Kaila Flexer Next Village CD

All tracks have been digitally mastered using HDCD technology.

Kaila Flexer is obviously a scholar of traditional music as well as a gifted composer, and on this album she displays both skills. Though Another Village has obvious Eastern European, klezmer, and French folk influences, the spirit on much of the playing is reminiscent of Argentine tango bands. Flexer gives her band plenty of room to shine on both traditional pieces and original compositions, the latter so well-grounded in roots music that it is hard to tell which is which. "Squirrel Sits In" sounds like a lost Stephane Grapelli and Django Reinhardt duet, and other tracks sound hauntingly familiar. Kaila Flexer's village is an interesting place where jazz and folk music blend in wonderful and unexpected ways, a place everyone can visit by playing this CD. ~ Richard Foss

3rd Rel;Guests-Andy Narell & Mike Marshall

Recorded at Gatorland Studios, Oakland, California; Mobius Studio, San Francisco, California; Egghead Studio, Albany, California.

Kaila Flexer: Kaila Flexer (violin); Nikolai Prisakar (accordion); Joel Davel (marimba, percussion); Cindy Browne (acoustic bass).

Personnel: Kaila Flexer (violin); Mike Marshall (mandolin); Andy Connell (clarinet); Jovino Santos Neto (piano); Joel Davel (marimba, percussion); Tom Miller (pandeiro, shaker, percussion); Andy Narell (steel pan).

Audio Mixers: Kaila Flexer; Mike Marshall .

Recording information: Egghead Studios, Albany, CA; Gatorland Studios, Oakland, CA; Mobius Studio, San Francisco, CA.

Photographer: Anne Hamersky.

Arrangers: Kaila Flexer; Mike Marshall .

Additional personnel: Mike Marshall (mandolin); Andy Connel (clarinet); Jovino Santos Neto (piano); Aaron Johnston (drums, percussion); Andy Narell (steel drums); Tom Miller (percussion).Dirty Linen (8-9/99, pp.64-5) - "...This kind of cultural cross-breeding is often self-conscious, trendy, and superficial; NEXT VILLAGE offers exciting proof that it doesn't have to."