Photo by David Sutton Studios
Maxwell Street Klezmer Band
Maxwell Street Klezmer Band
Lori Lippitz could go on at great length about klezmer music, the proliferation of which she has made her life's work as the founder and artistic director of Chicago's Maxwell Street Klezmer Band. But, for newcomers to her group's sound, she offers a succinct description.
“If I were describing it briefly," Lippitz states,” I would say it's the instrumental folk music of the shtetls (Jewish villages or small towns) of Eastern Europe. Klezmer music drew upon Chassidic chants and the emotional range of cantorial chants to provide the soundtrack for everything from weddings to moments of sorrow.”
As part of the Violins of Hope project hosted by the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra, Maxwell Street Klezmer Band will be playing the Rubenstein Pavillion at the Ovation Communities senior living center at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 15. The concert is open to the public. Admission is $18, $5 for students.
“In Western culture, the minor mode conveys sadness, but that is not the case in Eastern cultures," Lippitz notes. However, "Music that came to Europe via the Ottomans is often happily minor, as is the joyous music of the Chassidim that forms the basis of Klezmer music, as well as many Hebrew prayers."
Song and Dance
As for those Chassidim, as they relate to the practice of Judaism nowadays and its relationship to klezmer, Lippitz explains, "The Chassidic branch of Judaism—which began in the 1700s as a populist religious movement—draws on song and dance as ways to express spiritual joy and devotion. There is still a strong relationship between Chassidic songs and klezmer music. However, since Chassidic song is tied to the Sabbath and holy days when instrumental music is not allowed, the prayers are traditionally sung rather than accompanied."
Though Maxwell Street have at their base the style of klezmer that proliferated among Jews of Eastern European descent in the U.S. during the 1920s-‘40s, that in itself encompasses a diversity that absorbed early jazz styles and even some rumba inflluences. Within that tradition, the crew Lipptz and bandleading violinist/vocalist Alex Koffman head up also arrange and compose pieces that expand upon that tradition.
“Our band leader and composer, Alex, is very focused on combining old and new styles," Lippitz says. She adds, "We a very focused on giving the audience an experience in which no two pieces sound the same. The most consistent thing about our performance is that people leave feeling more upbeat than when they came in the door.”
Intimate Functions
The band's Rubenstein Pavillion performance won't set up for concertgoers to dance, just as Maxwell Street's several albums are more programmed more for listening than boogying. But the same group that has traveled the world and played prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall and Limcoln Center is also open to playing more intimate Jewish social and family functions.
“Our performances are pretty evenly divided between public concerts and private events such as weddings and bar and bat mitzvah celebrations," Lippitz explains. And the “joy of klez,” as she calls the good feeling produced by the music Maxwell Street make, shouldn't disappear when she and her mates lay down their instruments for the last time.
“Alex and I have succeeded in introducing the next generation to klezmer music,” Lippitz declares, citing the Klezmer Music Foundation they founded, and the Junior Klezmer Orchestra born of it, as evidence. Of the later, she proudly adds, "Last year, we celebrated the 30th anniversary of the JKO with 30 years' worth of former students and current musicians!" Maxwell Street themselves precede the orchestra they birthed by over a decade, having first assembled in 1983.
And though the combo's history and performance schedule heavily favor greater Chicago, Lippitz wants to make known their Wisconsin heritage, too.
“One of our musicians, Jeff Jeziorski on the clarinet. is a Polish native of Milwaukee. He joined the band in 1989.” Gong further back, she recalls, “My great-great grandfather was the Rabbi of a synagogue in Sheboygan.” The Jewish history at klezmer's foundation will be furthered during Maxwell Street's latest Milwaukee date, as Koffman will play one of the instruments exhibited in Jewish Museum Milwaukee's current Violins of Hope exhibition featuring the musical implements played by Holocaust victims. But Lippitz also wants to make plan that the music to which she is dedicated isn't only for listeners of Israeli heritage. “You don't have to be Jewish to love klezmer! Our show is inclusive, as is the music.”
From a 2025 outdoor summer show, Koffman sings a song popularized in the mid-1930's by Jewish Russian singer Utesov...
