Paul Brody

by Mark DemingTrumpeter, composer, and arranger Paul Brody's music combines the formal structures and melodic frameworks of klezmer and traditional folk music with the freedom and aural wanderlust of jazz and experimental music. Originally from San Francisco, Brody is a graduate of Boston University, where he studied music and majored in trumpet and composition; he later did his graduate work at the New England Conservatory, where he became a member of the Klezmer Conservatory Band. As an accompanist, Brody has worked with a remarkable variety of musicians, ranging from Barry White, the Supremes, and Shirley Bassey to Einsturzende Neubauten, Michael Alpert, and John Zorn, the latter of whom has praised the performer, saying "Brody is forging a new Jewish jazz for the 21st century." Since relocating to Berlin in the 1990s, Brody has been a leader/principal member of three groups. Sadawi, a quintet specializing in klezmer and jazz, have released several acclaimed albums for John Zorn's Tzadik Records label. The DetoNation Orchestra, an ensemble that takes folk melodies and reshapes them through prisms of jazz, pop, and avant-garde, employ both acoustic and electronic instruments and have released an album for the NRW Jazz label. And Tango Toy are a quartet bringing a playful improvisational approach to klezmer on their two albums for Laika Records.