On their 2005 recording debut "Homework", The Richie Barshay Project explores the common ground between Jazz and a variety of world rhythms. Inspired by studies of Indian tabla drumming, with a foundation in Jazz and Latin-American music, the new full-length CD explores these influences in an improvisational setting. With special guests including the legendary Herbie Hancock, the listener is taken on a journey through a range of exotic musical textures, experiencing a fresh rhythmic approach to World Jazz fusion.

In an effort to stretch the boundaries of world rhythms, "Homework" incorporates different percussion instruments in new combinations. Using rhythms from across the globe, including India and Latin America, the Richie Barshay Project creates a unique musical setting for improvisation over original grooves. On Barshay's composition - the title track "Homework" featuring special guest Herbie Hancock on piano and synthesizers - the band interprets the Indian rhythmic concept of tihai combined with a contemporary Jazz instrumentation, creating a fresh approach to groove-based playing. The sound is unique in it's elegant use of percussion, surprising the listener with rhythms not normally heard in a Jazz setting, bringing the euphoric groove to the forefront.

Homework personel
Richie Barshay, drum set, tabla, congas, cajon, kanjira, shekere, shakers...
Daniel Blake, tenor and soprano saxophones
Jorge Roeder, acoustic and electric basses
with special guests:
Herbie Hancock, piano (1,2,7), keyboard (2)
Reinaldo de Jesus, congas, djembe, bell (3,7,11)
Aoife O'Donovan, voice (10)
Michael Winograd, clarinet (10)
Carmen Staaf, accordion (10)
Josh Feinberg, sitar (4)

Produced by Richie Barshay
Recorded and mixed by Bill Winn
Recorded at Q Division Studios, Somerville, MA, August 4, 5, 13 & 14 2004
and at the Hancock residence, Los Angeles, CA, September 1, 2004
Mixed at Mix One Studios, Boston, MA
Mastered by Mark Donahue at SoundMirror, Jamaica Plain, MA

For the official Curtis Brothers Website goto: http://curtisbrothersmusic.com

- From WGBH (Boston, MA)'s Jazz with Eric In The Evening:
"Insight is an afro-world jazz group of young musicians, many of whom have pursued degrees at Boston's Berklee School of Music and New England Conservatory. Under the leadership of Zaccai Curtis, Insight's sound journeys the globe"

- From the Hartford Advocate's Fall Jazz Preview:
"If jazz is always about a moment frozen in time -- every solo inimitable -- then the same might be said of Insight, whose collaboration may be a fleeting moment in the careers of eight hotshots on their way to the higher echelons of the jazz world."

- From MercuryNews.com's review of the San Jose Jazz Festival:
"One of the festival's biggest surprises: Insight, a septet of players barely into their 20s, including a number of former students of the great pianist Danilo Perez. At a time when so many young jazz musicians -- and jazz players, in general -- seem stuck playing the same old tunes, often boringly, these guys signal a jazz future that's truly alive"

- From WWUH-FM's "Thinking Globally, Buying Locally" column:
"Insight presents a recording consisting largely of high-octane Afro-Cuban jazz, most of it composed by the group ... Insight is much more than “just?Ea Latin jazz group, that their influences encompass everything from hip hop to classical music."

With well-blended sounds from the Caribbean, Americas, Africa and other parts of the world, The Curtis Brothers are something fresh and new, something that has never been experienced before. Together, they combine their education and intuition to allow them to experiment, stretch and explore in all areas in music. They have grown with recognition while regularly performing with such notables as Herbie Hancock (Richie Barshay) and Donald Harrison (The Curtis Brothers). All three are currently working with Trombonist Steve Davis in his sextet.

The Curtis Brothers repertoire consist of original compositions as well as original arrangements of certain standards the jazz idiom. These young musicians haven’t ignored or forgotten the innovators and the “roots?Eof the music they study but don’t play in any specific “style.?EWithin their studies they absorb every thing they can, then produce something that is their own, something unique. This is a trio that has much experience in performance concentrates on making art with their music.

Khevre presents new and old Yiddish roots music for the 21st century.

"If this CD represented food, I would never stand a chance of dieting. I don't know how I would stop eating at all."
-Ari Davidow (www.klezmershack.com)

"I haven't kveld for new music like this in along time."
- Matt Darriau (klezmatics)

"Khevre brings a truly fresh approach to Yiddish and klezmer; they bring an old tradition completely up-to-date."
-Hankus Netsky (klezmer conservatory band)

Hailing from Boston, Khevre represents one of the top bands in the newest wave of klezmer and Jewish music. Musical vocabulary is what gives them a unique and original sound. While all of the musicians in the ensemble have an incredible knowledge of music spanning the globe, it is how they craft those styles, of jazz, Latin, middle eastern, American, and of course, European music together, that produce something special and exceptional.

Klezmer is the Eastern European folk music of the Jewish people. It came over to America in the early 19th century, and became a part of American Jewish life. An unexpected revival to learn this music of the past came about in the 1980's, continuing through today. While the past holds the tradition on which KHEVRE basses their creativity, it is the future that they see this music flourishing in.

Their most recent release, "Oyfn Sheydveg," showcases both their excellence in presenting new Yiddish music, and their creativity in preserving older music with vitality and excitement. Ari Davidow says, "with material this exciting being newly written and performed in Yiddish one begins to get a sense of the degree to which Yiddish language and culture are alive and renewed."