Stock: 
Format: 
Release Date: 16-08-1997
Label: Hearts of Space
Catalog Number: HS11301-4
Barcode: 25041130141
Musical Style: Klezmer
Description:
One of the great bands in contemporary Klezmer music hails from Switzerland. This Eastern European Jewish folk music is now enjoying a big revival. KOL SIMCHA plays it with the passion and heart of great vernacular music and with the refinement and sophistication of great jazz.
From wildly joyous to exotically dark, deep and sad, Voice of Joy is Kol Simcha's U.S. debut on the Hearts of Space World Class label. Clarinet, flute, piano, acoustic bass, drums.
Biography:
Clarinetist/saxophonist Michael Heitzler's impressive career in the world of classical music includes studies at the Music Academy Freiburg, stints with the Radio Orchestra Baden-Baden and concert tours with the European Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Antal Dorati. He has also directed both big band and funk groups and has played jazz concerts with Christof Lauer and John Schroder.
Flutist/composer Niki Reiser graduated from Berklee College of Music Boston with a major in movie scoring. He went on to score a number of European films while building a career as a respected jazz performer, including dates with Hermeto Pascoal and Arte Lande. With Olivier Truan, he has written music for klezmer band and symphony orchestra and was co-musical director of the Basel State Theater's production of Joshua Sobol's Ghetto Wilma.
Pianist, arranger and composer Olivier Truan's varied experiences in the worlds of jazz, pop, classical and traditional music make him a natural for rejuvenating the klezmer idiom. He graduated from the Berklee College of Music Boston and studied at the Basel Conservatory and the Manhattan School of Music. As pianist for several contemporary jazz groups, he toured and recorded throughout Europe, performed with Dee Dee Bridgewater and composed and played on film soundtracks.
Saxophonist and drummer David Klein grew up in a musical household. His parents, singer Miriam Klein and trumpeter Oscar Klein, are two well-known European jazz artists. At the age of sixteen, David became the drummer for his mother's quintet and went on to study saxophone at the Berklee College of Music Boston. Over the years he has played with everyone from Roland Hanna, Billy Cobham and Kenny Clark to Weather Report's Victor Bailey and renowned singer Dee Dee Bridgewater. Together with Kol Simcha colleagues Olivier Truan and Niki Reiser, Klein founded the Triceps Recording Studio in Basel where he works as a composer, arranger and sound engineer.
Acoustic bass player Daniel Fricker studied at the Swiss Jazz School in Bern and the Conservatorium of Music in Basel. He made several recordings with the Sinfonietta Basel and the Serenata Basel, as well as undertaking tours and recording sessions with a number of world class jazz musicians, from Tony Scott and Adam Nussbaum to Lionel Hampton.
