The Joel Rubin Ensemble was founded in Berlin in 1994. It grew out of Rubin’s work with his earlier bands Brave Old World (1989-1992) and Rubin & Horowitz (1992-1994). The music of the ensemble is an expression of Rubin’s long-term meditation on the Russian-Jewish musical legacy. It is not, however, an attempt to recreate 19th century performance practice or otherwise hearken back to the topos of life in the shtetl; rather, the group brings together some of the world’s great improvising musicians to explore how Jewish music could sound at the beginning of the 21st century – music from another time and place, but thoroughly grounded in the present. The band creates its own sonic universe, full of depth, virtuosity, playfulness and introspection. The kaleidoscopic soundscape filters the many historical layers of traditional Jewish music through the lenses of the multifarious musical backgrounds of the band’s members. Here the interaction of a great improvising jazz ensemble melds with the delicacy of a chamber music group and the drive of a hot wedding band at the cusp of klezmer, Romani and other Eastern European traditions.
The band has appeared in varying combinations of three to eight musicians. Over the years, band members have included Hungarian Rom cimbalom virtuoso Kálmán Balogh, Italian accordion wizard Claudio Jacomucci, master fiddlers Mark Kovnatskiy, Steve Greenman, David Chernyavsky, Sándor Budai and László Major, trumpeter, violinist and jazz composer Ferenc Kovács, bassist Csaba Novák, and American klezmer revivalist Pete Rushefsky on tsimbl. By drawing its members from the United States, Russia, Hungary and Italy and combining the skills of Jewish, Romani and non-Jewish artists, the band forms an aesthetic bridge between the multicultural tradition of the urban turn-of-the-century eastern European Jewish orchestras and today’s postmodern landscape.
Reviews:
“absolutely first-class” (Gramophone)
“unique” (Spiegel-extra)
“Rarely does one learn so much and at the same time receive so much joy from the vital renditions of melodies of the 19th and early 20th century: worldly and full of the joy of dance.”
(Nordbayerische Zeitung)
“Rubin’s clarinet soars up to the top, opens up spaces, stings, shrieks, suffers, laughs – expressivity artistically brought into form, a balancing act between the deepest abyss and the heavens above. Add to this Jacomucci’s accordion, earthy, rather introverted… The melody instruments are framed by the orchestra, which creates a steadily pulsing carpet of sound. On top of this foundation emerge detours, melodic bridges, repeat structures which continually increase in intensity. This signalizes a readiness to abandon oneself, it is formed ecstasy, transmits large (and small) feelings and, yet, keeps the fragility of being and the self in the present. The sounds and melodies of the Jewish Music Ensemble are epic stories transformed into music.”
(Badische Zeitung, Lörrach, Germany)
“a program which shone with scholarly professionality, instrumental nuances from bitter to sweet, and through the evocation of a specific time and its sequence of events in a way in which – especially in this genre – is seldom to be heard. With an ensemble in which each individual has already proven himself many times over, Rubin creates a mood which can only emerge when one has dedicated himself exactly in this sincere and unpretentious way to the interpretation of mystical ‘nigunim’ (melodies) and rhapsodic improvisations.”
(Israelitisches Wochenblatt, Zürich)
“an exceptionally impressive evening, during which Joel Rubin and his Jewish Music Ensemble held the undivided attention of the audience for a good two hours. … The interpretations of the Jewish Music Ensemble proved to be klezmer music of the first order: at times quiet and lamenting, at times effervescently vital, rich with nuances and sparkling in its many facets, all offered up with a delicate agogic together with a large dynamic range, without however ever becoming an empty artefact. Last but not least, the ‘minstrel-like’ (in the best sense of the word) musicianship of this ensemble must be mentioned, which can hardly be described using common musical terms – the inner workings cannot be captured with descriptive words alone, but rather emanate from the music itself. And this might just be the highest compliment one could pay Rubin and his musicians. With all of the ensemble spirit which welds these musicians together, one finds – in addition to Rubin himself as clarinetist – first-class soloists in the ranks, such as the prize-winning accordionist Claudio Jacomucci or Kálmán Balogh on the cimbalom, both of whom strongly impressed especially with their intricate nuances. … He commands his clarinet breathtakingly … in perfect ensemble with his musical colleagues.”
(Oberbadisches Volksblatt, Lörrach, Germany)
“It became ever clearer that all seven musicians possess an unbelievable ability to raise the dynamic intensity of the music and to allow themselves to be carried away by their sheer joy of playing from a feeling of chamber music-like care to faster tempi and ever freer variations. … ‘Care’ must not necessarily mean that the sparks are not flying – on the contrary: to listen how clarinetist Joel Rubin, trumpeter Ferenc Kovács, violinist László Major and accordionist Claudio Jacomucci trade off solos and fit their dynamics to each other, is a sheer pleasure. Certainly, the clarinet is the central instrument, and Rubin shows with contemplative melodies and surprising glissandi, piercingly high, almost screeching tones and then again sparkling trills and runs, how naturally he commands his instrument and the technique demanded by the music. Unquestionably, the powerful musicality and the soft brilliance of the melancholy melodies which Jacomucci coaxes out of his instrument echo in your ears for a long time afterwards. … What American Joel Rubin and his ensemble create with their many subtle nuances is the magical power of remembrance – apparently exactly because he doesn’t allow himself any personally showy musical effects, but rather performs totally at the service of the music itself.”
(Basler Zeitung, Switzerland)
“Joel Rubin played his brilliant-sounding C-clarinet virtuosically and brought forth from it not only sounds of lamentation, sighing and moaning, but also of jubilation and boisterousness. The two other ensemble instruments – the impressively differentiated accordion playing, and the splendidly precise and magnificently sonorous cimbalom – left lasting impressions.”
(General Anzeiger, Bonn)
“Rubin and Jacomucci were in command of virtuosic ornamentation with trills and glissandi like it was their mother tongue; … their honest musical expression spoke directly to the enthusiastic listeners.”
(Tagesspiegel, Berlin)