Making his Bubbe and Zayde Proud! - Interview with Seth Kibel
CreateCulture.org interview with Seth Kibel
The Alexandria Kleztet leader - who is not an average attorney- February 2010
Tell me a little bit about yourself
I lead my own genre-bending klezmer band, The Alexandria Kleztet, but I also front an assortment of jazz and swing combos. Plus, I freelance with a host of bands and musicians in a wide range of styles, from rock, funk, and classical, to German oom-pah!
I also do a wee bit of teaching, including private students and a fair amount of lecturing, most of which I do on the so-called "senior circuit." Very glamorous.
Tell me about a defining moment in your artistic career.
Well, there was that morning, some 14 years ago, when I was supposed to take my GMAT's, so I could then apply to some kind of graduate school. I was a senior at Cornell University, where I had double-majored in the two most useless majors I could find --Music and American Studies. Leaving me well-qualified to embark upon a career in ???
Anyhow, the morning of the exams, I decided I just really didn't want to take them. Really, really, REALLY didn't want to take them. So, I blew them off. A few months later, I got a fabulous computerized results sheet in the mail. It indicated, among other things, that I ranked in the 0 percentile among current college graduates in Verbal Reasoning, 0 percentile in Mathematical Reasoning, etc.
I blew off the exam because I knew, deep in my heart, that nothing gave me as much joy as playing music. And what had previously been a hobby, suddenly became a career. And to think, I deprived the world of another second-rate lawyer : )
How did you end up in the Washington, D.C. area after graduating from Cornell?
But fret not, I eventually made her an honest woman, and we're now in our 13th year of marriage with two incredibly adorable children. And, a little less than a month after relocating to DC, I landed a full-time gig playing in a rock band that was working 4 to 5 times a week.
Tell me about your artistic dreams.
Can you tell us more about Klezmer music -how did it originate and how has it developed? Is your Klezmer music unique in any way?
The short story on klezmer is that it's Eastern-European Jewish party music. The kind of music that would be played at weddings and other celebrations in the tiny shtetls (Jewish villages) in the Old Country. But it gets more interesting than that. It's also what happened to this music when over two and a half million Jews, including all four of my grandparents, made the journey across the Atlantic Ocean between the years 1880 and 1924. Most of them settled in the New York metropolitan area (since New York is the center of the known universe), and those Old World sounds began mix with the sounds of the New. Early jazz, dixieland, and Tin Pan Alley all became part of the mix. As a result, klezmer is, in many ways, a uniquely American genre that combines influences from both sides of the Atlantic.
A highlight of recent journeys would most certainly be The Alexandria Kleztet's 2007 tour of Chile. The country, not Chilli's, the restaurant.
Anyhow, the Cultural Attache at the embassy just happened to be fan of ours. She had one of our albums. So, she calls me up out of the blue and ask if we'd like to travel to South American to perform. I told her that I'd need to think about it, and about four seconds later I replied in the affirmative.
The Alexandria Kleztet leader - who is not an average attorney- February 2010
Tell me a little bit about yourself
I am a freelance musician based in the Washington/Baltimore region. One of the truisms of music history is that when you're a professional musician, and you like to eat, it behooves you to do as many different things as possible. As such, I'm rather musically promiscuous. I play a multitude of instruments, specializing in saxophone, clarinet, and flute. I play multitude of genres, including jazz, blues, swing, and klezmer.
I lead my own genre-bending klezmer band, The Alexandria Kleztet, but I also front an assortment of jazz and swing combos. Plus, I freelance with a host of bands and musicians in a wide range of styles, from rock, funk, and classical, to German oom-pah!
I also do a wee bit of teaching, including private students and a fair amount of lecturing, most of which I do on the so-called "senior circuit." Very glamorous.
Tell me about a defining moment in your artistic career.
Well, there was that morning, some 14 years ago, when I was supposed to take my GMAT's, so I could then apply to some kind of graduate school. I was a senior at Cornell University, where I had double-majored in the two most useless majors I could find --Music and American Studies. Leaving me well-qualified to embark upon a career in ???
Anyhow, the morning of the exams, I decided I just really didn't want to take them. Really, really, REALLY didn't want to take them. So, I blew them off. A few months later, I got a fabulous computerized results sheet in the mail. It indicated, among other things, that I ranked in the 0 percentile among current college graduates in Verbal Reasoning, 0 percentile in Mathematical Reasoning, etc.
