For pianist/composer
Matt Herskowitz
, merging music from Jerusalem with jazz means adding heady progressive notions of improvisation on top of traditional liturgy. A string section,
Daniel Schnyder'
s saxophone, and the deep blue chords
Herskowitz
uses as embellishment create a new, fresh, resonant music. A tumbling, cascading sound comes out of
Herskowitz'
s piano during
"Polonaise Libanaise,"
but in contrast, the hard-edged, monster rock waltz
"Crossbones"
shows possible influences from
John Bonham
or
Keith Moon
. Hymnal, classical chamber music, blues, and even crazed, angular sounds are also heard on this diverse and well-crafted project that simply cannot be pigeonholed as klezmer fusion.