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Austria's Dobrek Bistro Breaks All the Rules 'Featuring David Krakauer,' DobRecords [REVIEW]

I have met my match with this one! For years, I have been expounding upon multi-culti world action as a cure for the rock blahs. This is exactly what I'm talking about. The entertainment value, action-packed jamming and Middle Eastern flavor alone will have you speechless after but mere minutes. Meet Dobrek Bistro from Vienna. Their new Featuring David Krakauer (DobRecords) CD is an hour of dizzying wonderfulness. The first listen alone is worth the price of admission. All repeated listenings are free!

I dare say this is the first Polish/Russian/Viennese/Brazilian quartet ever. Krzysztof Dobrek is the composer and accordionist. He met violinist Aliosha Biz while the both of them were playing in the pit orchestra for "Fiddler on the Roof."

When percussionist Luis Ribeiro and bassist Sascha Lackner joined, the quartet gelled into a crazy-sick amalgam of salsa, tango, bossa nova, swing, Israeli klezmer, French musette, classical, Balkans and Slavic folk and Oriental pop.

Now add American iconoclast clarinet player David Krakauer and all bets are off as to how far the new quintet can fly. Considered the Coltrane of klezmer, he's a pioneering avant-gardist totally chameleon-like in his aversion to genre consideration as he swings and sways to the beats of jazz, pop, folk and classical, depending upon the gig.

Here, he makes Dobrek Bistro be on their toes during interaction. It results in a free-for-all of outrageous proportions. Visceral in scope, you'll feel this music not only in your heart, mind and feet, but way down deep in your bowels. And it stays there like a drug making you want to experience it over and over again. I'm hooked. Bravo!

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