Ribs and Brisket Revue
Essen
![JAZZIZ:
From start to finish, this album, a collection of craftily retooled old songs (and one Shapiro original) about Jews and the food they eat, is a romping hoot. I’ve yet to meet the discriminating listener, jazz fan or otherwise, who can resist its many novel charms. Everything here is lively, witty, well-played and just plain excellent. And it all serves as a potent reminder that a jazz record can still be a whole mess of freewheeling fun without sacrificing a lick of intelligence or creativity. -David Pulizzi
STRAIGHT NO CHASER- UK:
Back in the 1950s New York swung to the beat of clashing cultures, as jazz met
Judaism (the sounds, the food, the humour) and this second album, from clarinetist Paul Shapiro celebrates that forgotten mash-up. If I tell you that he calls his six-piece band The Ribs and Brisket Review, you should get some idea of what’s in the pot. Hard blowing, finger-snapping, klezmer-inflected jazz and wailing big city blues that suddenly slips into Yiddish.
Shapiro tips his beret to Slim Gaillard with a couple of his tunes in praise of kosher cuisine, pours soul sauce and reggae beats over Jewish comedy songs and generally rips into things with just the right mix of irreverence and affection.
Respect is due to John Zorn’s Tzadik label for bringing this unique recording to the world. There really is no one else doing it quite like Shapiro! (Jamie Renton)
THE BARNES AND NOBLE REVIEW:
The confluence of Jewish-American culture, rhythm and blues, jazz, and food may sound like a terrifying New World cultural collision, but Essen (Yiddish for "eat") actually goes down like Katz's pastrami (i.e., like butter). For the past few years, Paul Shapiro, a New York-based saxophonist with serious new-jazz and R&B credentials, has put a postmodern spin on Jewish musical themes, honoring the past yet never forgetting that over-the-top humor and extroverted theatricality (and culinary obsession) are grand elements of the tradition. Essen turns a loving eye on novelty numbers whose melting-pot origins can be traced to such dizzying sources as the music hall icon Sophie Tucker, jazz singer Mildred Bailey (herself of Native American blood), African-American artists Cab Calloway and the team of Slim and Slam; and the legendary Yiddish comedy duo the Barton Brothers. Shapiro and his multiracial Ribs and Brisket Revue go to town on timeless ditties like "Matzoh Balls," "Tzouris," and "A Bee Gezindt," laying on bluesy vocals, jazzy riffs, funky beats, and madcap interjections as if they were applying crucial mustard and sauerkraut on top of that aforementioned pastrami. What makes the album a delight, apart from the delicious absurdity of much of the material ("dunkin bagels -- splash in the coffee" indeed!) is the balance of top-notch musicianship (hear, for instance, Cilla Owens's idiomatic command of both Yiddish and blues inflections on "Mama Goes where Papa Goes") and lighthearted sensibility. Essen leaves us, yes, hungry for more. -Steve Futterman
THE BUFFALO NEWS :
(Tzadik). Among the biggest surprises in the entire history of the Art of Jazz series at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery is the number of people who’d never heard of Paul Shapiro, went anyway and who walked away from the concert ardent fans (and with Shapiro CDs in their hands, no less.) This is from Shapiro’s fabled “Ribs and Brisket Revue” and it’s from the Shapiro who’s more of an avant-klezmer vaudevillian than one of the most powerful multicultural saxophonists in New York. “An over-the-top exploration of the crossroads of Yiddish bop, swing and comedy” is how John Zorn’s label Tzadik describes the novelty disc which is full of archaeological digs into a favorite Shapiro bygone era when “there was Cab Calloway doing a mock cantorial sendup of a Yiddish folk song ‘Un-Da-Zay’ ” and “the jazz singer Mildred Bailey did ‘A Bee Gezunt’ ” not to mention Slim Gaillard’s “Matzo Balls” “Mishugenah Mambo” and “Dunkin Bagel.” In other words, it’s the downtown New York jazz version of Jewish novelty maestro Mickey Katz.
★★★ (J. S).
AARP: Richard Gehr
Loosen your Borscht Belt for a rollicking album that recaptures that long-ago era when jazz and Yiddish music blended into a zany kind of swing. Saxophonist Paul Shapiro and his quintet focus on songs about food, beginning with the hilarious title track; their klezmer-reggae buffet mixes shtick and sizzle with the complete menu of a weekend stay at a Catskills resort. Other recommended dishes include Slim Gaillard's "Dunkin' Bagel" and "Matzoh Balls"; a remake of Cab Calloway's cantorial satire, "Utt-Da-Zay"; and Cilla Owens's sassy take on the Sophie Tucker tune, "Mama Goes Where Papa Goes." Es gezunderheit! as they say in the old country. Eat in health!
ALL ABOUT JAZZ: Eyal Hareuveni
The third installment in New York reeman's odyssey into Afro-Jewish American swing introduces his longstanding combo, Paul Shapiro's Ribs and Brisket Revue, his Yiddish R&B band that plays regularly at the Cornelia St. Cafe in Manhattan's West Village. As on his previous releases Midnight Minyan (2003) and It's in the Twilight (2006), both for Tzadik, Shapiro's irreverent take on swing is surprising and humorous.
Shapiro, co-founder of Brooklyn Funk Essentials and a former member of Microscopic Sextet, has a point to prove--Jews were part of 1940s swing. He resurrects Klezmer and Yiddish vintage food-obsessed songs that were made semi-famous by Peggy Lee, Cab Calloway, Mildred Bailey, Slim Gaillard and Benny Goodman, hence the title of this release, 'eat!' in Yiddish. He explains in his liner notes that Jewish food was the gateway for Americans to discover Yiddish culture during the first half of the 20th century.
