Alex Kontorovich

DEEP MINOR AVAILABLE NOW!!!



Subscribe to Alex Kontorovich's Mailing List



Email:



"Russia-born/New York-based clarinetist/saxophonist Alex Kontorovich is a phenomenon" (AllAboutJazz-NY). Kontorovich has performed with many ensembles including the Klezmatics, Frank London's Klezmer Brass All-Stars, Aaron Alexander's Midrash Mish Mosh, and King Django's Roots and Culture Band, at venues such as the Lincoln Center and Birdland in New York, the Montreal Jazz Festival, the Royal National Theatre in London, and the Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow. Hailed "an imaginative, thoughtful improviser" (Jewish Week), Kontorovich is a founding member of the award-winning Klez Dispensers, and produced the only recording to feature the late Moldavian klezmer master, German Goldenshteyn. In 2007 he released Deep Minor, his debut as a leader featuring all of his original compositions. Receiving a 4 star review in Downbeat Magazine, it was called "one of 2007's best releases" (JazzReview.com) and "an exuberant if not groundbreaking slice of downtown klez-jazz" (Time Out NY). Kontorovich has served on the faculties at KlezKamp, KlezKanada, Yiddish Summer Weimar, Klezmer Festival Fuerth, and the Klezmer Cruise in Ukraine, and is a mathematics professor at Brown University.



SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY:

As a leader/co-leader/producer:

The Klez Dispensers -- Say You'll Understand 2008

Alex Kontorovich -- Deep Minor 2007 (Chamsa)

German Goldenshteyn -- A Living Tradition 2006

The Klez Dispensers -- New Jersey Freylekhs 2004

The Klez Dispensers -- Indispensable 2000

Goldenshteyn Memorial Ensemble 2010+



As a sideman/guest:

King Django's Roots and Culture Band 2010

Jim Guttmann -- Bessarabian Breakdown 2010

Frank London's Klezmer Brass All-Stars -- Carnival Conspiracy 2005 (Piranha)

Westbound Train -- Searching for a Melody 2002 (Megalith)

Princeton University Jazz Ensemble -- The Sacred Concert Music of Duke Ellington 2001