Quotes

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• "The Maxwell Street Klezmer Band conjures joy from thin air while at the same time freeing the deep waters of the soul. It has contributed so much to our radio broadcasts over the past 40 years. Its live performances on "Folkstage" have been and will continue to be a gift to all of our listeners." 

       - Rich Warren host/producer Emeritus WFMT Radio, Chicago

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• "These are fine musicians...they care about the music. And when they care—I care."                                             - Theodore Bikel, Actor and Singer

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• “The Maxwell Street Klezmer Band is a joyous celebration of music that was—and fortunately, still is.”            - Studs Terkel, Writer and Historian

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Press Quotes

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• The enchanted audience embraced the lively, upbeat performance with their enthusiastic applause and clapping, and at the end of the night it was hard to part company with these engaging artists." - Claudia Schuller, review from Fuerther Nachricten (Germany)

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• "Full of energy and humor...An eventful and entertaining evening, I can indeed recommend the Maxwell Street Klezmer Band to other venues all over the wold." - Weiner Konzerthaus

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• "Delightful...gorgeous violin playing." - Chicago Tribune  

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• "Internationally known...Evocative...Aims for the heartstrings and the feet." - Jewish Heartland

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• "At the end, no one wanted to leave. The heartfelt music had touched everyone…" - The Star

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• "The most well-attended, well-appreciated concert in [19] years…Everyone… was in awe of the band’s musical talents and wonderful showmanship." - Illinois State University

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• "This group can easily take its place beside the Klezmer Conservatory Band and the Klezmatics. They are that good." - National Jewish Post & Opinions

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• "I think that I’ve recovered from the Maxwell Street Klezmer Band concert [at Carnegie Hall], now. These guys do a very perfect vintage ‘30s jazz and klezmer and theatre music show. Lots of great shtick. Lots of great mugging for the audience. One of the tightest bands I’ve seen in a long time...I expected good, but this was really, really good."      - Ari Davidow

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• "Kings of klezmer" - Pioneer Press

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• "Maxwell Street Klezmer once again was the star of the show." - Temple Israel, Bloomfield, Michigan

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• "Outstanding performance… Maxwell Street brought...a ‘taste’ of Yiddishkyte that would be hard to duplicate...Excellent!" - Valley Jewish Festival

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• "An absolutely first class performance...The audience absolutely loved them." - World of Jewish Music, London

 

• "An exhilarating, delightful high-voltage performance." -örderung Jüdischer Kultur und Tradition E.V., Munich, Germany​

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• "The Maxwell Street Klezmer Band throws a party." - Rich Swenson, The Chicago Sun-Times​​

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Featured Reviews 

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• "The Property bills itself as a Klezmer opera, it's perhaps more accurate to call it a theater piece that incorporates Klezmer vocal and instrumental  writing...the musicians dispatched the score with infectious verve under conductor Michael Lewanski." - Chicago Tribune (2015) / Read the review   

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• "Conducted with vigor by Michael Lewanski, the six-member klezmer ensemble—provided lively and idiomatic advocacy for Marhulets’ score. Clarinetist Don Jacobs and violinist Alex Koffman, in particular, were in tune with the essential strain of Eastern European nostalgia."  -  Chicago Classical Review (2015) / Read the review

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• "No surprise that there’s a killer part for clarinet—Don Jacobs is on the reed, lending Old World flavor from the Maxwell Street Klezmer Bandalong with violinist Alex Koffman and double bassist Jim Cox. They know how to bend a note into a call from the heart." - Chicago On the Aisle (2015) / Read the review

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Featured Articles

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• A Cantor's Journey: From the USSR to Chicago: Interview with Cantor Pavel Roytman - Patch (2021) / Read the article

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• Maxwell Street Band Brings Klezmer Music to the Polish Center in Franklin, WI - Shepherd Express (2022) / Read the article

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• "The [Maxwell Street Klezmer Band] from the Chicago area played with all the energy, speed, vigor, humor, soulfulness and skill expected of a klezmer band. Prominent were director Alex Koffman with a bundle of specialized techniques on violin and Jeff Jeziorski and Bartek (Bartosz) Warkoczynski with lightning bolts of clear notes on clarinet." - Warren Gerds, WeAreGreenBay.com (2022) / Read the article

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• Maxwell Street Klezmer Band — performing as July 4th attack unfolded — returns with joy to Highland Park - Chicago Sun-Times (2022) / Read the article

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• Klezmer Band Returns To Highland Park For 1st Time Since Mass Shooting - Patch (2022) / Read the article

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• Maxwell Street Klezmer Band — caught on video as July 4 attack unfolded — returns with joy to Highland Park - WBEZ Chicago, NPR News Source (2022) / Read the article

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