Shapiro keeps the same tight rhythm section that accompanied him on his previous releases-- Brian Mitchell on keyboards, Booker King on bass and Tony Lewis on drums--for bouncy, swinging and jumping renditions to these classics. This time he adds two great vocalists--Cilla Owens and comedian Babi Floyd--to the bill. The infectious outcome mixes greasy blues licks and hard freilach swing with good-natured and quite often eccentric Borscht Belt humor. A kind of steaming hot chicken soup, with tons of matzoh balls, for the post-modern soul.
Shapiro's hilarious arrangement for the Yiddish food anthem “Essen” moves naturally between klezmer stomp, reggae and hip-hop rap, all covered with the manic and comic vocals of Floyd. He turns “My Little Cousin,” based on the Yiddish tune “Di Grine Kuzine” that was adopted by Goodman, into a klezmer-blues with a beautiful clarinet solo and majestic performance by Owens. Floyd returns on “Utt-Da-Zay,” with another charismatic and neurotic performance, much more powerful and charged than Calloway's version. Owens' elegant version of Bailey “A Bee Gezindt” is backed by solos from Shapiro's articulate and burning tenor and Mitchell's fine boogie-woogie piano.
Shapiro unites Owens and Floyd for his “Oy Veys Mir,” a rowdy R&B tune, replete with vaguely obscene Yinglish lyrics. The bands sound as if they are paying tribute to Illinois Jacquet on their cover to the funny Catskills anthem, “Mama Goes Where Papa Goes,” sung by Owens. Floyd's wild and urgent tribute to Jewish food, Calloway's “Matzoh Balls,” with the band tight shuffle rhythms following him, is one of the highlights of the disc, as Floyd raps, in a kind of Yiddish-English, names of beloved dishes. Floyd's “A Bissel Bop,” another sing-song about food, concludes this tasty and funny feast.
Montreal Mirror:
Paul Shapiro Essen (Tzadik/Koch) The leader’s reeds and vocals are abetted by the likes of Steven Bernstein, Babi Floyd and Frank London. There’s plenty of humour from this “Ribs and Brisket Revue,” including Slim Gaillard’s “Dunkin’ Bagel” and “Matzoh Balls.” 8.5 (LD)
Montreal Gazette:
***1/2 Paul Shapiro: Essen (Tzadik). Saxophonist Paul Shapiro brings out his Ribs and Brisket Review in this fun-filled take on the Yinglish speaking Catskills Jew, obsessed with food (essen) and troubles (tzouris), with vocalist Cilla Owens and a strong quartet. Irwin Block
Washinton City Paper: The Old Klezmer Blues By Michael J. West
Is there such thing as a “meta-tribute”? Saxophonist Paul Shapiro may have invented it with his third CD, Essen. Having found a treasure trove of Jewish songs performed by mostly black, prewar jazz artists, Shapiro (who, like many in Tzadik’s stable, specializes in Jewish music) recorded Essen to pay homage to these homages. The songs sound like swing music-meets-Borscht Belt cabaret, and though its assortment of Jewish stereotypes can feel like overkill throughout the album’s 10 tracks, it’s uproarious fun. Shapiro’s “Ribs and Brisket Revue” sextet understands the harmonic relationships between Jewish and African-American traditions and has a blast juxtaposing bluesy chords with swooping Eastern European melodies on “Utt-Da-Zay” (popularized by Cab Calloway) and vocalist Babi Floyd’s “A Bissel Bop.” But far more effective is its rhythmic fusion. The ’30s-era swing folds beautifully into klezmer’s folksy 2/4 bounce on “Tzouris,” and vice versa on “A Bee Gezindt.” Shapiro is at his cleverest on the title track: Realizing that klezmer’s groove sounds suspiciously like ska, he arranges the horns with licks that could fit either genre but also inserts reggae breaks. Even as the sound shifts, though, it’s bound together by an unceasing giddiness. Smart as that genre-crossing is, it’s largely limited to the music. Except for “A Bee Gezindt” and “Mama Goes Where Papa Goes,” where the cultures mesh inextricably, the lyrical themes are solidly in the “Jewish” category and sway uncertainly between sendup and stereotype. In particular, the album focuses on food—essen is Yiddish for “to eat”—and that focus gets old fast. Even if the album title and name of the band don’t capture the point, how many verses about matzo balls and gefilte fish does a 46-minute album need? It’s difficult to determine whether Shapiro is celebrating culinary traditions or playing up the “Jews are obsessed with food” cliché. He does mitigate this with his vocalists, the gruff-voiced Floyd and the brassy Cilla Owens, who bring a pedigree of raw swing and R&B that almost erases the ethnic caricature even as it adds laughs. Shapiro’s own Jewish heritage is noteworthy: In concentrating on African-Americans who paid tribute to Jewish-Americans, he neatly returns the favor and adds still another level of tribute. Given that ethnicities are, in effect, the album’s central concern, it’s unsurprising (albeit frustrating) that certain aspects are embellished, but the problem is redundancy, not meanness. At its heart, Essen is a smiling acknowledgment of the mutual respect between two American diasporas—and just plain good entertainment.
MIDWEST RECORD:
We've been kvetching there should finally be some Pearl Williams reissues so all of sudden we get some Sophie Tucker covers? Oy! I can remember a friend accidentally breaking his father's 78 of the original "Essen" and catching holy hell for it. Maybe this set can be the fabric of amends. Pre-dating 60's Jewish humor was 40s Jewish humor, bawdy and swinging with jazz and a cornucopia of Borsch Belt vaudeville throughout. This set recreates when Billy Eckstine was singing in Yiddish and the melting pot was really simmering. Fun, period stuff brought to life by the crème of the big apple klezmer gang and their pals. A wild diversion for anyone that's felt the need to name their half Jewish kids after their great-grandfather.
