The Moody Jews of Boise bring funky klezmer jazz to ABQ, Carlsbad

Experience the many moods of the Moody Jews of Boise, whose jazzy renditions of Central European Jewish songs honor the klezmer tradition while keeping things fresh for the 21st century.

The Moody Jews of Boise will perform at Juno Brewery on Thursday, June 26. They will also perform a free concert and a special presentation on the history of klezmer at Milton’s Brewing in Carlsbad on Saturday, June 28.

Elana Salzman, the group’s lead vocalist, said she’s “probably the most observant Jew in the band” and the one who “knows the culture” best, due to growing up with a Yiddish-speaking father.

“In the band, I’m the one who’s kind of been the stalwart,” she said.

But even as she keeps the band grounded in traditional Ashkenazi culture, she embraces change. And she thinks klezmer has always been highly adaptable.

“Traditionally, we think of klezmer as having clarinet. But historically that was not the case. Historically, it was more of a string ensemble. You needed violin, you needed bass, and there used to be an instrument called a cimbalom (a kind of hammered dulcimer) that was very common. And then, when accordion became a thing, accordion was part of it,” Salzman said. “I actually think that there’s a lot of flexibility these days in what you can put in a klezmer band.”

And while Salzman explained that the klezmer scales “come straight from synagogue scales,” the genre was created by itinerant musicians who incorporated multicultural elements from the very beginning, including European, Arabic and North African influences in the 19th century, then jazz and musical theater influences in the early 20th century.

The Moody Jews of Boise take full advantage of klezmer’s capacity for syncretism.

“Rhiannon (Terry), our clarinet player, comes from a classical background and a jazz background, so she adds those influences. Then, Danny Beal, our piano player, has played just about everything — rock, pop, classical, jazz — and brings all of those influences,” Salzman said. “And the percussion that we use (courtesy of percussionist Grant Green) is certainly not traditional.”

Two of Salzman’s favorite songs in the band’s repertoire are “Sha Shtil,” a traditional Yiddish folk song about a dancing rabbi — which they perform with a modern funk beat — and “Oy, mame, bin ikh farlibt,” a song from the 1963 Yiddish romantic musical comedy film “Yidl mitn fidl” (“Yidl with his Fiddle”).

“That film involves a woman dressing up as a man and traveling around the country as a klezmer musician,” Salzman said. “But in the song itself, she’s obsessed with a fiddle player, so it’s a very pathos-y song. And we do it first as a funk and then as a swing.”

Although Salzman grew up hearing Yiddish in her home, she only started learning it as an adult.

“It’s slow-going to learn a language as an adult, but it’s helped me with my singing and learning the meanings of the songs,” she said. “Yiddish is very colorful. It has unique expressions that can’t be translated. And we’re trying to keep it alive.”

The band also sometimes performs Sephardic tunes in the Ladino, or Judeo-Spanish, language.

Salzman said The Moody Jews “started out more or less as a synagogue band” at one of “only two” synagogues in Boise. But in the roughly ten years since the band formed, it has gone through a few lineup changes and now includes both Jewish and non-Jewish members.

“Our music is for everybody,” Salzman said. “We end all of our concerts with the song ‘Ale Brider,’ which means ‘all of us are brothers and sisters.’ That’s the message we want to convey as a band. We really take that to heart.”

The concert is a rain or shine event and will be held outdoors on the patio if the weather is good, or in Juno’s indoor performance space if it rains.

The Moody Jews of Boise bring funky klezmer jazz to Juno Brewery