# CD review: Paul Green and Two Worlds – A Bissel Rhythm 2019: Video, CD cover

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2019/03/03/cd-review-paul-green-and-two-worlds-a-bissel-rhythm-2019-video-cd-cover/
- Published: 2019-03-03T17:46:04+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**A BISSEL RHYTHM is composer and clarinetist Paul Green’s debut, although it marks
his second recorded exploration into the fusion between jazz and Jewish music. **

A performance at Merkin Concert Hall resulted in the New York Times extolling his
talents: “Like a cobra intent on doing some charming of its own, the clarinetist
Paul Green weaved, darted and hovered over his instrument…conjuring gorgeous sounds.”

Green opens the album with the title track, A Bissel Rhythm, a reworking of the 
George Gershwin standard, “I Got Rhythm.” Already interpreted by such astounding
jazz players as Charlie Parker and Sonny Rollins, Green turns the song into a Jewish
expression by using traditional Hebrew scales, placing it in a minor Jewish-sounding
key, and giving it a joyful, freilach (merry) fast tempo. That same joyful feeling
is expressed in My Own Freilach, which should be familiar to anyone who has ever
attended a Jewish wedding or bar mitzvah. Here, it is performed at near breakneck
speed, leaving it to the players to see who can maintain the pace, whether they’re
playing the tune as written or improvising their own licks.

With Doina and Ramble, the composer reimagines the funeral traditions of New Orleans,
by placing the Doina, a klezmer form, in the context of an imagined New Orleans 
funeral. In this tradition, the slow funeral song would be followed by a joyful 
performance, which Green depicts in his piece Ramble. The Jewish March hearkens 
back to the time when Jewish musicians in Russia were often prohibited from playing
loud instruments. When those musicians arrived in America, they let loose with drums,
wind, and brass instruments. The Jewish March is a recreation of an early 20th century
piece, complete with drum rolls – courtesy of Peter Sweeney – and plenty of loud,
exuberant playing. This energy and spirit permeates the album as a whole, making
for an experience that is as impressive as it is enjoyable to hear.

Tracklist:

 1. A Bissel Rhythm
 2. Zoey’s Chosidl
 3. My Own Freilach
 4. Doina and Ramble
 5. Prelude to the Blues
 6. Joe’s Hurra
 7. The Jewish March
 8. Lisa’s Song

![Картинки по запросу Paul Green & Two Worlds - A Bissel Rhythm](
https://i0.wp.com/is3-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Music124/v4/45/f8/06/45f806a7-
303a-c2c6-ef1a-aeab6ea5208b/608410873438.jpg/1200x630wp.png?w=640&ssl=1)

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