This came out in 2003 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Let’s face it: The noodly sound of jazz guitar isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. And Jewish folk music? It’s esoteric enough to make jazz guitar seem blatantly commercial.
So putting the two together would seem like the ultimate in inaccessibility. Not so. At least, not in the hands of Minneapolis guitarist Tim Sparks, who widens the boundaries of both musical fields on a pair of recent releases from New York avant-jazz sax man John Zorn’s Tzadik label. On At The Rebbe’s Table, Sparks takes an eclectic selection of mostly traditional Yemenite, Sephardic, Hasidic and Klezmer melodies, then — with the help of guitarist Marc Ribot, cellist Erik Friedlander and a rhythm section — gently and respectfully recasts them into refined contemporary pieces that are just as suited to the concert hall as the synagogue. On Masada Guitars, Sparks, Ribot and fellow six-string virtuoso Bill Frisell take turns playing solo versions of traditional-sounding works by Zorn. For the most part, the guitarists stick to their own styles — Frisell’s pieces are hauntingly atmospheric and subtle, Ribot’s are dignified and coldly precise, and Sparks’ are warmly genial and invitingly open. And that should be anyone’s cup of tea.
