MUSICIANS AND SOME INFO:
MICHAEL BECKMAN -bass (Rainbirds, Sony Records, well-known producer)
ALAN BERN -accordion (Winter and Winter label, Brave Old World, artistic director of the klezmer summer Weimar project)
TOPO GIOIA -percussion (Steve Lacy, Goria Feidman)
ARI BENJAMIN MEYERS -clavichord (Arlo Guthrie, Blixa Bargeld, Redux Orchestra)
CARLOS BICA -bass (Enja Records, Jim Black, Ray Anderson)
MICHAEL RODACH -guitar (Kevin Coin, awards for radio plays and compositions for film and dance)
ROLF GOLDKIND -trombone (Fantastische Vier Producer)
VANYA ZHUK -guitar (top avante guard performer in Moscow)
UWE LANGER -trombone (17 Hippies, Deutsche Theater)
JENS TROENDLE -electronics (studio work with Nina and other pop stars)
OLIVER URBANSKI -sax (Peter Zadik actor, Berliner Ensemble)
ROBERT GUTOWSKI -trombone (Gentleman Band, MTV, Maxim Gorki Theater)
ALBERTINA SARGES -singing (emerging singer/songwriting artist)
MIKE TUTTLE -bass (Painted Bird, composer)
DIRK HASSKARL -drums (Up Escalator)
DANIEL KHAN -piano, accordion, mandolin, whistling (Painted Bird, international singing tours)
LUCY KELLY -violin (Madeline and Clara's mom)
ANNA SCHUBERT -french horn (Trans Median, Electric Sheppard)
PAUL BRODY -trumpet (John Zorn, Barry White, The Supremes)
CHRISTIAN KOEGEL -banjo (Andreas Schmidt, Gerry Granelli)
MARTIN LILLICH -bass (Kenny Wheeler, Pomp Duck musical director)
MARCELO MOGUILEVSKY -recorder, flutes (one of Argentina's best-known contemporary musicians)
THORSTON MULLER -clarinet (klezmer soloist, student)
JOHANNES HENSCEL -cello (Berlin Freelancer)
Influences
The influences on these CDs are between James Brown, Pete Seeger, and Grand Master Flash. The compositions have there roots in Delta Blues guitar picking and sliding, The Beattles, and contempory pop music.
Sounds Like
This is children's music that adults can enjoy too!
"Hickory Dickory Dock" CD (2007)
"All My Little Ducklings" CD (2008)
Oetinger Publishing
2007 EMI RECORDS: "FAVORITES" (children's songs sampler)
NUMBER ONE SONG: TOP TEN ON WDR Lilipuz Radio for Children
SWR RADIO: "One of the best children's CDs we've heard in a long time..."
2008 LUFTHANSA AIRLINES: Featured in-flight CD
TOP TEN: WDR Lilipuz Radio for Children
FEATURED RADIO BREMEN
Paul Brody is an internationally-acclaimed composer and trumpeter from California who is based in Berlin. The idea of writing and producing children's music started when his son and daughter played around with song recording in English and German. They made up texts and recorded their own versions of popular folk tunes. Soon they even turned homework assignments into music by writing raps for matching European countries with their capitals, singing the blues for the layers of the earth, and by memorizing Fontana and Goethe poems by setting them to music.
After touring North America with his klezmer-jazz group, "Sadawi" (John Zorn's Tzadik Records), Paul Brody took the advice of friends in the Berlin film and music scene and started producing a children's CD for the prestigious Oetinger publishing house. (In Germany, Oetinger is one of the most important publishers of children's books and CDs, including works by Astrid Lindgrin, Cornelia Funke, and Eric Kaestner.) The project exploded into an impressive line-up of musicians from all around the world and a big group of talented kids from the English-speaking community in Berlin. The first two CDs feature over 20 kids and 20 adults!
Almost all the compositions are Brody originals, except for a few standard favorites that sparkle in fresh arrangements. Brody draws on his experience with reinterpreting and composing klezmer melodies. For the children's CDs, he takes traditional English rhymes and rewrites parts of them, a creative process which in turn inspires new lyrics. The rhymes are chosen both for their story-telling content and their emphasis on different parts of the English language. Some songs are designed to teach specific vocabulary ("The Thief and His Mother"), while others help children practice verb conjugations, ("Love To Go") or grammatical constructions ("Hickory Dickory Rap").
Within a very short time Paul Brody's children's music has gotten rave reviews from popular radio critics, jazz and children's literature journalists, and educational experts. Thousands of parents are grateful that they no longer have to walk around the house with earplugs when their kids select the music.
In addition to this project, Brody has also played with such famed musicians as "The Supremes," John Zorn, Alan Bern, Barry White, Blixa Bargeld, David Moss, David Krackauer, Frank London, Steve Bernstein, Shirly Bassy, etc.
Please feel free to comment on the music, check out the links, or contact paulbrody@yahoo.com
