. Tune in to WRNR Annapolis, 103 FM, around 9 am, to have a listen!

Tuesday, October 6 -- FODfest '09 (Friends of Daniel Pearl)
Beit Tikvah
7 pm
5802 Roland Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21210
410-464-9402
Free!
This is the Baltimore stop of a nationwide tour celebrating the life, legacy, and mission of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. In addition to his work as a journalist, Daniel Pearl was an accomplished fiddler, and used music as a way to bridge cultural divides in his travels.
In addition to The Kleztet, artists performing will include: Greg Colburn, Howard Markman, Mama's Black Sheep, Sam Weiser, Sharon Klein, SONiA, Terry Gourley & Tobias Hurwitz, Todd Mack

Wednesday, October 14 -- Peabody Institute
7 - 9 pm
1 East Mount Vernon Place, Baltimore, MD 21202
410-659-8100
Free!
Another one of our free concerts at one of the most prestigious conservatories in the nation! With us for this show will be guest percussionist Wes Crawford, filling in for Tim Jarvis, who will be away on a top-secret mission.
As of press time, we're still not sure what hall we'll be playing in that evening. If you're planning on attending, I strongly encourage you to drop me a line prior to the show for specific information!

Sunday, October 18 -- Jammin' Java
Double CD Release show with Susan Gaeta and special guest Jon Carroll
2 - 4 pm
227 Maple Avenue East, Vienna, VA 22180
703-255-1566
Tickets: $10

This is gonna be a special one! Not only will we be celebrating the release of our latest album, but we'll be joined by globe-trotting Sephardic musician Susan Gaeta, and Grammy-winning musician Jon Carroll (Starland Vocal Band, Mary Chapin Carpenter Band). Susan will do a set, we'll do a full set, and Jon will perform a mini-set and accompany both acts!
I strongly encourage you to purchase tickets in advance for this show, as we stand a darn good chance of selling out one of the premier venues for live music in the Mid-Atlantic. Woo hoo!

Sunday, October 25 -- The City Winery
Klezmer Brunch
10 am - 2 pm
155 Varick Street, New York, NY 10013
212-608-0555
Tickets: $10
We're coming back to the Big Apple! This will be our first appearance at what is becoming one of the leading klezmer concert series in the NY metropolitan area. The City Winery is a wonderful new music and dining venue in The Village. Help us make a big splash by buying your tickets here! And please tell all of your NYC area family and friends -- we promise to tell them you love them!

Free CD Release Concert at The Kennedy Center, Seth on the radio, plus more press!

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

This Wednesday, August 26, we'll be kicking off a series of "official" CD Release shows for our brand-new album, Peace, Love and Coffee. We decided to start right at the top, so we'll be performing at the most prestigious venue in the Greater Washington area, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. We'll be playing from 6 to 7 pm on The Millennium Stage. As I mentioned, it's completely free, and no tickets are required. And if you can't make it in person, you can watch it live (or archived after the fact) on the web here:

http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/millennium/

We'll be playing a program almost entirely of music from the new record which will be, of course, available for purchase from your friendly Kleztet sales team. We hope you can make it!

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We're kicking the promotion for this record into high gear, so anything you can do to spread the word would be greatly appreciated. Tell your friends. Tell your enemies. Tell your frenemies. Speaking of which, this Friday, August 21, you can hear extended excerpts from the new album, plus a witty and wacky interview with yours truly, on Metro Connection, WAMU's (88.5 FM) award-winning local affairs program. You can hear the show live at 1 pm, or anytime afterwards at the Metro Connection website.

And the great press just keeps rolling on in:

Here's a great review from DC's On Tap Magazine

We've been getting a lot of airplay on various folk, world music, and Judaica radio shows all across the country. If you listen to one, please request us! If they don't have our album yet, let us and know and we'll send 'em one!

So don't forget to buy the new record -- it's available on-line just about everywhere fine music sold, both as a physical CD and as a digital download. And go friend us on MySpace and/or Facebook and/or ReverbNation and/or OurStage. We'd love to sink our many digital tentacles into your online lives...

Peace, Love and Coffee (the album) now available everywhere fine music is sold online!

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Yep -- it's out, and available for purchase just about anywhere you care to purchase music on the World Wide Web. Get it here:

CD Baby (CD or digital download)

Amazon (CD or digital download)

iTunes (digital downloads)

Or at a host of other online sources.

And already the radio airplay, positive press, and glowing reviews are starting to come in. Click here for an article that appeared in this week's edition of The Washington Jewish Week.

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If you'd rather pick up a copy in person, you'll get your first opportunity to do so this coming Wednesday, July 15, when we'll perform a free one-hour concert at Lee District Park in Alexandria, Virginia at 7:30 pm.

Lee District Park is located at 6601 Telegraph Road, in Franconia. In the event of inclement weather, call the concert hotline at 703-324-SHOW (7469).

We'll be selling Peace, Love and Coffee (the album), and performing many of its selections. Hope to see you there!

Peace, Love and Coffee (the album) now available with free shipping!

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

It won't officially be released until Tuesday, July 7, but I'm thrilled to let our friends and fans know that our fourth album, Peace, Love and Coffee, has arrived back from our manufacturer. It's a million-seller, err...I got a million in my cellar : )

Pretty soon, it'll be available just about everywhere fine music is sold: CDBaby, Amazon, iTunes, Rhapsody, and more. Both as a physical CD and as digital downloads.

But you can get your copy right away! All you need to do is send a check for $15 (made out to The Alexandria Kleztet) to:

The Alexandria Kleztet -- Peace, Love and Coffee
P.O. Box 32615
Baltimore, MD 21282

And as part of this special advance offer, we're gonna foot the bill for shipping and handling! That's right, it's just $15 per CD, and not a penny more!

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Peace, Love and Coffee contains 14 brand-new recordings, including six original compositions, as well as creative re-workings of classic Jewish songs like Bei Mir Bist Du Schein and Ketsad M'rakdin. It also contains numerous audience favorites, including Bad Coffee (Builds Character), Youkali (a tango by Kurt Weill), and our legendary interpretation of Cantina Band (from the very first Star Wars film).

In addition to myself, Helen Hausmann, Scott Harlan, and Tim Jarvis, the album includes guest appearances by Sean Lane, Ira Gitlin, Maggie Sansone, and Jon Carroll, and is released on the award-winning Azalea City Recordings record label.

We hope all of you decide to take advantage of this special offer for our mailing list, and become the first on your block to have three of my favorite things: Peace, Love and Coffee.

- Seth & The Alexandria Kleztet