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Minnesota's
Tim Sparks, the 1993 National Fingerstyle Guitar Champion,
has recently released At The Rebbe's Table, a wonderful
fingerstyle CD, and Sparks' fifth recording. The album
offers a surprising program of Jewish music from around the
world, all produced and arranged by Sparks. Cyro Baptista
lends some excellent percussion to the ethnic music, which
features duo and complex band arrangements. Sparks playing
is stirring and technically superb, as he embellishes the
beautiful melodies with harmonies and a sense of excitement.
One highlight on the CD is the title track; another is the
rhythmically charged "Tartar Dance". The opening number
"Returning From The River" sets the tone for the entire
album; right off the bat you hear exotic melodies and
near-telepathic harmonic/rhythmic interplay. At The Rebbe's
Table is another top notch addition to Sparks discography -
if you're a fingerstyle lover, seek it out. Il
existe un proverbe yiddish particulièrement juste. En
six mots, un bipède particulièrement
allumé a décliné la
vérité d'entre les vérités :
«L'homme pense et Dieu rigole» ! Cette petite
merveille, on l'a découverte dans un disque. Plus
exactement, dans le texte qui accompagne la publication du
nouvel album du guitariste Tim Sparks. Le titre ? At the
Rebbe's Table. --
Serge Truffaut Guitar and Bass Magazine, Germany Beim
selben Label ist auch ,At The Rebbe's Table' (tzadik)
erschienen. Akustik-Gitarrist TIM SPARKS ist hier mir Marc
Ribot (a-g), Erik Friedlander (cello), Greg Cohen (b) und
Cyro Baptista (perc) zu hören. Auch hier spielt die
traditionelle Musik der europäischen Juden eine
wesentliche Rolle, sogar eine tragende: Denn Sparks reibt
sie eigentlich kaum an Jazz oder Folk, sondern spielt sie
auf seine eigene Art: kammermusikalisch, instrumental,
intuitiv. Eine interessante Kultur, die man entdecken sollte
&endash; gerade hier & heute, wo sogar angeblich
freidemokratische Rechtsrücker ihre Resentiments gegen
einzelne Persönlichkeiten des öffentlichen Lebens
wieder an deren Herkunft, Religion oder Weltanschauung
festmachen und damit auf Stimmenfang gehen. Musik gegen
Diskrimierung. lt The Jewish Week, Friday, September 13, 2002 This is a sweetly melodic set of acoustic jazz versions of Jewish tunes from a wide range of traditions, niggunim, Sephardic songs by Flory Jagoda, a couple of Naftule Brandwein klezmer standards and a John Zorn original. Sparks plays a beautifully liquid steel-string guitar and is nicely accompanied by an unexpectedly mellow Marc Ribot on nylon-string acoustic and Erik Friedlander, who is his usual sturdy self on cello. Underneath it all is Sparks' own handsomely understated rhythm section of Greg Cohen on bass and Cyro Baptista on percussion. A deceptively placid set with some deep currents running through it. Often pretty but never saccharine. AAAAA
Jazz Times Magazine review November 2002 The Jewish music agenda of John Zorn's Tzadik label takes a gentle left turn with the albums of acoustic fingerstyle guitarist Tim Sparks. As heard on his pleasing new collection, At The Rebbe's Table (Tzadik), the familiar twang of the steel-string instrument gives an unexpected musical spin to material from the klezmer songbook (including the title song), tunes by guitarist Flory Jagoda and other corners of the Jewish musical universe. On a tune like "Todos Si Hueron," Cyro Baptista's undulant percussion and Greg Cohen's coolly seductive bass put us in mind mainly of Brazil. As noted in Sparks notes about the project, one historical link is to the Judeo-Arabic culture in Spain, the guitar's ancestral homeland. When Sparks and Marc Ribot (on both steel-string and classical guitar) delicately interweave and swap licks, the Spanish interpretation rings true. On Zorn's own tender tune "Mahshav," from the Radical's soft side, Sparks' sensitive solo reading begs a more universal appreciation. Whatever the heritage or cultural pedigree, it's simply touching music. - Josef Woodard Acoustic Guitar Magazine, January 2003 names At the Rebbe's Table one of the top CDs of 2002: Accompanied by a stellar band of New York heavyweights, Tim Sparks applies his fingerstyle magic to a mesmerizing set of traditional Jewish tunes. - Teja Gerken Minor 7th, July/August 2002 Tim Sparks has built an impressive track record of fingerstyle excellence since winning the Winfield Championships. Noted for his outstanding explorations into ethnic musical forms transcribed for guitar, Spark's last 3 recordings have narrowed the focus to Jewish music, drawing deeply from the wells of Jewish cultures both oriental and occidental, especially the music which flowed from European Jews. This latest effort, "At The Rebbe's Table", may be Sparks' best yet in capturing the life and cross-pollination richly textured in these 11 selections from the diaspora Jewish communities around the world. All of the tunes on the disc are based on traditional Jewish forms, and for the Goyim among us, Sparks' liner notes help us sense some of the flavor he has tried to create with his 6 strings. Sparks is not alone on this disc, but ably joined by Marc Ribot on nylon stringed guitar, Erik Friedlander on cello, Greg Cohen on bass, and Cyro Baptista on percussion. The songs contain allusions to Greek, Persian, Spanish, and Arab music. Of course, in the title cut and "Sadagora Dance" we can almost hear the wailing of the Klezmer violin. "The Keys from Spain" take us jaunting through Andalucia, while the traditional Yemenite tune "Beautiful City" sends us to Jerusalem. Mixed in with all this culture is the quiet, solo "Mashav" written by John Zorn, who produced the CD, and whose vision these days is driving Tim Sparks to bring us some wonderful guitar music. ©Kirk Albrecht Review ONGAKU Folk Roots Magazine Great Britain Tim Sparks At the Rebbe's Table Sublime
take on Klezmer and Sephardic standards with a stellar
Tzadik lineup. Beautiful understated percussion and cello,
and Sparks and Ribot on steel and nylon string guitars
veering between bluesy, flamenco-inflected finger-picking
and Jao Gilberto. Gorgeous. Sing Out! Magazine September, 2002 Tim Sparks At the Rebbe's Table Tim Sparks is a brilliant fingerstyle guitarist -- he won the 1993 National Fingerstyle Guitar Championship -- who has turned much of his attention to traditional Jewish music. At the Rebbe's Table is Sparks's third album of Jewish music and whether he's adapting melodies from the Ashkenazic/klezmer tradition, or from the Judeo-Spanish Sephardic tradition, it is a joy to hear these beautiful interpretations. Sparks opens with "Returning From The River," an arrangement of a tune by Naftule Brandwein, the clarinetist who was one of klezmer music's first recording stars. With support from the hypnotic rhythms of bassist Greg Cohen and percussionist Cyro Baptista, Sparks mixes Old World traditions with New World creativity. And it's like that throughout the ten selections that follow. In addition to Cohen and Baptista, other musicians that join Sparks on various selections include guitarist Marc Ribot, playing on nylon strings to complement Sparks's steel-stringed Martin, and cellist Erik Friedlander. ---Mike Regenstreif |
