Summit of African-American and Jewish Music Icons Features Klezmer Virtuoso David Krakauer, Beat Architect Socalled, and Funk Pioneer Fred Wesley

One Performance Only: Saturday, May 3 at 8:00PM at the Historic Apollo Theater is Part of Wider Celebration of James Brown’s Birthday

(EMAILWIRE.COM, April 08, 2008 ) New York NY - On May 3rd, as part of its “Art & Soul” series, the legendary Apollo Theater will present the world premiere of the groundbreaking Abraham Inc., a collaboration featuring visionary clarinetist David Krakauer, young beat architect Socalled and funk legend Fred Wesley. Abraham Inc. takes the mash-up experience – collaborative efforts between artists of different musical genres – to the next level, melding Jewish and African-American music and creating a fascinating blend of the best of both worlds. The performance is part of a three-day series of events in tribute to the late James Brown, whose 75th birthday would have been May 3rd.Other activities include a free panel discussion on the trio’s inspiration hosted by WNYC’s Leonard Leopate, a screening of historic James Brown film footage, and a James Brown memorabilia exhibition. More details follow below.

“One of the most important parts of the Apollo’s history over time has been the continual exploration and presentation of new types of music,” said Laura Greer, the Apollo’s Vice President of Programming. “The debut performance of Abraham Inc. is part of the Apollo’s legacy of legends and new artists coming together.” Launched in the fall of 2007, the Apollo’s Art & Soul Series was created to reinforce the Theater’s renewed commitment to the performing arts, nurturing the most important artistic voices as well as delivering the best in music, dance, theater and multimedia throughout the year.

At the heart of Abraham, Inc. are three visionary artists of different generations and uncannily disparate backgrounds. The arranger and trombonist Fred Wesley is one of the seminal figures of funk, well known for transforming the music of James Brown, Bootsy Collins and Parliament/Funkadelic, among many others. David Krakauer had an illustrious career as a classical clarinetist when he stumbled onto klezmer, and his endless curiosity in adapting it to avant-garde jazz, rock and even Latin styles has brought him a wide new audience. The New York Times credits Krakauer with “hurling the tradition of klezmer music into the rock era.” The Montreal-based beatmaker Socalled is at the forefront of a new generation of hip-hop renegades infusing the form with Jewish identity. The Village Voice has called him “one of the most deliciously demented minds in beat science.” Within the past few years, musical mash-ups have become an extremely popular trend in music culture, with Abraham Inc. as one of the genre’s most exciting innovators.

Wesley, Krakauer and Socalled have found the kind of natural dialogue that music can uniquely provide, where ghettoized histories and cultural forms can intermingle. In choosing commonalities over confrontation, Abraham, Inc. highlights the shared experiences and outsider perspectives of African-Americans and Jews. Beyond the project’s name, which links both groups’ regard of Abraham as an iconic figure, Abraham, Inc. explores common features of Jewish and African-American music: their roots in spirituality (Jewish cantorial music and Gospel); an emphasis on ecstatic trance and riffs that evolve out of harmonic simplicity; an appreciation of “ancestral music;” and an ability to let joy and sorrow coexist profoundly in the same musical moment.

Abraham Inc. began as a vision for unprecedented cross-cultural exchange between African-American and American Jewish music icons. In practice, it has grown into a seamless, endlessly surprising, new sound. Krakauer describes the phenomenon as “a band where Jews make ‘phat beats’ and African-Americans play music from Yidl' Mitn' Fidl'. Jews play funky lines and African Americans sing Hebraic chant. This is a band whose members interact with the highest level of mutual respect and understanding for each other’s musicality, humanity, intelligence and rich cultural background. This is a group of highly unique individuals who come together and delight in each other’s diversity. That's what Abraham, Inc. is all about.”

The genesis of Abraham, Inc. lies in Krakauer’s mid-1990s undertaking, Klezmer Madness!, in which he began crafting his hybrid of Eastern European Jewish music, improvisation and American popular styles. That group’s 1995, eponymous debut album remains one of the best-selling titles on John Zorn’s Tzadik label. Socalled’s alliance with Krakauer began in 2001, when Socalled gave the clarinetist an early version of The Socalled Seder: A Hip-Hop Haggadah, which is now considered a landmark. Krakauer then recorded a Socalled composition on his 2002 Klezmer Madness! album, The Twelve Tribes, and featured Socalled on his 2005 recording Live in Krakow.

In 2005, Label Bleu released the Krakauer/Socalled collaboration Bubbemeises: Lies My Gramma Told Me, which earned the resoundingly positive response of everyone from The New Yorker to Urb and the taste-making Seattle station KEXP, among many others. While on tour in Europe late that year, Krakauer and Socalled were discussing their musical inspirations, and Fred Wesley’s name came up. Soon thereafter, Krakauer invited Wesley into their collaboration, and to their delight, the funk hero accepted. Wesley was a special guest in a sold-out concert by David Krakauer’s Klezmer Madness!, featuring Socalled, in December 2006, and the triumvirate went on to floor audiences and critics at the esteemed rock festival Transmusical de Rennes last year.

Ticket Information
One show only! Saturday, May, 3rd at 8pm. Tickets are $35 and are available through the Apollo Theater Box Office, 125th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues, 212/531-5305 and Ticketmaster, (212) 307-7171, www.ticketmaster.com/venue/6.

About the Apollo Theater
Since 1934 when the Apollo Theater first introduced its world-famous Amateur Night, launching the careers of legendary artists like Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown, Michael Jackson, Luther Vandross and Lauryn Hill, the historic theater has been the nation's premier arena for emerging and established black and Latino performers. Based in the heart of Harlem, the national historic landmark hosts major concerts and special events and continues its tradition of discovering future stars in the syndicated television show, Showtime at the Apollo, which is taped at the world famous venue and airs weekly in over 150 markets nationwide, and the popular weekly stage show, Apollo Amateur Night. One of New York City's top tourist attractions, the Apollo Theater draws 1.3 million visitors annually. The Apollo Theater Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit corporation.

Press Coverage
Electronic media and still photographers interested in coverage for any Apollo-produced event MUST submit requests on company letterhead via email to Nina Flowers, Publicity Manager at nina.flowers@apollotheater.org or fax to 212/749-2743 by Thursday, April 24th at Noon.

Contact:
Nina Flowers, PR Manager
212/531-5334
nina.flowers@apollotheater.org


Julia Kirchhausen
Resnicow Schroeder Associates
212/671-5161
jkirchhausen@resnicowschroeder.com

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