Tom Hull:
Paul Shapiro: Essen (2007-08 [2008], Tzadik): Group's full name: Paul Shapiro's Ribs and Brisket Revue. Shapiro plays sax and clarinet and sings, although probably less than Cilla Owens and Babi Floyd, who take on all ten songs. Lots of Yiddish, titles like "Tzouris" and "Oy Veys Mir" and the new title piece (with guests Steven Bernstein, Frank London, and Doug Wieselman). Sophie Tucker revivalism. And two Slim Gaillard songs, just to show you how far over the top they're willing to go. A- l
J&R Music:
Saxophonist Paul Shapiro follows up the forward-thinking klezmer hybrids he unleashed on his previous Tzadik releases, MIDNIGHT MINYAN and IT'S IN THE TWILIGHT, by taking a different approach. Rather than grafting forms such as Dixieland and bebop onto traditional Jewish instrumental music, ESSEN delivers those Jewish folk forms in their pure, unadulterated form. The songs on ESSEN feature vocals as well, each of them spinning a narrative that evokes the humor and pathos of traditional Jewish culture, sometimes evoking the broad comedy of early-20th-century Yiddish theater or even the Borscht Belt. Of course, Shapiro's fine horn work and ear for arrangements dazzle as well.
By Richard Kamins on July 11, 2008 10:13 PM | Permalink
Saxophonist-clarinetist-bandleader Paul Shapiro, whose multi-racial sextet is known as the Ribs and Brisket Revue, will be performing Monday July14 at the National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts. The group's show is part of the second week of the Paper Bridge Summer Arts Festival.
The band's CD, "Essen" (Tzadik), has just been issued and it's a hoot to hear. Essen is Yiddish for "eat" and the 10 tracks are a bluesy, blowzy, bunch of songs about food, dancing, swing, shuffle and a touch of sex.
Paul Shapiro is my guest (via telephone) Sunday July 13 at 11 a.m. on WMRD-AM 1150 and WLIS 1420-AM. We'll chat about the new CD, the live gig, and a bit about his influences (Cab Calloway, Slim Gallliard, Benny Goodman.) At the bottom of this posting will be the band's take on Goodman's "My Little Cousin", a tune based on the traditional Yiddish tune,"Di Grine Kuzine."
By Richard Kamins on July 31, 2008 5:35 PM | Permalink
Essen - Paul Shapiro's Ribs and Brisket Revue (Tzadik) - The title of this CD is Yiddish for "eat" and, after listening to this raucous collection, one could not be faulted for believing the word also means "fun." The title track sounds as if it was transplanted from a vintage Yiddish radio show with its vocal give-and-take, its' jazzy interjections, and slightly off-color humor. There's no mistaking the interplay of Jewish and African American culture and that theme carries through the whole CD. Shapiro, a tenor saxophonist most of the time, whips out his clarinet for "My Little Cousin" , written in the 1920s by bandleader Abe Schwartz as "Mi Grine Kuzine.". Here, the ensemble blends Benny Goodman-like clarinet, Cilla Owens' sincere vocals, and Brian Mitchell's blues-saturated piano riffs (the pianist is wonderful throughout the program) into a swing-filled mash-up that's hard to resist.
The rhythm section of bassist Booker King and drummer Tony Lewis are stalwarts (the recording makes them sound like they're playing are in your living room) and the lead vocalists Owens, Babi Floyd and Shapiro play around with the sassy lyrics. Owens belts out Sophie Tucker's "Mama Goes Where Papa Goes" skillfully blending Yiddish and English. Guitarist Slim Gaillard (popular in the 1930s and 40s) is represented on 2 tracks including the barn-burning "Matzoh Balls." Special guests Steven Bernstein and Frank London (trumpets) and Doug Weiselman (clarinet) round out the horn section.
You don't need to know Yiddish to enjoy every byte of "Essen." Just sit down at the table and soak up the sounds. For more information, go to www.paulshapiromusic.com.
jazzreview.com Reviewed by: Susan Frances
Saxophonist Paul Shapiro has really out-done himself on his third album as a bandleader. Entitled Essen, the music is served up with elements of Yiddish swing, soulful blues, gospel chant and theatre-cabaret wind up in gypsy-punk cables, hip-hop landings and “Borscht Belt humor,” which Shapiro refers to as the comedians who entertain at the hotels in Upstate New York‘s Catskill Mountains. If that means nothing to you, then think of Jackie Mason’s humor and you’ll grasp the idea. The term “essen” is Yiddish for “eat” and Shapiro has delivered a viable smorgasbord for people to eat up with songs made famous by Peggy Lee, Cab Calloway, Sophie Tucker, Mildred Bailey, Slim Gaillard and the Barton Brothers. The jocularity and swing-jazz vibe in the tracks have a big stage personality and presage a trend for Yiddish/klezmer accents to modernize songs that have laid dormant for years. Paul Shapiro was just the guy to do it.
The album goes back to 40s jazz with numbers like “Mama Goes Where Papa Goes,” which is beautifully tailored to Cillia Owens’ husky vocal timbres with a likeness to the lush moans of Sarah Vaughan, and “Oy Veys Mir,” delivered fabulously by singer Babi Floyd. The rhythm section in these tunes make you want to join in the revelry on stage. Comprising of pianist Brian Mitchell, bassist Booker King and drummer Tony Lewis, the jumps in the rhythmic grooves move from a sultry, swing-blues slugging to flamboyant rollicking shakes. The horn section of Shapiro on saxophone, Steven Bernstein and Frank London on trumpet and Doug Wieselman on clarinet have vibrant klezmer-flange and soulful-blues shadings. The upbeat klezmer jive of “Dunkin Bagel” induces laughter while the Yiddish-soul laden licks of “Utt-Da-Zay” feel like a funeral service with a theatre-cabaret style. The dazzling breadth of the piano keys on “Utt-Da-Zay” are brilliantly scrolled and turn to a snazzy bebop throttle along “A Bissel Bop.”
Maybe the most impressive track on the album is the first cone “Essen,” which is a massive collage of Yiddish swing, theatre-cabaret, gypsy-punk and hip-hop thrusts. What “Bohemian Rhapsody” is to Queen, “Essen” is to Paul Shapiro. He seams various music styles and forms a saucy cohesive storyline. The entwining patterns are a great challenge that takes the mind of a genius. Though “Essen” is the only song of its kind on the album, it is enough to bring together music from different cultures and maybe even its people.
