JMG (JEWISH MUSIC GROUP)
THE RECORD LABEL EXCLUSIVELY FOR JEWISH MUSIC
JEWISH MUSIC GROUP or JMG was started by music industry veterans Richard Foos (formerly Rhino, currently Shout Factory Entertainment) and David McLees (formerly Rhino Entertainment and Warner Music Group. The acts and albums they produced over the years are a veritable who's who in music for the last 50 years.
JMG is a safe place for Jewish music and Jewish musicians. We want to share our music with the widest possible audience. Tell all your friends.
THE KLEZMATICS
Excting News!
Among The Greats (Cash, Springsteen, and Dylan)
The Montreal Gazette rated the Klezmatics number 1 on their top 20 list. They rave, "These stunning, previously unheard songs examine love, war and peace, immigrant cultures and spirituality. The Klezmatics are magnificent in bringing them to life."
USA Today
"The Klezmatics, Woody Guthrie's Happy Joyous Hanukkah: The growing field of Hanukkah songs adds a contribution from an unlikely source: folk hero Woody Guthrie, whose hitherto-unknown songs in the genre are burnished by klezmer titans The Klezmatics."
Studio City, CA – Grammy® Nomination: Best Contemporary World Music Album (Vocal or Instrumental) Wonder Wheel (Lyrics By Woody Guthrie), The Klezmatics [Jewish Music Group] – Category 73
A Grammy® nomination is no small accomplishment, for any record company, large or small. For the Jewish Music Group (JMG), the just announced Grammy® nomination nod for their group, the Klezmatics is another step toward the small company’s ultimate goal of expanding their niche market and turning it into mainstream gold.
The Jewish Music Group (JMG) was officially formed May 2005 by industry veterans Richard Foos and David McLees and has only just released its first titles a little more than one year ago in November 2005. The company has a stated dual focus on marketing entertainment products with Jewish content more effectively into its own market, but also the somewhat difficult and rewarding prospect of crossing over into the more mainstream market. Some have been skeptical of that second focus, but JMG President David McLees explains, “Not only do we think this Grammy® nomination for the Klezmatics (for the ‘Best Contemporary World Music Album’) will help put our little label on the map, but we are also gratified to see Matisyahu, who is not signed to our label, nominated for Best Reggae Album. This is real. Music and entertainment with Jewish content is starting to be accepted in a bigger way than ever before.”
JMG also has a Klezmatics holiday album “Woody Guthrie’s Happy Joyous Hanukkah” which sales have understandably “taken off” since the Grammy® nomination announcement.
The small, but growing, label is home to many other artists with similar breakthrough potential ranging from the Hip Hop duo “TaShma,” to singer-songwriter “Rav Shmuel,” to the College Rock Band “Moshav” (aka “The Moshav Band”), and the Jewish folk music legend “Debbie Friedman.” McLees, at this particular moment, is a little reluctant to discuss his other artists, “today is about the Klezmatics and their accomplishment. It took some real vision on their part to record their first true all English album as a (post-humous) collaboration with legend Woody Guthrie and we are all over-the-moon excited for them and, of course, for us.”
The AJC (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) releases their choices for this holiday seasons best music. The picks are in and JMG’s very own Klezmatics are here for the holidays. “‘Woody Guthrie's Happy Joyous Hanukkah’ (Jewish Music Group). These exuberant ambassadors of Jewish music have arranged and performed a batch of previously unpublished Hanukkah lyrics penned by the late folk legend. (S.H.)”
Read Reviews at:
Intense and detailed review on emusic.com
HERE
Klezmatics Wonder Wheel Review on allmusic.com
HERE
TA-SHMA
College Radio has discovered Ta-Shma's new album "Come Listen" and it is getting added to playlists everyday. The following is a partial list of the stations playing our stuff:
WMNF Tampa, FL
WIPZ Kenosha, WI
KXZY Stillwater, OK
KWCR Ogden, UT
WSBF Clemson, SC
WSPN Saratogo Springs, NY
MOSHAV BAND
NEWS FLASH:
Moshav's new album is out and is getting rave reviews
The band’s new album on JMG, “MISPLACED,” paints a picture of our past, our experiences, and all of our influences,” says vocalist and percussionist, Yehuda . “We feel like we have found our sound and can’t wait for people to hear it.” This CD contains thirteen songs including the track, “The Only One” produced by Ron Aniello (Lifehouse, Guster, Barenaked Ladies) and remixed by Brendan O’Brien.
Raised in Israel on Moshav Meor Modi’im, a musical village in the hills between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Yehuda (vocals, percussion), Duvid (vocals, guitar), and Yosef (vocals, bass) learned and played music since childhood. Their American parents had come to Israel in 1972 – just in time for the Yom Kippur war. They settled on a Moshav – a similar lifestyle to a kibbutz but with more autonomy and independence for the family – where their children were born and raised.
Eventually, American students traveling in Israel heard them play and befriended the members of the band. Taken not only with the beauty of their music, but the band members’ charismatic stage presence, these young kids from the U.S. went back to the States and raised the money to bring MOSHAV to America for a short college tour in 1998. By 2000, the band had moved to Los Angeles.
How did this band come to get signed in America? The group came to the attention of music publisher Ronny Vance, who brought the band’s demo to producer Aniello. After signing to JMG (distributed by Red) Aniello and MOSHAV produced MISPLACED, the very first all English album.
In describing the sound of MOSHAV, Aniello states: “MOSHAV is a passionate and daring fusion of Middle Eastern and Classic American Rock music. Their music transports you to the well worn Streets of Jerusalem, but you're not a tourist.you feel and understand every word. It's like the beginning of time and you're in the same place that Jesus and King David walked, except you have your Ipod on full blast and your fist in the air!”
David concludes, “When we were growing up, the only electrical appliance in the house was a record player. So, while American kids might be growing up watching television and playing video games, we were growing up listening to music.” The music they listened to were the records their parents had brought with them – Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Neil Young – and that music, combined with the beat poets they read and embraced continues to influence their songwriting. The particular Moshav that was home to the members of the band had been founded by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, himself a musician, and the young men performed with Rabbi Carlebach as well as on their own.
