Search - Steven Bernstein :: Diaspora Hollywood

Yiddish west coast free jazz, by way of the Catskills

Troy Collins | Lancaster, PA United States | 09/21/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Another installment in John Zorn's Radical Jewish Culture series from his Tzadik label, "Diaspora Hollywood" is Steven Bernstein's third album for this series. Inspired by the plight of Jewish composers who fled Europe during the Second World War, "Diaspora Hollywood" mixes classic west coast cool jazz with traditional Yiddish melodies and subtle free form improvisation to create a style both familiar and unheard.



After discovering that west coast jazz stylists Shorty Rogers and Shelly Manne played together as teenagers in the Catskills around the same time as the first Jewish refugees were flooding in from a war torn Europe, Steven Bernstein realized the possible connection these musicians may have made. Many of the Jewish composers fleeing Europe eventually settled in Hollywood and became film composers and therefore had ostensible connections with west coast jazz musicians. A few Hassidic themed albums trickled out of the west coast jazz scene in the post-war years, but never to any renown. Bernstein's conception of this forgotten genre exists in a place where these two worlds collide in a post free-jazz environment. The results are hauntingly sublime and spellbindingly timeless.



Standard instrumentation for west coast jazz, trumpet, baritone saxophone/flute, vibes, bass and drums all weave a fairly delicate but intriguing web of sound. Steven Bernstein's most relaxed album, "Diaspora Hollywood" is by no means a lesser release, and in fact is possibly one of his finest achievements. Tzadik has a tendency to put out an enormous amount of this sort of material, and after awhile, the discerning listener must draw the line and search out the best releases. This is one such album. Recommended."

West Coast Cool Jazz Klezmer Lounge Movie Soundtrack Music

Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 10/06/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Can U dig it?



I think it's safe to say there has never before been quite this confluence of stylistic tributaries in the history of recorded music. I suppose it's jazz, although of a very rare and arcane kind. A project like this could only come from the mind of Steven Bernstein. Not even such certified weirdoes as Jamie Saft, Curtis Hasselbring, or Josh Roseman could come up with this.



Let's start with the musicians. D. J. Bonebrake, drummer for the late, great LA punk band X, is here . . . on VIBES!! And with a stunningly original approach to his instrument, to boot. Then there's Pablo Calogero on bari sax, bass clarinet, and various flutes. He plays somewhat of a stealth role here, laying down deep grooves, cool unison lines, but staying mainly in the background. But there's such simpatico between him and leader Bernstein, it's almost as if they've been playing together for years (which, the liner notes reveal, they have). Drummer Danny Frankel, with a cunningly melodic approach to drums, bongos, and various other percussions instruments, reeks of 50's Left Coast hipsterism--City Lights Bookstore meets Chet Baker--or something. Bassist David Piltch, on loan from Bill Frisell's band (where else??) fits in like a key in the ignition, kick starting the band but also laying on some heavy bottom. The leader plays with more passion and conviction than I've ever heard from him, emerging as a postmodern jazz trumpet voice to be reckoned with.



The mood here is--I really don't know what to call it. Lounge mysticism? SoCal mesmeric trance jazz? Downtempo faux Mediterranean Kabala? Who knows? Now scary/friendly, now plaintive/Casper-the-Friendly-Ghost cartoonish, now first-class earthereal--sometimes all in the same number--they cover the mysterioso waterfront better, it seems to me, than any band in memory. The closest analog might be, at least to these ears, a Frisell-ish pan-world vibe mapped onto the Claudia Quartet (they've got a similarly whacked instrumental conception) filtered through some weird Klezmer thing. For sure, there's a slow burn going down here, so much so that it almost took me completely by surprise. It wasn't till the third or fourth listen that I really began connecting. After that, I couldn't stop listening. For one thing, there's just a whole lot going on (e.g., instrumental interaction, how the drums are recorded, the way weird vibes conception, Bernstein's Flamenco/mariachi trumpet), albeit at a level of aural subtlety rarely encountered in recorded music of any kind. For another thing, Bernstein and company's approach seems absolutely without irony: no musical sly grins; no insider jokes--just gorgeous (if slightly off-kilter) music of a wildly esoteric kind.



Interestingly, the farther they go into the recording, the weirder and more arrestingly beautiful the vibe becomes. Strangely, they pull off this move with little or no loss of accessibility. Perhaps they hold back on the big-time eldritch sensibilities until listeners have had a chance to have their ears stretched and brains rewired by the more mundane (relatively speaking) earlier pieces. Someone once told me that certain Pentecostal sects use a kind of nonsense-syllable warm up to get into full-blown tongues-speaking. Well, something similar is going on here: These boys don't pull out the big mystic guns right away. Instead, they start out with some, as it were, warm up exercises.



But it's all good. In fact, I venture to say this is a musical accomplishment of the absolute first order. Highest recommendation."

A 'New' Classic

J. Pour | 03/17/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I frequently felt as though I was listening to a clone of an Eric Dolphy quintet of the early 60's. This might well have been a set concocted by Miles Davis and Dolphy had they ever conspired and been of Jewish decent. A quite atmospheric (noir-ish) and, of course, thematic program, and a throwback to Dolphy's sound. Berstein's influences seem to range from Davis to Clark Terry, and the play of Calogero and Bonebrake is eerily reminiscent to that of Dolphy and Bobby Hutcherson way back when (and that's a good thing). It's the percussive style and intensity which sets this CD apart from the those early Dolphy dates. Terrific compositions and performances, tastefully and cleverly executed."