Hasidic New Wave

Hasidic New Wave is an American experimental klezmer music group. Its members, all of whom were improvisational jazz musicians from downtown Manhattan, formed for the purpose of fusing Hasidic musical styles (such as freylekhs and horas) with elements of jazz, funk, and avant-garde rock. The band's eclectic style has been compared to Sun Ra and Jimi Hendrix. Band members on their 5 recordings include Greg Wall (tenor saxophone), Frank London (trumpet; also a member of The Klezmatics), David Fiuczynski (guitar), Aaron Alexander (drums and percussion), and Kenny Davis or Fima Ephron (bass). Greg Wall and Frank London originally met at the New England conservatory (where they both studied jazz) and reconnected in New York, when they both begun learning Hasidic music to play wedding gigs supporting themselves. A lot of that music made its way into Hasidic New Wave recordings. Their focus became the Hasidic "nigunim", meditative chants, which they played in wrapped in jazz / acid rock arrangements. The latest Hasidic New Wave release is the retrospective 5-CD boxset, out from Tzadik Records in late 2012. Previously, the band has recorded 5 CDs, including four on Knitting Factory's Jewish Alternative Movement label and one on Not Two Records from Poland - a live recording at the Kraków Jewish Music Festival from 1998.