Shapiro calls his sonic collage an “Afro-Semitic mish-mash,” as he revives 40s Jewish-tinged jazz that became a staple in the repertoire of black jazz singers, such as Billy Eckstine, Eartha Kitt and Sammy Davis Jr. Essen is a look at what was in the heart of Shapiro’s Ribs And Brisket Revue, which he performed with his band in the basement of Cornelia Street Café in New York City. Shapiro’s music pays homage to the sacred musical traditions of Jewish heritage while exhibiting true Jackie Mason tact. Shapiro injects spurts of laughter into the music because what would life be without those moments of happiness?
beindependent.com:
Saxophonist Paul Shapiro follows up the forward-thinking klezmer hybrids he unleashed on his previous Tzadik releases, MIDNIGHT MINYAN and IT'S IN THE TWILIGHT, by taking a different approach. Rather than grafting forms such as Dixieland and bebop onto traditional Jewish instrumental music, ESSEN delivers those Jewish folk forms in their pure, unadulterated form. The songs on ESSEN feature vocals as well, each of them spinning a narrative that evokes the humor and pathos of traditional Jewish culture, sometimes evoking the broad comedy of early-20th-century Yiddish theater or even the Borscht Belt. Of course, Shapiro's fine horn work and ear for arrangements dazzle as well.
The Jewish United Fund News By Paul Wieder (Jewish Federation- Chicago)
Paul Shapiro—Essen
Sax player Shapiro’s first surprise was how many African-American jazz performers had recorded Yiddish-worded songs. His second was how many of those songs mention… food! For Essen, he assembled his integrated band—which he dubbed the Ribs and Brisket (as in “R&B”) Revue—to serve up fresh versions of favorites like “Matzoh Balls” and “Dunkin’ Bagel” by Slim Gaillard (of Slim and Slam fame). The title track takes the listener through a day of eating in the Catskills, with side orders of klezmer, rap, and reggae. The menu also includes renditions of Cab Calloway’s “Utt-Da-Zay” and Mildred Bailey’s “A Bee Gezunt.” The main musical ingredient is Benny Goodmanesque Jewish-inflected swing, and the band seems to be having as much fun as The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. (No translations)
American Jewish World- Minnesota Paul Shapiro swings on Essen, Yiddish for ‘eat!’
Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be? Think again. Paul Shapiro’s Ribs and Brisket Revue rummages through the old Yiddish 78s and resuscitates some classic tunes originally recorded by Peggy Lee, Cab Calloway, et al. Swinging musicians, along with expressive vocals by Shapiro and Babi Floyd, make for something different and surprising on
each of the 10 songs on Essen (Tzadik). There’s Borscht Belt shtick on “Utt-Day-Zay” and boogie woogie piano and sax on “Oy Veys Mir.” The musicians are clearly having a good time — along with guests Steven Bernstein, Frank London and Doug Wieselman — and
the joy is infectious. This mash-up of blues and Yiddish should make you smile — or your smiler needs a tuneup. Mordecai Specktor
The Jewish Journal- Los Angeles Paul Shapiro’s ‘vout’ mishegoss. Kirk Silsbee
In 1945, the hippest Hollywood nightlife destination was Billy Berg's, on the corner of Vine and DeLongpre.
A tall, suave black man named Slim Gaillard, who favored pinstripe suits, held court there. Black entertainers were seldom booked west of Western Avenue in those days, and Gaillard's appearances at Berg's were, in a very real sense, where Hollywood's racial integration began.
With supreme self-confidence, Gaillard and his rotund bassist, Tiny "Bam" Brown, mesmerized audiences (which included Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman) with original novelty songs that mixed Harlem jive, Greek, Spanish, Italian, Yiddish and plain old gibberish. His favorite invented word was vout, and Gaillard used it liberally. When Hollywood committed him to film, a feature movie was titled, "O'Voutie O'Rooney."
The polymath entertainer spoke seven languages, sang, played the guitar and piano (with the backs of his hands), and was capable of extemporizing whole songs in the moment. Gaillard, who died in 1991, was extremely resourceful. He could practically make an entire song out of the word "avocado." Gaillard had a million-selling record in 1945, "Cement Mixer." The tune came together as Gaillard took a break from a recording session, walked outside the studio and saw some men doing street repair. One of his most endearing records was a ditty called, "Dunkin' Bagel" (1946). It's largely a 4/4 instrumental, with Gaillard hollering rhythmic epigrams ("Matzoh balls!") to Brown's exercised responses ("Matzoh balls-oreeny!"). Gaillard gave the term mishmash a good name.
Fast forward to the present. Saxophonist Paul Shapiro, a mainstay of New York City's downtown creative nexus, recognizes Gaillard as one of his musical forebears. Shapiro's background in jazz and funk led him to recording session work with Michael Jackson, Rufus Wainwright, Queen Latifah, Lou Reed and Jay-Z, among many others. The saxophonist recorded two albums on John Zorn's Judeocentric Tzadik label as a leader: "Midnight Minyan" (2003) and "It's in the Twilight" (2006). They were both serious instrumental collections of traditional Jewish songs and standards, seen anew through the contemporary prism of Shapiro's working aesthetic of jazz, funk and rhythm 'n' blues. But a funny thing happened on the way to downtown hip street cred. Shapiro encountered songs from the 1930s and '40s -- like Gaillard's "Dunkin' Bagel" and Cab Calloway's "A Bee Gezindt" -- that clearly indicated a significant musical exchange.
Prolific songwriter Henry Nemo, who died in the Pacific Palisades in 1999, wrote "A Bee Gezindt." Nemo was an academy of jive (like Calloway and Gaillard), but also a fine tunesmith. He wrote several Cotton Club revues with Duke Ellington and contributed the lyrics to Duke's evergreen "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart." In 1992, I asked Nemo about the black stride pianist Willie "The Lion" Smith, Ellington's piano mentor and the cantor of the Harlem synagogue. "We got along great," The Neme recalled, "because I was usually the only one on the scene he could talk Yiddish to."
