Margot Leverett

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Margot Leverett
Klezmer Mountain Boys with Margot Leverett

Margot Leverett is a New York-based clarinettist. Born in Ohio, she lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Buffalo, New York before studying at Indiana University School of Music. At Indiana, she was classically trained.[1] Leverett later became interested in klezmer, a traditional musical style of the Jews of Eastern Europe.[2][3] She studied with klezmer clarinettist Sidney Beckerman[4] and was a founding member of The Klezmatics in 1985.[2] The Klezmatics, a band associated with the Klezmer Revival of the 1980s and onward, would later become the first klezmer band to win a Grammy Award.[5][6][7]

In 1999, Leverett was a founding member of another klezmer band of all women musicians called . They released a self-titled album in 2001, described by Rambles magazine as "a potent and heady mix of passion and power."[8] Leverett left the band when she began her solo career and founded "Margot Leverett and the Klezmer Mountain Boys".

Leverett's solo album, called , was released in 2001. The 17-track album was favorably reviewed—Klezmershack.com called it a "tribute to greats of the American Klezmer clarinet" and a "tremendous leap in skill and soulfulness."[9][10] "She achieves the nearly impossible feat of rendering the music with authenticity and respect, while simultaneously making a highly personal statement about the art of klezmer clarinet- the instrument and its history."[11]

In 2001, Leverett founded the group , which fuses the styles of klezmer and bluegrass.[10][12][13] The group was filled with outstanding musicians, Barry Mitterhoff, Kenny Kosek, Joe Selly and Marty Confurius. Margot Leverett and the Klezmer Mountain Boys released two albums: a self-titled album in 2002 and an album called Second Avenue Square Dance. The group was featured by the Paul Taylor Dance Company in a piece entitled "Klezmerbluegrass".

Leverett has been a guest soloist for the Philadelphia Orchestra.[1] She has taught at many klezmer camps, including KlezKamp, KlezKanada and KlezmerQuerque. She continues to teach, guest lecture, and perform.[12]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Come for 'Jewgrass,' stay for Selichot, Archived 2009-11-07 at the Wayback Machine, New Jersey Jewish Standard 28 August 2009
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b Bridging Peace
  3. ^ Music: YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe
  4. ^ The Art of Klezmer Clarinet: album
  5. ^ Leverett honors sounds of shtetl, The Boston Herald 14 January 2000
  6. ^ Grammy-winning Klezmatics push the klezmer genre forward, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 15 October 2009
  7. ^ Celebrating the Klezmatics' Grammy, JVibe, April 2007
  8. ^ Article about Mikveh in Rambles, 12 January 2002
  9. ^ Klezmershack.com review, 1/1/00
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b New Mexico Folk Music and Dance Society Newsletter Archived 2011-06-22 at the Wayback Machine, Jan/Feb 2005
  11. ^ "The Essential Klezmer" by Seth Rogovoy
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b Margot Leverett bio Archived 2010-11-04 at the Wayback Machine on Klezmer Mountain Boys website
  13. ^ Jewish Daily Forward article

External links[]

Media related to Margot Leverett at Wikimedia Commons

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