I blew off the exam because I knew, deep in my heart, that nothing gave me as much joy as playing music. And what had previously been a hobby, suddenly became a career. And to think, I deprived the world of another second-rate lawyer : )
How did you end up in the Washington, D.C. area after graduating from Cornell?
Ah, by following the surest means to success for an artist -- following my girlfriend! Simply put, I had no job at all after college. I wanted to have a go at being a full-time professional musician, so my only requirement was that I relocate to a large metropolitan area. My significant other at the time landed an internship in DC, so we decided to move down to our nation's capitol together and live in sin.
But fret not, I eventually made her an honest woman, and we're now in our 13th year of marriage with two incredibly adorable children. And, a little less than a month after relocating to DC, I landed a full-time gig playing in a rock band that was working 4 to 5 times a week.
Tell me about your artistic dreams.
Oh, man...I'd like to do it all! I love composing and arranging, but there's simply nothing like the chemistry of playing for a living, breathing, responsive audience. And it can be difficult to find an audience that meets all three of those requirements!
Seriously, I'm an audience whore. I love to have people listen. I love to have people clap. It's like the best drug in the world for me, only with no side effects, save for my inflated ego.
Away from the spotlight, I genuinely do love to, forgive the expression, "create culture." As the years progress, I'd love to continue my exploration of multiple musical genres, whether it's American jazz, Jewish klezmer, blues, European classical music, and more. And much like my idol, Duke Ellington, I'd like to find more ways to synthesize these diverse influences into my own musical vocabulary.
Duke was amazing. He was a musical sponge, who absorbed all the sounds of his time, and all the sounds that had come before. And yet, when he squeezed out his own music, it was uniquely his. That, in my estimation, is one of the most challenging things to do as a musician and a composer. Especially in this age of excess information.
Seriously, I'm an audience whore. I love to have people listen. I love to have people clap. It's like the best drug in the world for me, only with no side effects, save for my inflated ego.
Away from the spotlight, I genuinely do love to, forgive the expression, "create culture." As the years progress, I'd love to continue my exploration of multiple musical genres, whether it's American jazz, Jewish klezmer, blues, European classical music, and more. And much like my idol, Duke Ellington, I'd like to find more ways to synthesize these diverse influences into my own musical vocabulary.
Duke was amazing. He was a musical sponge, who absorbed all the sounds of his time, and all the sounds that had come before. And yet, when he squeezed out his own music, it was uniquely his. That, in my estimation, is one of the most challenging things to do as a musician and a composer. Especially in this age of excess information.
Can you tell us more about Klezmer music -how did it originate and how has it developed? Is your Klezmer music unique in any way?
The short story on klezmer is that it's Eastern-European Jewish party music. The kind of music that would be played at weddings and other celebrations in the tiny shtetls (Jewish villages) in the Old Country. But it gets more interesting than that. It's also what happened to this music when over two and a half million Jews, including all four of my grandparents, made the journey across the Atlantic Ocean between the years 1880 and 1924. Most of them settled in the New York metropolitan area (since New York is the center of the known universe), and those Old World sounds began mix with the sounds of the New. Early jazz, dixieland, and Tin Pan Alley all became part of the mix. As a result, klezmer is, in many ways, a uniquely American genre that combines influences from both sides of the Atlantic.
In The Alexandria Kleztet, we continue this process, by throwing influences from our own varied musical backgrounds. Jazz, rock, classical, and world beat are all integrated into our sound. In this way, we hope to honor and preserve this tradition while, at the same time, adding something new and taking this music into uncharted territories.
What role has your own heritage played in your music interests (if any)?
Tell me about artistic experiences you have had on your travels.What role has your own heritage played in your music interests (if any)?
Let's roll back the clock to the year 1987. Ronald Reagan is still president, the IBM PC is all the rage, and I'm 13 years old. It's the year of my Bar Mitzvah. For the party celebrating my achieval of manhood (ha!), my parents hired a wonderful klezmer accordionist by the name of Sy Kushner. He came from a long line of klezmorim (klezmer musicians) -- I believe his son is currently upholding the family tradition.
Anyhow, you're probably thinking, "Ah ha! -- this is where young Seth first heard and fell in love with this music!" Right? Nope. I wanted to have nothing to do with it. In fact, I spend most of my Bar Mitzvah in the restaurant's back parking lot, lighting small fires with the establishment's matchbooks.
Fast forward now to 1993 -- my sophomore year at Cornell University. I'm starting to get a little bored with academics. I'm looking for some kind of activity to distract me from my classes. I happened to spy a little flyer posted on a bulletin board. It read, "Make your Bubbe and Zayde proud! Join a klezmer band." For the Yiddish-illiterate, "Bubbe" and "Zayde" means grandmother and grandfather.