On his new album, "Essen" (Tzadik), Shapiro explores the cultural mash-up that occurred in American popular music when Jewish music -- Yiddish theater songs, vaudeville tunes, klezmer songs and novelties -- met blues, jazz, rhythm 'n' blues and swing. The result is a collection that touches history in several ways, yet always manages to make a contemporary statement that's fun to listen to. His crack band, Paul Shapiro's Ribs and Brisket Revue, can sound like a Lower East Side wedding outfit, an R&B group, a strip club combo and a cooking funk band. Brian Mitchell alternates traditional Jewish theme chords and manic, eight-to-the-bar boogie-woogie piano on Gaillard's "Matzoh Balls."
From a phone in central New York, Shapiro talked about the ways Jewish culture melded with other cultures. "You know where I think a lot of it occurred?" he asked. "The Catskills resorts. It wasn't just Jewish bands that played in those hotels. Jews were mad about Latin music in the '50s, and many Latin musicians went up there. They learned some Jewish songs, like any good musician would. But there was a connection, I think, because the Sephardic among us came through North Africa and Spain, with our Ladino music. There was not only a natural affinity between cultures but it was also a work opportunity for the bands."
The Ribs and Brisket Revue has two great assets in singers Cilla Owens and Babi (pronounced Bobby) Floyd. Their vocals are both exuberant and nuanced. Floyd sounds like a crazed cantor on his vilde chaya vocal for "Utt-Da-Zay." Torrents of pidgin Yiddish that would have delighted Gaillard have occasional bits of irony bobbing to the surface ("you actually vant this thing?").
Owens would have made a fine singer for swing era orchestras like Lucky Millinder or Andy Kirk (in fact, she brings to mind Kirk's vocalist June Richmond). She displays fine blues feeling on "A Bee Gezindt." She also manages to play both sides of the coin on Sophie Tucker's "Mama Goes Where Papa Goes," where she delivers some of the lyrics in Yiddish. The band plays like a juke joint combo used to dodging beer bottles and bullets. Shapiro's nasty alto sax breaks would have qualified him for duty at Duffy's Gaieties on Cahuenga Boulevard, when Lenny Bruce emceed for the peelers in the '50s.
Tucker is also a seminal figure for Shapiro. "I hear in her," he said, "a serious blues infection. She had the Yiddish inflection from her background but she seriously studied the blues. It was absolutely unique that she had both. Loren Sklamberg of the Klezmatics works at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research on West 16th Street in New York. He showed me a copy of the 1922 Okeh record of 'Mama Goes Where Papa Goes,' and it's printed in Yiddish and English. It was recorded by many singers, including Ida Cox, the black blues singer and later, Kay Starr. I took a little from each version and gave it to Cilla. I think she's one of the great stylists in this day and age."
Shapiro is unequivocal in his praise for Zorn's benevolence, through Tzadik. "It's really Zorn," he stated flatly , "who let me do my own music." It was an opportunity that came with a price, though. "When I came to him with the idea for my earlier albums, he insisted that I not take this lightly. He wasn't going to let me get away with just passing references to Jewish music. It's very important for him that the music that he releases in his Radical Jewish Culture series be real artistic statements. He doesn't want to be seen as a cultural appropriator."
How have the Tzadik albums and their creative processes affected Shapiro on a personal level?
He thought for a moment and chose his words carefully before answering: "I would say that while I haven't been transformed religiously -- like, I haven't become a more regular, religious temple-goer -- it has deepened my interest and understanding of my Jewish roots. I may not have had a change of religious orientation, but I have become more aware of certain important connections."
The KlezmerShack Ari Davidow
Suppose Mickey Katz were alive today. Not alive in tribute. Not alive as a mere incredible clarinet player, but suppose someone could play like Mickey Katz, someone who got how Mickey would sound today and made his music sound like today's hip R&B. Then suppose that this person could convey the craziness of Katz, even better, could channel the earlier craziness of Slim Gaillard, Cab Calloway, the Barton Brothers, even add to it….
It would take someone like, say, Paul Shapiro, him of the Midnight Minyan, yes it would. And here he is with his Ribs and Brisket Revue doing just that. Ahhh, life is good. This is a take on "Essen" that feels 2008 (which is pretty hip, considering that there isn't anything happening in the Catskills these days that involves Yiddish unless you're considering the Limud folks, and that is a very different hipness).
Here's the thing. This is a meta mashup of an album. As Shapiro says in the liner notes, there was a whole mash-up as folks like Gaillard and Calloway incorporated yiddishisms into their songs, just as Jews were getting into jazz. So, now the music gets mashed up again and makes you wanna get your brisket out and start dancing and singing and hollering and moving all around the room. Brian Mitchell is a monster on the piano. Listen to Cilla Owens krecht that Yiddish on Sophie Tucker's "Mama Goes Where Papa Goes" and kvell along with me. [Fair disclosure: My day job just released a movie about six groundbreaking women comedians, Making Trouble. It includes Sophie Tucker, of course. We're real proud of it. Make sure it comes to a festival near you.]. Shapiro is an absolute madman on sax and clarinet. Babi Floyd is another Barton Brother. Who knew? Such "Tzouris!" Booker King (bass) and Tony Lewis (drums) are the perfect rhythm section.
Shapiro will be bringing his Ribs and Brisket Revue to the National Yiddish Book Center on July 14th as part of its "Paper Bridge" festival. It's going to be a long commute from Boston, but this is one of the performances that I can't miss. In the meantime, consider this a fair preview and check out the CD from Tzadik.com
Palo Alto Daily News Paul Freeman
With "Essen" (Yiddish for "eat"), New York-based saxophonist Paul Shapiro enthusiastically delves into the Jewish impact on American culture, serving up hot sounds and flavorful humor. The album contains novelty numbers made famous by such diverse artists as Sophie Tucker and Cab Calloway. Delightful ditties like "Matzoh Balls" demonstrate timeless appeal. Boogie-inflected piano and bluesy vocals enhance this entertaining collection.
Icon Mark Keresman
While NYC tenor sax-man Paul Shapiro’s previous platters concentrated on sinewy,
blues-charged post-bop jazz (often recalling Charlie Mingus) with overtones of his Jew-
ish heritage, his latest goes (I beg pardon in advance) whole hog Hebraic. Like a con-
verted/kosher Louis Jordan or Sam Butera (Louis Prima’s sax-man), Shapiro takes a
batch of lighthearted old Yiddish-American songs and injects ‘em with irreverent, jovial
jump-blues juice. (For younger readers, jump-blues is a style wherein swing jazz was
fused with up-tempo blues — ‘twas popular in the 1940s and early ‘50s and evolved into
rhythm & blues.) The vocals of Shapiro, Cilla Owens (a little like a very young Dinah
Washington) and Babi Floyd (raspy hepcat like Jordan, Prima, Satchmo) provide plenty
of joie de vive. Pianist Brian Mitchell tickles the 88s like Ray Charles reincarnated, and
Shapiro’s sax kicks like the legendary King Curtis. Entertaining and educational — what
else you need, bubbie? tzadik.com
The RootsWorld Bulletin - Michael Stone
I fix your favorite dishes,
Hopin' this good food fills ya!
Work my hands to the bone in the kitchen alone,
You better eat if it kills ya!
-Cab Calloway, "Everybody Eats When they Come to My House"
When it comes to cultural representation, food and music too easily become stand-ins, culinary and expressive stereotypes regarding the much more complex reality of similarity and difference between human collectives. Maybe that's why we prefer leaving negotiation of the no-man's-land between caricature and devil-may-care self irony to artists and comedians- even at the risk that the politically correct, miscellaneous lumpen cranks and fascists overt and covert misrecognize satire and invoke their perverted readings as social rationalization.
For those who ask, "Where are Slam Stewart and Slim Gaillard ("Dunkin' Bagel," "Matzoh Balls"), Cab Calloway ("Utt-Da-Zay"), Sophie Tucker ("Mama Goes Where Papa Goes"), and Mildred Bailey ("A Bee Gezindt") when we really need them?"- look no further than saxophonist-producer Paul Shapiro and company for the preceding and more. Essen ("to eat") rehabilitates 10 Yiddish pop delicacies (as it were) from Tin Pan Alley days, in an ensemble comprising hallelujah singers Cilla Owens and Babi Floyd, pianist Brian Mitchell, bassist Booker King (who also backs Lila Downs), and drummer Tony Lewis. Additional guests include trumpeters Frank London and Steven Bernstein, and clarinetist Doug Wieselman, all of whom also join the vocal chorus on the blowout title track, a rambunctious rundown of the menu entire at an unnamed Catskills resort hotel.
Joyous excess, it seems, is the order of the day when the CD notes quote the likes of French gastronome Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826), whose mannered essays on taste made him the darling of the contemporary cultural studies set. Yet Essen is anything but self-inflated academic treatise. Hellzapoppin' R&B-Jewish jazz swing is more like it, revealing once again that in 1940s New York as today, black and Jewish popular musics have never been far removed.
The Village Voice: Jazz Consumer Guide By Tom Hull
Paul Shapiro's Ribs and Brisket Revue
Essen [Tzadik]
Yiddish revivalism so far beyond the pale he's pinching songs from Slim Gaillard.
Time Out New York:
Vocalist and reedist Shapiro celebrates Essen, a new CD featuring giddy versions of favorite Yiddish songs, as well as novelties made popular by Slim Galliard and Cab Calloway.
Jazzinstitut's Jazz News Jazzinstitut Darmstadt jazz@jazzinstitut.de
The New York based saxophonist Paul Shapiro sees the guitarist, singer, pianist and blender of musical traditions Slim Gaillard as a musical example, as Kirk Silsbee reports
(The Jewish Journal). Shapiro used to play for artists such as Michael Jackson, Queen Latifah and others, and he had recorded two albums with Jewish songs for John Zorn's
Tzadik label. On his newest record Shapiro explores "the cultural mash-up that occurred in American popularmusic when Jewish music -- Yiddish theater songs, vaudeville
tunes, klezmer songs and novelties -- met blues, jazz, rhythm 'n' blues". Shapiro's music receives further inspiration from recordings made by Cab Calloway and Sophie Tucker, both of whom are evoked on his new album by the singers Cilla Owens and Babi Floyd. Through the concept of "Radical Jewish Culture" John Zorn enabled him to find and play his own music, says Shapiro. In the course of his musical development he did not necessarily become more religious, but he certainly became "more aware ofcertain important connections".
The Jazz Observer: www.jazzobserver.com by Forrest Dylan Bryant(Four stars)
Paul Shapiro’s uproarious Ribs & Brisket Revue injects vintage “borscht belt” Jewish comedy into a jumping brew of hot jazz, wailing klezmer, and down ‘n’ dirty blues. Reviving Yiddish-laced swing-era novelties from hipsters like Slim Gaillard and Cab Calloway, the band cuts loose in madcap abandon, charged by guest trumpeters Steven Bernstein and Frank London. Vocalist Babi Floyd goes miles over the top in a crazed version of “Utt-Da-Zay,” while counterpart Cilla Owens adds equal measures of class and sass to the bluesy numbers. But for pure entertainment value, the classic comedy routines in “Essen” and “Tzouris” are hard to beat.
Jazzwise- UK
Another Yiddish knees up from Zorn’s label with reedsman/vocalist Shapiro surprisingly making a Jewish connection with the Black diaspora music of R&B, blues, and reggae. Completely bonkers but stimulating stuff.
