David Krakauer
Clarinet virtuoso David Krakauer is an adventurous performer and composer known for his genre-mashing blend of klezmer, jazz, funk, and classical traditions. Whether on his own or as the leader of his inventive Klezmer Madness ensemble, Krakauer has been at the forefront of the contemporary klezmer, new music, and avant-garde scenes, releasing albums like 1995's Klezmer Madness, 2001's A New Hot One, and 2014's Checkpoint. He has garnered accolades, including a Grammy nomination as a soloist for his work on 2014's Dreams & Prayers. Krakauer has also contributed to equally acclaimed projects with Paul Moravec, Kronos Quartet, Osvaldo Golijov, Dawn Upshaw, and others. In addition, he is a respected educator, having taught at the Manhattan School of Music, the New School's Mannes College of Music, and the Bard Conservatory. Krakauer collaborates regularly with pianist/composer Kathleen Tagg, as on their 2022 project Mazel Tov Cocktail Party!
Born in 1956 in New York City, Krakauer started out on piano before switching to clarinet at age nine. He took classical lessons and he eventually discovered the music of jazz clarinetist Sydney Bechet. After high school, he studied music, ultimately completing his master's degree at Juilliard -- where he studied under Leon Russianoff. He also studied at Sarah Lawrence College and the Paris Conservatory. While in his early twenties, Krakauer shifted away from jazz to focus on his classical career. However, in the '80s, Krakauer began playing klezmer, in part as a way to further embrace his Eastern European Jewish cultural heritage. This renewed his passion for improvisation, and soon he was composing his own brand of modern klezmer that combined traditional forms with jazz, funk, and avant-garde influences, as well as allowing him to explore the sonic possibilities of the clarinet. In 1988, he joined the boundary-pushing ensemble the Klezmatics, appearing on their first three albums: Shvaygn = Toyt, Rhythm + Jews, and Jews with Horns.
Krakauer went on to lead the equally genre-bending Klezmer Madness, debuting the group on their 1995 eponymously titled Klezmer Madness! for John Zorn's Tzadik label. Concurrent to Zorn's Radical Jewish Culture movement, Krakauer helped to launch the klezmer revival from the early '90s onward. The following year, he joined with the Kronos Quartet, exploring yet more Judaic themes on Osvaldo Golijov: The Dream and Prayers of Isaac the Blind. The album received the Diapason d'Or in France.
In the 2000s, he recorded a series of albums for Label Bleu, beginning with 2001's A New Hot One. He then returned to his work with Klezmer Madness for 2002's The Twelve Tribes which took home album of the year in Germany's Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik. Another Klezmer Madness effort, Bubbemeises: Lies My Gramma Told Me, arrived in 2005. That same year, he played on composer Paul Moravec's Pulitzer Prize-winning Tempest Fantasy. He has also recorded with violinist Itzhak Perlman, vocalist Dawn Upshaw, Continuum, Randy Sandke, and others. In 2012, Krakauer released Masada Book 2: The Book of Angels, Vol. 18: Pruflas, which found him playing songs from John Zorn's Masada project.
In 2014, he released Dreams & Prayers, which received a Grammy nomination for Krakauer as a soloist with the conductorless chamber orchestra for the piece "A Far Cry." At the same time, he debuted his Ancestral Groove band on Checkpoint. He can also be heard on notable recordings by David Del Tredici, the Albany Symphony Orchestra, Stefan Węgłowski, as well as on the scores to films by Danny Elfman, Sally Potter, Ang Lee, and Eric Steel. As a performer, Krakauer has appeared with a bevy of artists and ensembles, including the WDR Big Band, John Cage, the Philadelphia Orchestra, Fred Wesley, the Emerson Quartet, Marin Alsop, Leonard Slatkin, and Anakronic Electro Orkestra, among others. Krakauer has also garnered attention as a composer, co-composing several large works with pianist/composer Kathleen Tagg. In 2022, he and Tagg debuted their adventurous Mazel Tov Cocktail Party! project.
© Matt Collar /TiVo
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Checkpoint
David Krakauer, Ancestral Groove
Contemporary Jazz - Released by Label Bleu on 3 Mar 2014
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Pruflas: Book of Angels, Vol. 18
World - Released by Tzadik on 26 Mar 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Twelve Tribes
David Krakauer|Klezmer Madness!
Contemporary Jazz - Released by Label Bleu on 1 Jan 2001
The Qobuz Essential Discography16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Breath & Hammer
Contemporary Jazz - Released by Table Pounding Records on 8 May 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bubbemeises - Lies My Gramma Told Me (feat. Socalled & Klezmer Madness)
Contemporary Jazz - Released by Label Bleu on 1 Jan 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mazel Tov Cocktail Party!
Contemporary Jazz - Released by Label Bleu on 25 Feb 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Anakronic / Krakauer
Anakronic Electro Orkestra, David Krakauer
Alternative & Indie - Released by Balagan Box on 4 Mar 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Krakauer Live In Krakow (feat. Klezmer Madness! & Socalled)
Contemporary Jazz - Released by Label Bleu on 1 Jan 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Best Of
Contemporary Jazz - Released by Label Bleu on 20 Oct 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A New Hot One
Contemporary Jazz - Released by Label Bleu on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Akoka: Reframing Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time
Chamber Music - Released by PentaTone on 1 Apr 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Alexander Krein: Chamber Music, Vol. 5
Chamber Music - Released by Toccata Classics on 4 Oct 2019
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
KLEZMER CONCERTOS AND ENCORES
Concertos - Released by Milken Family Foundation on 23 Sep 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Mathew Rosenblum: Lament/Witches' Sabbath
Classical - Released by New Focus Recordings on 9 Nov 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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George Tsontakis: Anasa - True Colors - Unforgettable
David Krakauer, Eric Berlin, Eunice Kim, Albany Symphony Orchestra, Luosha Fang, David Alan Miller
Classical - Released by Naxos on 11 Aug 2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mohammed Fairouz: Poems & Prayers
University of California Philharmonia
Classical - Released by Sono Luminus on 27 May 2014
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Tempest Fantasy
Chamber Music - Released by Naxos on 8 Feb 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stefan Węgłowski: Contemporary Jewish Music
Classical - Released by KAIROS on 1 May 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo