The Jews Brothers Band 20th Anniversary tour featuring one handed saxophonist Neill Duncan
Live In Concert with the Klezmer Rebs on 7 May at Newtown Community Centre
After a 7 year absence from Wellington the fabulous and wacky Jews Brothers Band will be finally performing in Wellington again, with Yiddish cousins the Klezmer Rebs in support.
The Jews Brothers will close their 20th anniversary national tour on Thursday 7 May at Newtown Community and Cultural Centre playing a batch of new songs from their just-recorded CD Up in the Borscht Belt.
About the Jews Brothers Band www.jewsbrothers.com Linn 022 049 3298
The Jews Brothers Band (JBB) are an all-star band featuring founder and leader, Hershal Hersher on accordion, ace picker Nigel Gavin on mandolin and guitar, Peter Scott on double bass, one-armed saxophonist and percussionist Neill Duncan (ex Six Volts and the Spines) and chanteuse extraordinaire Linn Lorkin on lead vocals and melodica (Linn’s song Family at the Beach was voted Best Kiwi Summer Song in a recent New Zealand Radio Listeners' Poll).
JBB created a sensation when it first hit the local scene in early 1995. What was this sound' And what was this ‘klezmer’ they were playing' For Brooklyn raised founder and bandleader Hershal, this music was a return to his roots, to the music brought to New York by the Eastern European Jews.
JBB’s wild, toe-tapping, hand-clapping repertoire soon had audiences circle-dancing or bopping to the grooves of the ‘best swing band in the land’. Expect also gypsy ‘hot-club’, schmaltzy waltzes and daring vocal harmonies on this 20th anniversary tour of a very special band.
For more on Neill’s courageous story of coming back from losing an arm to cancer, see below. Neill is keen to be back on home turf to show his old Wellington mates his chops on his custom made one-handed sax.
About the Klezmer Rebs www.klezmer.co.nz & www.facebook.com/klezmer.rebs
After their 5th appearance at the Newtown Festival, the Klezmer Rebs are back in the intimate setting of the Newtown theatre for a short warm up set.
Concert details
Who Jews Brothers Band with Klezmer Rebs
When 7.30pm Thursday 7 May
Where Newtown Community and Cultural Centre, corner Colombo & Rintoul St. Newtown
Tickets SORRY SOLD OUT
Timing Doors open 6.45pm to pay for bookings and door sales; 7.30pm Klezmer Rebs; 8.00 pm Jews Brothers Band
Contact david.weinstein@klezmer.co.nz cell 021 077 6069
The incredible story of the one armed sax player Neill Duncan
Neill, a founding member of both the Jews Brothers Band and the legendary Wellington band the Six Volts, has toured extensively with the Jews Brothers, both nationally and internationally, even after moving to Australia several years ago.
Suddenly, just over two years ago, he was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer necessitating the amputation of his left arm. Neill thought his playing days were over, but musicians friends rallied round, and, together with government funding, organised for Amsterdam based Flute Lab to custom build the world’s only one handed tenor sax. It took instrument maker Maarten Visser a year to make the instrument, hydraulically moving the top keys to the bottom so that Neill could use his right hand.
Links to Neill Duncan’s story
• http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2596335/neill-duncan-still-making-music
• http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/lifechanging-event-losing-an-arm-20131231-3046p.html
• www.youtube.com/watch'v=fUUXfP1RV2w
• http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/stricken-musician-can-blow-his-own-saxophone-again-20131001-2uqnr.html
• http://www.mudgeeguardian.com.au/story/2429027/cancer-cant-stop-the-music-for-musician/