The Jazz Monster- Callum Mackenzie
Radical Klezmer: New CDs from Paul Shapiro and Klez-Edge
I can understand how to many of you the title of this post, "Radical Klezmer," could sound like some kind of sarcastic joke. It isn't. Based on two new releases from John Zorn's Tzadik imprint, klezmer is not only alive and kicking, but undergoing a sort of creative resurgence not seen since Don Byron unearthed the music of Mickey Katz almost twenty years ago. Of the two CDs out this month, Paul Shapiro's "Essen" is more fun, while Klez-Edge's "Ancestors, Mindreles, Nagila Monsters" is more experimental and contains more variation. This is to be expected, of course, as Klez-Edge's leader, Burton Greene, was a figure in the early 60s New York free jazz scene, and recorded for ESP; others spotted on that label at the time included Albert Ayler and Marion Brown. His new project, like Shapiro's "Ribs and Brisket Revue," is not interested in creating free jazz so much as applying some of the concepts of free jazz to Klezmer music.
Paul Shapiro's new "Essen," with his Ribs and Brisket Revue, does not strive for anything as interesting as Klez Edge's "Ancestors, Mindreles, Nagila Monsters," but that doesn't take away from its inherent fun. A series of (mostly) covers of old Jewish novelty tunes, many of which are about food (titles include "Matzoh Balls" and "Dunkin' Bagel"), "Essen" is clearly light fare. The opener and title track, about a man who desperately wants to sit around and eat, is all over the place; depending on the section, the song is either full-on klezmer, reggae, or some kind of genre that I can only describe as "School-House Rock." The album's other major highlight is "Dunkin' Bagel," which gives Shapiro to show off his formidable talent on the tenor saxophone. The album's major flaw, as you would probably expect, is that you can only listen to so many old Jewish novelty songs about food, and eventually they all begin to sound the same. The choruses of half of the songs involve Matzoh Balls, and a little bit of lyrical variation (or a little bit more of Shapiro's or guest trumpet Steven Bernstein's playing) would have made the album considerably better. That said, it's fun.
Nextbook: Alexander Gelfand
All You Can Eat Paul Shapiro's music is a buffet of treats
Essen, the title of the latest album by Paul Shapiro, means "to eat" in both German and Yiddish. And as the saxophonist, clarinetist and singer recently explained in a lexicographical aside from the stage of the Cornelia Street Café in lower Manhattan, it applies specifically to people. The word "fressen," on the other hand, applies to animals. In German, using the word "fressen” in connection with a person is considered vulgar or derogatory (they have an old saying, "Tiere fressen, Mensche essen"—animals feed, humans eat). In Yiddish, however, it denotes nothing more than enthusiastic overeating. Shapiro knows something about both essing and fressing. This, after all, is a guy who is known around his own house as Chicken Man.
"Put a piece of chicken in front of me, and my wife starts to get sweaty if there are guests around," Shapiro told me a couple of weeks after the show. "I sort of lose touch with reality, and before you know it, it's all over the place. There isn't much left on my plate except for some half-eaten bones. If there's not enough napkins around, it can get very, very dangerous." And not just for poultry. "I'm a great lover of food," he says. "I've got a pretty wide palate, and I eat all kinds of ethnic foods."
But Shapiro isn't just a culinary gourmand; he's a musical one, too. He's even written a tune titled "Different Flavors" ("I like different flavors, yes I do...") to express his love of variety in all things consumable, from soups to songs.
As a member of the Microscopic Septet in the 1980s and early 1990s, Shapiro was part of a small but vibrant community of jazz musicians who refused to submit to the narrow, neoconservative ethos of the day, and chose instead to celebrate the entire tradition, from early swing to the avant-garde. You can hear that joyous open-mindedness in all of Shapiro's subsequent work, including his two previous albums for John Zorn's Tzadik label, Midnight Minyan and It's in the Twilight, which subject traditional synagogue melodies to a variety of treatments, from rhythm and blues to modal jazz.
Shapiro's growing interest in Jewish music eventually led him to a pocket of repertoire from the 1930s and 1940s that occupies a fascinating middle ground between big band swing, Yiddish pop and early R&B. For the past several years, he has been presenting these finds, many of which take food as their theme, at Cornelia Street as part of his Ribs and Brisket Revue.
There are klezmer-inflected melodies like Benny Goodman's "My Little Cousin" (based on the Yiddish tune, "Di Grine Kuzine"), and jivey, bluesy numbers like Henry Nemo's "A Bee Gezindt," which was sung by both Cab Calloway and Mildred Bailey—neither of whom, presumably, could resist a lyric that rhymes "Miller" with "schmiller"; Borscht Belt material like "Tsouris," a shtick-laden Yinglish routine originated by the Barton Brothers, and the food-obsessed title track, a Billy Hodes bit that was later reworked by Lee Tully (né Kalman Naftuli), and which Shapiro tracked down among the 78-rpm records in the YIVO archives; and a couple of tunes by the late, great hipster Slim Gaillard: the frenetic "Matzoh Balls" and "Dunkin' Bagels", which Shapiro reworks as ultra-groovy new jack swing.
Many of these pieces illuminate the game of give-and-take that Jewish and African-American artists have played for generations, including "Utt-Da-Zay," a Cab Calloway vehicle from 1938, which features mock cantorial gibberish by Revue singer Babi Floyd; and singer Cilla Owens' earthy cover of blues singer Sophie Tucker's Yiddishized cover of Jane Green's "Mama Goes Where Papa Goes," dating to 1923. "You listen to it and it's very much a bluesy version, 'cause Sophie was really bluesy," Shapiro says of Tucker's rendition, which he also found at YIVO. "And yet it's in Yiddish."