I was intrigued. I really didn't know anything at all about klezmer. I guess I had heard the word somewhere, 'cause I knew it was a type of Jewish music. But that was pretty much the extent of my knowledge. So I went to the music library, and spent a few hours hunting around in the stacks. When I came back down, I had a small handful of records (remember them?). Some 78's from the 30's and 40's, as well as some 45's from the early years of the klezmer revival (late 70's and 80's). I sat down at a carousel and began to listen.
I was instantly entranced. There were a gazillion things that attracted me to the music, but what really struck me was how exciting, innovative, and fresh this music sounded to my ears, even though much of what I was listening to was up to 60 years old.
Anyhow, you're probably thinking, "Ah ha! -- this is where young Seth first heard and fell in love with this music!" Right? Nope. I wanted to have nothing to do with it. In fact, I spend most of my Bar Mitzvah in the restaurant's back parking lot, lighting small fires with the establishment's matchbooks.
Fast forward now to 1993 -- my sophomore year at Cornell University. I'm starting to get a little bored with academics. I'm looking for some kind of activity to distract me from my classes. I happened to spy a little flyer posted on a bulletin board. It read, "Make your Bubbe and Zayde proud! Join a klezmer band." For the Yiddish-illiterate, "Bubbe" and "Zayde" means grandmother and grandfather.
I was intrigued. I really didn't know anything at all about klezmer. I guess I had heard the word somewhere, 'cause I knew it was a type of Jewish music. But that was pretty much the extent of my knowledge. So I went to the music library, and spent a few hours hunting around in the stacks. When I came back down, I had a small handful of records (remember them?). Some 78's from the 30's and 40's, as well as some 45's from the early years of the klezmer revival (late 70's and 80's). I sat down at a carousel and began to listen.
I was instantly entranced. There were a gazillion things that attracted me to the music, but what really struck me was how exciting, innovative, and fresh this music sounded to my ears, even though much of what I was listening to was up to 60 years old.
So I answered the ad, and ended up becoming a founding member of what became known as Cayuga Klezmer Revival (named after Cayuga Lake, one of the largest of the Finger Lakes in upstate New York). So my initial training with klezmer came on the job. And for the past 17 years I've made myself a serious student of this music.
A highlight of recent journeys would most certainly be The Alexandria Kleztet's 2007 tour of Chile. The country, not Chilli's, the restaurant.
It came about rather fortuitously. Every year, the American Embassy in Santiago brings one American musical act down to perform at a prominent music festival in the south of Chile, the Semanas Musicalas, in the beautiful resort town of Fruitillar. The festival is nominally a classical music affair, but they have a fairly inclusive view of what constitutes classical music.
Anyhow, the Cultural Attache at the embassy just happened to be fan of ours. She had one of our albums. So, she calls me up out of the blue and ask if we'd like to travel to South American to perform. I told her that I'd need to think about it, and about four seconds later I replied in the affirmative.
It was an amazing experience. In addition to our appearance at Semanas Musicales, the embassy sponsored several other concerts at various other locations through the country. Everywhere, we were greeted by warm and enthusiastic audiences. To generalize somewhat, our audiences could be split almost evenly into two categories. First, there were Jewish Chileans, who were amazed and delighted to hear a part of their musical heritage with which, for the most part, they had previously been unfamiliar. And then there were the non-Jewish Chileans, who were all incredibly open-minded, both culturally and musically.
Musically speaking, it was great experience. But even more than that, we all took great pleasure in being cultural ambassadors, of a sort, for the United States. Our tour came at a time when, as I'm sure everyone knows, America's reputation in the world was at somewhat of a nadir. Yet, in all our interactions with the Chilean people, both on and off the stage, we encountered nothing but goodwill and camaraderie. And we hope we did our little part to catalyze the reverse.
All except that rather angry taxi driver who I stiffed on a fare due to my misunderstanding of the exchange rate upon arrival. But I had that coming!
Click here to watch a video of The Alexandria Kleztet performing in Chile and here to learn more about Seth Kibel and The Alexandria Kleztet.
Click here to watch a video of The Alexandria Kleztet performing in Chile and here to learn more about Seth Kibel and The Alexandria Kleztet.
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Comment by Lea Jones on February 21, 2010 at 7:12am -
Seth also plays with Lea Jones & Friends, and we're more 'folk' than anything.... But when Seth plays, it turns into something....other. Great guy. Great picker.
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