May 8, 1994, Sunday, ALL EDITIONS

SECTION: FANFARE; Pg. 13

LENGTH: 1266 words

HEADLINE: A New Generation Gets Klezmerized.

BYLINE: BY JON KALISH. Jon Kalish is a free-lance writer.

THE MOST exposure klezmer music has gotten in the 15 years or so since the revival of this traditional instrumental music of East European Jewry came from the curious development of an African- American clarinetist championing the compositions of the late Mickey Katz. Don Byron, a dread locked alumnus of Boston's Klezmer Conservatory Band, got enough ink to give this marginal ethnic music a good shot in the arm.

More than 130 klezmer bands n ow dot the United States, in such improbable locales as Texas and Hawaii. But New York is home to the movement's most inspired practitioners, and it is here that the annual gathering of the tribes takes place.

According to "The Compleat Klezmer," a scholarly book on the subject written by Henry Sapoznik, klezmer music dates to the 16th Century. The name derives from the Hebrew words klei zemer, which literally mean "musical instrument."

The mischievous energy to uptempo klezmer has caused it to be called "Yiddish Dixieland." With wailing clarinets commonly handling the lead, and accordions providing an Old World oompah rhythm, the fast stuff has a Marx Brothers, almost cartoonish, feel to it. But there are slower, more dramatic forms of klezm er that are rhapsodic and practically mournful.

"I find it irresistible. It never fails to move me," says playwright Herb Gardner, who used klezmer music in a scene in "Conversations With My Father." As a father himself, Gardner has had the experien ce other Jewish parents have had: watching his child react with great excitement to live klezmer. "It somehow connects you with another century, and that's not unpleasant at all."

As one of the most accessible aspects of Jewish culture, klezmer als o has been the vehicle many assimilated Jews have used to reconnect with their roots. "This is the music my great-grandfather danced to," said Sapoznik, who leads the klezmer band Kapelye. Like several other prominent klezmer musicians, the Sheepshead Ba y banjo player came out of the bluegrass / old-timey music scene. While working as a sound archivist at the prestigious YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, Sapoznik founded KlezKamp, a well-attended Yiddish folk-arts convention (with a heavy emphasis on klezmer) that has been held in the Catskills annually since 1985.

Sapoznik and Lorin Sklamberg, a graphics designer at YIVO who also worked on KlezKamp, both left YIVO in January; last month they opened a new nonprofit group called Living Tradition s in Manhattan that will run KlezKamp outside of YIVO's auspices.

YIVO has provided day jobs to local klezmer artists since the early days of the revival. In addition to Sapoznik and Sklamberg, who plays accordion in the Klezmatics, Kapelye vocalist Adrienne Cooper, Klezmatics fiddler Alicia Svigals and Brave Old World's Michael Alpert have all toiled at "the VO." (The other three members of Brave Old World, considered the most virtuosic ensemble on the scene today, live in Los Angeles, Chicago an d Berlin.) Alpert, a former member of one of the West Coast's first klezmer groups, the Chutzpa Orchestra, back in the late 1970s, now plays fiddle in Brave Old World and helps run Buffalo on the Roof, a West Virginia retreat similar to KlezKamp. The on ly klezmer artist writing songs about contemporary topics in Yiddish, Alpert has penned tunes on the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the Gulf war and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Of all the New York revival bands, none is as busy playing local clubs an d concerts as the Klezmatics. The self-billed klezmer-fusion group is led by trumpeter Frank London - like Don Byron, an alumnus of Boston's Klezmer Conservatory Band. The Matics, as they're referred to by fellow klezmorim, perform Middle Eastern and worl d beat-influenced instrumentals as well as Yiddish theater and art songs.

Without a doubt, the most talented musician on the New York klezmer scene is Andy Statman, a Brooklyn clarinet player who is a rarity among klezmorim: an observant Jew. Statm an also is a musical rarity in that he is a master of both woodwind and stringed instruments. Besides the clarinet chops he developed studying with the New York klezmer legend Dave Tarras, Statman is an awesome bluegrass mandolin player. He was a member o f the Wretched Refuse String Band, a local bluegrass group popular in the 1970s. Leave it to Statman to combine his passions for bluegrass and Jewish music. An upcoming album for Rounder Records, titled "A Shabbos in Nashville," features bluegrass arrange ments of Jewish Sabbath melodies. Klezmology 101 AN INTRODUCTION to klezmer music should include reissues of the old 78s, the best of traditionalists in the new wave and examples of the revival's tendency to experiment: 'JAKIE JAZZ 'EM UP' (Global V illage). Abe Schwartz, Harry Kandel and Naftule Brandwine are among the great American klezmorim on this reissue of 78s from 1912 to 1926. (Global Village, 245 W. 29th St., NYC 10001, [212] 695-6024, offers a total of 30 klezmer titles.)

Leon Schwar tz, 'LIKE IN A DIFFERENT WORLD' (Global Village). The late Leon Schwartz was a klezmer fiddler from the Ukraine who settled in Queens. He's accompanied by just a second fiddle and bowed bass on most cuts of this album of old-style klezmer.

Klezmer C onservatory Band, 'KCB LIVE' (Rounder). This Boston-based Yiddish big band has been at the heart of the klezmer revival for 13 years; this current album - which features 1930s and '40s style vocals - was recorded at a concert celebrating the group's bar mitzvah.

Kapelye, 'CHICKEN' (Shanachie). Sapoznik introduces the title cut as a tune about the Jewish national bird; it's in the tradition of the Yiddish theater song. Another gem on this recording is a nearly 20-minute piece on the bodkin, the ext emporaneously rhyming master of ceremonies at traditional Jewish weddings.

Andy Statman and Zev Feldman, 'JEWISH KLEZMER MUSIC' (Shanachie). A seminal recording of traditional klez. "Klezmer Suite" by the Andy Statman Klezmer Orchestra (Shanachie) i s also highly recommended.

Brave Old World, 'BEYOND THE PALE' (Pinorrekk). The group's second album is on a German label but Rounder will soon be distributing it here. The classical training of Brave Old World's members is evident.

Klezmatics, 'RHYTHM AND JEWS' (Flying Fish). Like Brave Old World, the Klezmatics do a mix of trad and beyond. On "Shnirele Perele," a messianic dirge that builds in emotion and tempo, the group really rocks.

'DON BYRON PLAYS THE MUSIC OF MICKEY KATZ' (Elektr a Nonesuch). A widely heralded homage to parodist Katz by one of the rising jazz players. Some klezmer heavyweights dispute Katz' contribution, but Byron plays the material with great skill and passion. - Kalish A TOUCH OF KLEZ There's currently a we alth of live klezmer on tap: Next weekend, Brave Old World performs at Queensborough Community College at 8 p.m. Saturday (May 14) and 3 p.m. Sunday. The following Sunday (May 22) at 2 p.m., a concert of Yiddish theater songs at Brooklyn College's Gershwi n Hall will feature Lillian Lux, a veteran of Brooklyn's Yiddish stage, Pete Sokolow's Original Klezmer Jazz Band and members of Kapelye playing material from a forthcoming album devoted to old-time Yiddish radio. That same day, also at 2 p.m., Andy Statm an will perform at the Old Library Theater in Fairlawn, N .J. His bluegrass buddy Tony Trischka will sit on banjo for a couple of bluegrass numbers. Statman also will appear at an Ethnic Folk Arts Center's music festival in Riverbank State Park at 145th Street and Riverside Drive on Memorial Day from noon to 8 p.m.