| Little Princess | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | June 2009 | |||
| Recorded | February 18, 2009 at EastSide Studios, New York City | |||
| Genre | Klezmer, world, jazz | |||
| Length | 49:12 | |||
| Label | Tzadik | |||
| Producer | Tim Sparks | |||
| Tim Sparks chronology | ||||
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Little Princess (subtitled Tim Sparks Plays Naftule Brandwein) is the eighth album by guitarist Tim Sparks and his fourth on the Tzadik Records label. It is a tribute album to the music of Klezmer clarinetist Naftule Brandwein.
Naftule Brandwein, a flamboyant clarinet player, helped bring klezmer to North America in the early 20th century. His 78 rpm records were long seen as a primary source of klezmer until 1997 when they were re-mastered and reissued. Having previously recorded a few Brandwein compositions on his earlier Tzadik Records releases, Sparks returned to the Brandwein repertoire for his fourth CD for Tzadik. He stated “I’m not trying to make a klezmer guitar record, but rather rethink Naftule Brandwein through my particular kind of prism. I found that by taking a klezmer tune by Naftule Brandwein and putting it in a flamenco key, the melody suddenly just slides off the fret board.” [1]
Bassist Greg Cohen and percussionist Cyro Baptista, who had both joined Sparks for his 2000 release Tanz and 2002 release At the Rebbe's Table , again form the rhythm section on Little Princess.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Acoustic Guitar | (not rated) [2] |
| All About Jazz | (not rated) [3] |
| Allmusic |   [4] |
| East Bay Express | (not rated) [5] |
| Jazz Police | (not rated) [6] |
| Minor 7th | (not rated) [7] |
Little Princess received consistently favorable reviews. Allmusic music critic Thom Jurek stated "Virtually every one of these ten cuts is an example of how intuitive, sophisticated, and creative Sparks is, not only as a player and interpreter, but as an arranger so canny that the listener would think all of these songs were written in the current era... Brilliant work and the best Sparks record to date." [4] Acoustic Guitar called it "Brilliant fingerstyle explorations of klezmer compositions backed by bass and percussion." [2]
Mark Keresman of the Oakland-based weekly newspaper East Bay Express highly recommended the album, calling it "...vaguely familiar and yet like nothing else, exuding joy and euphoric creativity." and calls Sparks' approach "... brilliant technique... free of stuffy 'reverence' for the object of his homage — Princess is modern, wiry, and inspired" [5] Andrea Canter of Jazz Police wrote "Little Princess can make you laugh and cry at the same time." [6]
Music critic Kirk Albrecht singled out "A Bagel with Onions" as the highlighted track, writing "...where Sparks (playing solo here) begins with cascading fingerpicking, and lets the tune flow in and out, but never loses its sense of direction. If you like Klezmer, or think you might, "Little Princess" is a good listen. " [7]
In his review for All About Jazz, Elliott Simon compares the Klezmer revival of Brandwein's music in the 1980s with Sparks' interpretations and summarizes: "Perhaps because Brandwein's own musical pastiche, which included Jewish, Rom and Turkish, is as varied as Sparks'; the two are kindred spirits who come together beautifully and elegantly." [3]
Acoustic Guitar named Little Princess as essential in their article "20 Years of Essential Acoustic Albums". [8]
All songs by Naftule Brandwein. Arrangements by Tim Sparks, Greg Cohen, and Cyro Baptista.
Masada is a musical group with rotating personnel led by American saxophonist and composer John Zorn since the early 1990s.
Cyro Baptista is a Brazilian-born percussionist in jazz and world music. He creates many of the percussion instruments he plays.
Greg Cohen is an American jazz bassist who has been a member of John Zorn's Masada quartet and worked with numerous other noted musicians for over four decades.
Tim Sparks is an American acoustic guitar player, singer, arranger and composer.
At the Rebbe's Table is the third recording by guitarist Tim Sparks on the Tzadik Records label.
Neshamah (Songs from the Jewish Diaspora) is the first solo recording by American guitarist Tim Sparks on the Tzadik Records label. "Neshamah" means "soul" in Hebrew. The arrangements adapt Ashkenazic klezmer, Sephardic and Middle Eastern Jewish music for the solo guitar.
Tanz is the second recording by American guitarist Tim Sparks on the Tzadik Records label, released in 2000. The word טאַנץ is Yiddish for dance, cognate to the German word Tanz with the same meaning.
Dave Tarras was a Ukrainian-born American klezmer clarinetist and bandleader, a celebrated klezmer musician, instrumental in Klezmer revival.
Beat the Donkey is an album by percussionist Cyro Baptista, which marked the debut of his rotating percussion and dance ensemble that would become known as Beat the Donkey, which was released on the Tzadik label in 2002.
Filmworks VII: Cynical Hysterie Hour is a 1989 album by John Zorn featuring music written for a series of Japanese animated shorts that were created by Kiriko Kubo. It features Zorn's first music for cartoons and was originally released on the Japanese Sony label in limited numbers. In late 1996 Zorn finally attained the rights for his music and remastered and re-released the album on his own label, Tzadik, in 1997.
The Circle Maker is a double album by John Zorn featuring Zorn's Masada compositions performed by the Masada String Trio and the Bar Kokhba Sextet which was released in 1998 on the Tzadik label.
Music for Children is the first release in John Zorn's Music Romance Series and features three Naked City compositions performed by Zorn with the band Prelapse; a 20-minute composition for wind machines and controlled feedback systems dedicated to Edgar Varese, and a classical chamber music piece for violin, percussion and piano performed by the Abel-Steinberg-Winant Trio framed by a poly-rhythmic etude for percussion and celeste and a lullaby for music box.
Filmworks XIV: Hiding and Seeking features a score for film by John Zorn. The album was released on Zorn's own label, Tzadik Records, in 2003 and contains music that Zorn wrote and recorded for, Hiding and Seeking (2003), a documentary directed by Menachem Daum and Oren Rudavsky.
The Dreamers is an album by John Zorn released in 2008 featuring performances by a band which would later become known as The Dreamers. It is viewed as continuation of the Music Romance tradition expressed on his 2001 album The Gift.
Filmworks XXI: Belle de Nature/Rijksmuseum features a score for film by John Zorn. The album was released on Zorn's own label, Tzadik Records, in 2008 and contains music that Zorn wrote and recorded for film director Maria Beatty's Belle de Nature (2008) and a documentary on the renovation of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.
Sidewalk Blues is an album by American guitarist Tim Sparks, released in 2009. It marks a return to 'roots' music for Sparks after three albums of klezmer and jazz recordings on the Tzadik Records label.
Mount Analogue is an album by John Zorn released in January 2012 on the Tzadik label.
Banquet of the Spirits is an album by percussionist Cyro Baptista which featured the debut of the band that would become known as Banquet of the Spirits – Baptista, bassist Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz, keyboard player Brian Marsella, and drummer Tim Keiper – which was released on the Tzadik label in 2008.
Infinito is an album by percussionist Cyro Baptista which is the second recorded by Banquet of the Spirits – Baptista, bassist Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz, keyboard player Brian Marsella, and drummer Tim Keiper – which was released on the Tzadik label in 2009.
Love the Donkey is an album by percussionist Cyro Baptista's percussion and dance ensemble Beat the Donkey, which was released on the Tzadik label in 2005. The album was privately released as Beat the Donkey Beat in 2004.