The musical ancestry can get even more complicated. A couple of years ago, Owens brought in "Yes, My Darling Daughter," a popular tune from the 40s sung by Adelaide Hall, among others. Audience members began coming to Shapiro between sets and telling him that the song was based on the old Yiddish tune, "Yuh Mein Tiere Tochter." That was true, but it wasn't the end of the story. "The funniest thing is, I played it last summer up at the National Yiddish Book Center, and [Jewish music scholar] Hankus Netsky was in the audience," Shapiro says. "And he tells me afterwards, 'Guess what -- it's really a Ukrainian folksong.' That's very typical; these melodies are popular and they get pulled into various musical families, and everybody shares."
Shapiro casts many of these gems in the form of jump, a bouncy, jazzy precursor to R&B built on shuffle rhythms and boogie-woogie basslines that will be familiar to anyone who has heard Ray Charles's early recordings or sampled the oeuvre of saxophonist Louis Jordan & His Tympani Five. He also weaves in bits of reggae and funk and bebop, all of which are deftly executed by pianist Brian Mitchell, bassist Booker King and drummer Tony Lewis. What stands out most, however—aside from the breadth of styles on display—is the consistent and strikingly well-integrated combination of serious musicianship and easy, lighthearted humor.
I have been to see the Revue more than once, and I have listened to Essen umpteen times, not just because of the novelty of the material or the intriguing relationships it reveals between various streams of American popular music; but because, as performed by Shapiro and his crew, it is endlessly entertaining.
Without committing to anything, Shapiro admits that there might be enough music for another album. To which I can only respond: Please, sir, can I have some more?
Time Out New York:
Paul Shapiro stirs klezmer, swing, R&B and other hearty sounds into his Ribs and Brisket Revue, seasoning it all with a potent Yiddish tinge. Tonight, wash down the band’s meaty flavor with a midnight champagne toast.
Pop Matters: Gefilte Fish Jazz by Will Layman
In the liner notes to his new recording, Essen, Paul Shapiro is quick to point out that there is nothing particularly strange about a Yiddish jazz album. Cab Calloway recorded “Utt-Da-Zay” and Slim Gaillard was all over “Matzo Balls” and “Dunkin’ Bagel”. In the 1920s, ‘30s, and ‘40s, jazz culture and Jewish culture rubbed shoulders in every sector of New York City. The combination is more than fated—it’s history.
So Shapiro’s new Essen is not really novelty, though it feels like one in 2008. The playing here—by a fiery rhythm section anchored by Brian Mitchell’s piano and sailed-over by Shapiro’s own brawny saxophone and on-point clarinet—is rousing good jazz. But the tunes are loving shtick: Catskills routines set to a groove; funny voices; broad comedy that loves to jump. This good-time music is illuminated by great musicians who plainly embrace the music itself, making the whole proceeding more than novelty. It’s a reminder that, in American music, the “low” arts have frequently been bolstered by high artistry.
Shapiro’s “Utt-Da-Zay” is mad story-telling, the hysterical singer Babi Floyd going on about a tale him mother told him, all peppered with pseudo-Yiddish babbling that becomes a kind of musical scatting. But the band stomps and grooves still. “Oy Veys Mir” takes the musical form of “I Got Rhythm”, with the lyrics on the bridge being a series of nonsense Yiddish-isms. But when Mitchell takes over for a barrelhouse piano solo, the shtick seems purely like background. Shapiro’s tenor solo is gritty and swinging, but the musicians keep all their statements to-the-point. This is not an exploratory modern jazz album, but neither is it merely in-group mugging.
“Dunkin’ Bagel” is particularly hip. Folks familiar with the Slim Gaillard version will recall it as another “Rhythm” changes nonsense workout: “Dunkin’ bagel—splash! In the coffee. Matzo ball, matzo ball-o-roonie! Gefilte fish, gefilte fish-a-fruitie!” But Shapiro hips it up here nicely, starting with a boogaloo-backbeat that feels genuinely funky even by 2008 standards. The vocals are coolly harmonized with some hip dissonances on the A section, with the bridge still insanely shouted. Gaillard would have loved it, but he never would have played it this way.
“Essen”, which leads off the collection, is supplemented by the trumpets of Steven Bernstein and Frank London and Doug Wieselman’s clarinet—and also their singing. Using fun tempo changes and the occasional drop into funk, the band tells the story of a man trying to relax at a Catskills resort who is continually bombarded with offers of physical activity and FOOD. The choruses are glorious lists of menus: “Orange juice, tomato juice, and grapefruit juice, and apple juice, tomato soup, potato soup, Yankee bean, carob bean, cold borscht, hot borscht, sour cream soup” and so on. Fun! (Stuffed.)
Some of the tunes play more as straight jazz than as eastern European-tinged music. “My Little Cousin” is a blues-drenched arrangement with a melody to match. Cilla Owens sings like a big-band vocalist from the ‘40s, but in the interlude between verses, she and Shapiro’s clarinet scat a klezmer melody in a short snatch. Owens lays on the thick blues feeling in “Mama Goes Where Papa Goes”, even as she accurately pronounces the Yiddish words in the lyrics. If Alberta Hunter had been Jewish, she would have sounded like this.
In concert, the band is known as “Paul Shapiro’s Ribs and Brisket Revue”, and this music does, indeed, stick pleasantly in your gut. I’m particularly partial to the big-beat tunes like “A Bissel Bop”, where the whole band gets in on the shout-vocal and drummer Tony Lewis gets to swing the band as if he were playing with Louis Jordan just on the cusp of turning jazz into R&B. It would seem to be impossible to resist the urge behind this music: the impulse toward pushing cultural categories aside even as you dig into your heritage.
More to the point, I promise that if you walked into the Cornelia Street Café in Greenwich Village and heard the Ribs and Brisket Revue, you would be incapable of leaving the room. The enjoyment—the joy—in this music is grandly palpable. It puts a smile on your face. It ought to be the cure for the disease of anti-Semitism and the life of the party at once. Essen does not aspire to being profound. Paul Shapiro and Co. are too busy laughing and swinging to be concerned with tomorrow’s judgment. Fun: what’s wrong with that?](Ribs_and_Brisket_files/shapeimage_1.png)
