David Krakauer's Checkpoint CD release with Ancestral Groove, April 7, 2016,
National Sawdust, Brooklyn
Clarinetist
David Krakauer is one of the greatest artists of our time. His reputation must
by now have made it to every shore.
Let’s
describe the music he plays as post-funk-acid klezmer. He, with his band, play
with an intensity that is savage, and it is unnecessary to mention his
'technique.' His capability is supernatural.
His
roots come from the fiercely held Jewish music of Eastern Europe, the ecstatic
rage of Allen Ginsburg, of Jimi Hendrix, yet he is a gentle and dignified soul,
eternally young.
He
introduced one of the numbers with an eloquent acknowledgement of the reality
of today’s politicians and our present ways and standards of life; how in the
sixties people thought very differently, and without warning he launched into a
klezmer rap: “AND THEY WERE F**KING RIGHT YOU MOTHERF**KERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
than WAILED on his instrument. The audience went wild, WILD. David Krakauer
expresses the rage of our city, our country, his and all races. His mastery is
entirely incidental to his envisionings of injustice and sufferings. His
multicultural band: Sheryl Bailey on electric guitar, Jerome Harris on electric
bass, Micheal Sarin on drums, and the sampler artist known as ‘Keepalive’,
unequivocally supported the mad musicianship of the clarinetist’s genius with
unstinting intensity.
There
have been known to be various psychedelic drug celebrations in our summer
deserts, and the authorities used to look the other way. Thousands of artists
would congregate, living in their cars or tents, and create. At the end of the
week there would be a huge bonfire, everything scorched.
This
is David's art.
~
CrackCritic
