Klezville from the 2004 release Harbst.  Written by Daniel Hoffman.  An artful fusion of ideas from the classic klezmer tune Fon Der Khuppe (well, one of them) and Horace Silver’s composition Nutville.

Musicians: Sheldon Brown, Daniel Hoffman, Jeanette Lewicki, Kevin Mummey, Richard Saunders, Stephen Saxon, and Charlie Seavey

Recorded at Bay Records, Berkeley, CA  Sound Engineer -Bob Shumaker

In Torbe Funem Vindt from the 2004 release Harbst.  (breathtakingly gorgeous) Words by Avraham Sutzkever (z”l) music by Daniel Hoffman.

Musicians: Sheldon Brown, Daniel Hoffman, Jeanette Lewicki, Kevin Mummey, Richard Saunders, Stephen Saxon, and Charlie Seavey. Special guest, Stuart Brotman

In Torbe Funem Vind  (In the Sack of the Wind)

A barefoot vagabond on a stone

in evening's gold

shakes off

the dust of the world

Suddenly, from out of the woods

a bird flies

and snatches up the last grain of sand

There's also a willow near the river

A road.

A field.

A fresh meadow.

Footprints of clouds, foraging in secret.

Where are the hands that make miracles?

There's also a live fiddle.

What is there to do at such a moment.

O my world of a thousand colors

but to gather up that beautiful redness

in the sack of the wind

and bring it home for supper

And then there's loneliness, like a mountain

(translated by Chana Bloch)

Jewish Luck Part 1 from the new film score for the 1925 Soviet classic silent film, Jewish Luck.  Written and arranged by Daniel Hoffman. Unreleased. This is the opening tune and the theme of our hero and ultimate luftmensch, Menachem Mendel.(played by the great Soviet Jewish actor Solomon Mikhoels)

Musicians: Daniel Hoffman, Ben Goldberg, Jeanette Lewicki, Kevin Mummey, Richard Saunders, Stephen Saxon, and Charlie Seavey.

Recorded at Bay Records, Berkeley, CA  Sound Engineer -Bob Shumaker

Jewish Luck Part 19 from the new film score for the 1925 Soviet classic silent film, Jewish Luck.  Written and arranged by Daniel Hoffman. Unreleased. This is the market scene in which Menachem Mendel tries his hand at yet another failed endeavor to riotous and chaotic results.

Musicians: Daniel Hoffman, Ben Goldberg, Jeanette Lewicki, Kevin Mummey, Richard Saunders, Stephen Saxon, and Charlie Seavey.

Recorded at Bay Records, Berkeley, CA  Sound Engineer -Bob Shumaker

Jewish Luck Part 25 from the new film score for the 1925 Soviet classic silent film, Jewish Luck.  Written and arranged by Daniel Hoffman. Unreleased. In this scene, Menachem tries to bribe his way out of his arrest during the previous scene.  The Czar’s clerk is not amused but eventually accepts his meager offering and Menachem escapes.

Musicians: Daniel Hoffman, Ben Goldberg, Jeanette Lewicki, Kevin Mummey, Richard Saunders, Stephen Saxon, and Charlie Seavey.

Recorded at Bay Records, Berkeley, CA  Sound Engineer -Bob Shumaker

photo by Allen Stross