Experience the musical tradition of Klezmer doinas, freilachs and Yiddish favorites… all with a Texas Flair!

CD $20 plus $3.50 Shipping & Handling

Call (713) 771-0899 to order your copy today!

FOR THE LOVE OF KLEZMER

Who knew that just six weeks after the most joyous moment of my life, after the stomping of the wedding glass to the universal shouts of "mazl tov!" our life in Ganeydn - our Garden of Eden - our Paradise - was about to end. We're being transferred where? To Houston! With a sinking feeling I sensed I was about to be thrust headlong into an epic culture shock: from cosmopolitan Chicago to the deserts of the Southwest. Could there be Borsht on the Bayou? Yiddishkayt in Texas?

Yet to my immense surprise, the great Southwest embraced KLEZMER with an

unimaginable passion. Our music seemed to trigger a connection with the Freylakhayt that played such a vital role in our ancestor's lives. It was like receiving a letter from the Old Country:

"Mayn tayere cousine Malke,

Yesterday we celebrated my brother Avrohn's wedding to Dvorka, you know, the one we called 'die wilde'. The whole shtetl was there. You should have heard the klezmorim! Yankele Grossbart played his clarinet as if he had learned music from King David himself. The fiddlers, black Shmulik and red-haired Itzik played as if they had been touched by angels. We danced to their Freylakhs late into the night. If only you could have been with us!

Your loving cousin, Miriam."

It is their music that brings our ancestors back to life, our ancestors from Odessa and Lodz, from Podgorzse and Berdichev. My grandparents were among the first wave of Jewish immigrants to arrive in the Goldene Medine - the Golden Land, America - in 1881. They brought along their customs and traditions that had kept Jewish families together. The melodies they sang, the music they played at family gatherings, brought with them the feeling of the shtetls they had left behind. Their music, now our music, is the unbroken chain that binds us to our Jewish past.

And so, with our first album, SCHLEPPIN' WEST, we bring you a taste of home.

Oyf a gute shuh; may we meet on many happy occasions."

Marcia Sterling

Reviewed by Hadassah Magazine:

RECORDINGS

SCHLEPPIN' WEST. The inaugural CD and tape of The Best Little Klezmer Band in Texas is well worth the schlep for any klezmer lover. This enchanting music of doinas. freilakhs and familiar Yiddish favorites is as clever as it is invigorating. As the Texas spin makes inroads on Jewish swing, the only regret may be that the album ends too soon. Klezmer Traditions (713-771-0899). – Carol Kozak Ward

"Thank you for your joyous renderings of my father's songs. Your CD honors his memory." [Mickey Katz was Joel Grey's father]

Joel Grey, Actor


"...now that's good schlepp! Your new CD's a mamaloschen delight."

Itzhak Perlman, Violinist


"Dear Best Little Klezmers,

Schleppin West is great fun loaded with heart and soul.

Peter 'Baruch' Nero, Composer-Pianist

"Dayn Klezmer muzik iz tsu mir vee vasser in midbor."

"Your Klezmer music is to me like water in the desert."

Meymee Schwartz, Phoenix, AZ

Dear Best Little Klezmer Band,

Thank you very much for recording Schleppin' West! I thoroughly enjoyed listening to your foot-stompin' songs filled with Jewish vitality. Your band is truly "one of a kind" and represents authentic sounds of European Jewry.

I will always cherish the tape in my collection.

Toddah Rabbah & the best wishes for much success in the future.

Sincerely,
Marshall Levit, Sugarland, Tx.



Dear Marcia,

What a treat your Schleppin' West CD is! Listening to it made the ride to and from work absolutely painless. The mix of contemporary and traditional music is terrific. And, your voice is fabulous. Inasmuch as Chanukah is nearly upon us, I could not think of a better gift for those who appreciate klezmer, as well as those who have not yet grown to love it, than your CD. Therefore, I would like to order 12 CDs to spread the word here in the Midwest.

Cordially,
Ila Lewis, Skokie, Il.

I loved your Klezmer CD, Schleppin’ West. It touched my heartstrings as my parents were from Russia & I listened to this music sung by my parents and their friends. It is so touching to me.
Love,

Claire Renov

The CD is fabulous and the purity and clarity of the singers and instrumentalist is really sensational. It really kitzled my old heart, which by the way, was 86 this cinquo de mayo. I’m still playing drums with a little trio that plays three times a week at Jimmy Buffet's "Margaritaville" in the French Quarter, two blocks from where I live, and they have house drums, so I only have to schlep my cymbals.
Please give my sincerest congratulaions and sincerest admiration for a work of art.
Warmest regards,
Mannie, South Carolina

Available in 2 different versions for the back of the shirt.

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Only $15 each, or $25 for two, plus $3.50 Shipping & Handling

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