Dreams of Yesterday and Tomorrow

Copyright: ℗ 2025 Team Love LLC

Credits from Bandcamp

Who knew that what’s old could be “so nu?” again? That the hottest live Klezmer scene may still be NYC, but the coolest Klezmer album since who knows what would be concocted in Maine? Der menschy makhshef Jamie Saft, nonpareil jazz (and then some) pianist who produced and plays keys on this album knew. Considering his past 30 years [also how long this band’s been Tummling] gigging and recording with the likes of Iggy Pop, Bad Brains, Beastie Boys, Dave Liebman, Laurie Anderson, Cyro Baptista, and Roswell Rudd, as well as ecstatically extruding six solo albums via the majestic maw that was Tzadik Record’s “Radical Jewish Culture” imprint, he should know!!

This is the Casco Bay Tummlers first new album in twenty years! The driving force for this project came from Jamie who moved to rural MidCoast Maine from New York in 2021, where he was so inspired by the Tummlers sound and spirit that he began joining them for shows whenever possible. He was particularly tzmitten by the classic Yiddish vocals of Nancy 3. Hoffman, whose comforting, just-right delivery invariably shot his kvellometer to eleven.

”You guys are still a crucial piece of Yiddish culture” he kept saying to the band. “Let’s record!”

So they did, and the Tummlers performances of this beautiful, secular music of the Jewish diaspora have only deepened since their first album thirty years ago - staying true to the tradition while carrying it forward into the 21st century. Founded in 1988 in and around Portland, Maine, the Casco Bay Tummlers have performed joyfully at countless Maine simchas and remain the longest running Klezmer ensemble in the Pine Tree State.
And who should live so that a klezmer album should SOUND so good. Saft’s pristine production brings to mind the warmth and up close robustness of the feel good soulful jazz gem Johnny Hodges / Wild Bill Davis Con-Soul & Sax, but with today’s technology— gawjuss.
The album starts off with “Jake Hoffman’s” and one imagines oneself being pulled into a “simcha dance” in the middle of a verdant Polish forest, the bouncy tune & performance bobbing a never hurried yet joyous jig.

Without running the whole megillah, here are thoughts on just a few of the choice items from this delicious spread. (The quotes are from the band’s flutist and sometimes composer, Carl Dimow).

“I probably heard ’Oyfn Pripitchik’ back there in my early years. I grew up in a secular, left wing family. My parents and their friends set up a Yiddish shul for their kids to learn some Yiddish, songs, and Jewish history. I wrote that duet line for Oyfn some years ago for a concert with a violinist and French horn player.” In this new version you hear the optimism in Nancy’s vocals juxtaposed with the truth of what ultimately happened to others the age of the song’s protagonist.

“The ‘Bublitchki’ arrangement was driven by Nancy’s singing - and I do feel we were going for more of a classic, old style feel.”
The title track “Dreams of Yesterday and Tomorrow” was originally composed as the third movement (out of four) of Dimow’s Klezmer Suite for Flute and Classical Guitar, which won first place for chamber music in the National Flute Association 2014 new music competition. This new arrangement boasts the mystique & lushness of prime Gil Evans a la “La Nevada” [Out of the Cool] and “Time of the Barracudas” [Individualism of Gil Evans]

“Using rhythms and scales that are common to both Jewish and Arabic music, it was conceived as a prayer for peace in the Middle East. In the context of the album as a whole, the title also refers to the generational and historic roots of the music - and to dreams for the future.

The Tummlers have been doing our own version of it for years and it was a natural to get Jamie in on it. There’s actually a sort of hidden reference to the Beatles - the phrase structure of the melody is the same as ‘Yesterday’. The underlying rhythm/groove is known as a terkisher in klezmer music, but it’s also a very common groove in middle eastern music known as a maqsum. The open modal improv is more common to jazz and middle eastern music than klezmer.”

I dare whoever’s reading this right now to not hum the “Olivier Theme”, all day, after only hearing it once. You’ve heard of eye candy? This is ear schnitzel.

“Around 2011 I was commissioned to write music for a comic Belgian documentary, specifically for the Tummlers to play. It was called Mon-noM and was about three guys in Brussels, including the director, who were all named Olivier Hespel. They go on a road trip to Corsica to meet another Olivier Hespel. Thus the lyric about four Oliviers!”

“Darash” appeared originally on Jamie’s 2011 album Borscht Belt Studies
“We were all psyched to do one of Jamie’s tunes. I love the way that piece captures a Jewish vibe but is so deeply rooted in jazz and improvisation. The open, floating feel is very unusual for klezmer - but feels like it has deep memories of the old world.”
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The Tummlers band is a happy gestalt, with no one member dominating the sound at any point. Steve Gruverman‘s worldly clarinet playing is informed by forays into ethnic dance music.

Carl Dimow has developed a distinctive klezmer flute style, a sultry solo voice in the music. John Clark deftly lays down the bass throughout the proceedings. Nancy 3. Hoffman brings a timeless, instantly-beloved-by-audiences ebullience & playfulness to both her accordion playing and singing. Peter McLaughlin brings a breadth of musical experience in many styles to support the group with drums and percussion.

In this difficult third decade of the century, the Tummlers offer the world joy, artistry, and yes, a hope and prayer for peace.

- Jeff Newelt aka JAHFURRY