Dear all,

YOSHIE FRUCHTER & THE FLATBUSH JEWISH CENTER present

CHURCH AVENUE SESSIONS

*A Monthly Music Series in Kensington, Brooklyn*

       at  Flatbush Jewish Center

327 East 5^th Street (@ Church Avenue), Brooklyn, NY 11218       

Thursday, September 20 at 7:30pm

Featuring

Innocent When You Dream (World Jazz)

and

Ephemeral Birds (Klezmer and Poetry)

INNOCENT WHEN YOU DREAM:
Innocent When You Dream dives deep into the distinct collection of Tom Waits’ material, exploring the colors and tonality of his lyricism, through unique instrumentation and arrangements. Covering a wide period of Waits’ career the band moves beyond the realm of covers, creating a distinctive sound that draws from jazz, rock, blues, world music and the avant-garde.

“If you are already a Waits fan, this album might send you scrambling to purchase any titles in his catalogue that you’ve missed. And if you’re not a Waits fan, this album could convert you.”

-Bobby Reed – Downbeat (Editor’s Pick)

EPHEMERAL BIRDS • Songs of the passing time
Eleonore Biezunski (violin, vocals) and Ilya Shneyveys (accordion) will weave the boundless threads of time – so difficult to grasp that we come to doubt it exists. And if time didn’t exist, ask the physicists? The Ephemeral Birds have a different unit of measurement, because they shape it with their chants. Poetry and music is the unit, the intangible always ready to take shape, in a perpetual movement.
Friendships are the feet of the passing time. And the hourglass – fill it with wine, and enjoy while you still can!

Eleonore Biezunski is a vocalist, klezmer violinist and scholar, born and raised in a Yiddish speaking family in Paris who now lives in NYC. She has collected and performed Yiddish songs and melodies for almost fifteen years between Paris and New York.
Eléonore Biezunski currently serves as a Sound Archivist at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research (NYC) and has taught and published several articles about Yiddish Songs and Yiddish theater.
She has performed with Michael Alpert, Lisa Gutkin, Michael Winograd, Lauren Brody, Strauss & Warshauer Duo, Litvakus, Tsibele and Pete Rushefsky and since moving to New York in 2016, she has collaborated with a host of musicians from various horizons.
www.eleonorebiezunski.com

Ilya Shneyveys (multi-instrumentalist, arranger, composer) is an artist and educator in Jewish music, from klezmer and Yiddish folk song to fusion and experimental projects. He is the artistic director and a founding member of the Yiddish psychedelic rock band Forshpil (Latvia-Russia-Germany) and a founding member of the Yiddish-Bavarian fusion project Alpen Klezmer (D), winner of 2014 RUTH World music award at TFF Rudolstadt. He frequently performs with Dobranotch (RU) and has collaborated with artists such as Opa! (RU), The Klezmatics (US), Daniel Kahn and the Painted Bird (D) and others.
Over the years he has performed and taught at major Jewish festivals around the world, including Yiddish Summer Weimar, Yiddish Fest Moscow, Klezfest St.Petersburg, Klezfest London, KlezKanada, Montreal Jewish Festival, Toronto Ashkenaz Festival, and Krakow Jewish Festival.
Ilya composes klezmer pieces in both traditional and experimental styles and creates original arrangements of traditional Jewish music. He is renowned as an improviser, accompanist and band leader.
www.shneyveys.com

CHURCH AVENUE SESSIONS

A monthly music series has sprung up in Kensington, Brooklyn called Church Avenue Sessions.  Founded by guitarist and composer Yoshie Fruchter and hosted by the Flatbush Jewish Center, the series is focused on showcasing the amazing artistry of Brooklyn based musicians, regardless of genre.  All ages are welcome! As a recent transplant to Kensington from Prospect Heights, Yoshie was inspired to start CAS from other peers who have run music series’ in synagogues around the city, including The Sixth Street Synagogue in the East Village, Kane Street synagogue in Cobble Hill, Temple Beth Emeth in Ditmas Park, and the Stephen Wise synagogue on the upper west side.

As community spaces, synagogues are many ways perfect venues to present art and music, and Flatbush Jewish Center is no exception.  With a beautiful and spacious sanctuary, and a downstairs event room, there is opportunity to present both sensitive acoustic music, as well as bands that utilize drums and electric instruments.

Flatbush Jewish Center (FJC) is a Conservative synagogue offering programming and services for families, adults, and children. We serve the Windsor Terrace and Kensington, Brooklyn communities and offer traditional egalitarian services.

Yoshie Fruchter is a guitar, bass, oud player and composer whose band, Pitom (Tzadik Records), has received critical acclaim from JazzTimes magazine, the Wall Street Journal and Guitar Player Magazine, among others.  The unique blend of rock, jazz, experimental and jewish styles in his playing and composing is a defining characteristic of his music.  He has toured the US and Europe with Pitom and other groups, playing the Atlantique Jazz Festival in France, the Krakow Jewish Culture Festival, Saalfelden Jazz Festival in Austria and others.  He recently released a record of post-rock arrangements of old cantorial recordings entitled Schizophonia, and leads a new project called Sandcatchers featuring oud, lap steel and cello. In addition, Yoshie is a sought-after freelance musician in New York City in bands ranging in style from acoustic world music to heavy metal and has performed with John Zorn, Cyro Baptista and Frank London, among many others.