Most often, classic Chanukah songs are performed as treacly children’s tunes, with musical innovation a rarity.
Not this year.
A trio of new CDs shows there’s plenty of elasticity in even the most familiar Chanukah songs. Not all meet with equal success, but collectors of new Jewish music have to be pleased with the efforts.
Most entertaining is the LeeVees’ “Hanukkah Rocks,” a project by two experienced Gen-X rockers, Guster’s Adam Gardner and the Zambonis’ Dave Schneider. Both men have solid rocker chops, writing all-original songs about the holiday — and modern Jewish American life — with plenty of churlish wit, proving Adam Sandler isn’t the only one to bring an authentic rock sensibility to the holiday.
While the band liberally cribs other established rock styles, from the Beach Boys to the Ramones, the LeeVees are having too much fun to worry about breaking new musical ground. With songs like “Applesauce Vs. Sour Cream” and “How Do You Spell Channukkahh” (that’s not a misprint), the band selects for satire those aspects of the holiday that normally escape the naked eye, and do so with great comic effect.
The CD moves beyond the borders of Chanukah with tracks like “At The Time Share,” which ribs the Jewish exodus to Florida, and “Jewish Girls (At the Matzah Ball),” a surprisingly perceptive — and funny — look at modern singles life for Jews.
As evidence the band is serious, the LeeVees are on tour with Barenaked Ladies, a band that released its own Chanukah CD last year, and in fact will be playing in San Francisco at the Masonic Center on Wednesday, Dec. 14. The LeeVees are the real deal, but even non-rockers can enjoy their lightly skewed view of the holiday.
In fact, non-rockers might be advised to give Kenny Ellis’ “Hanukkah Swings!” a spin. For years the L.A. singer dreamed of recording Big Band versions of holiday songs, from “Sevivon, Sov, Sov, Sov” to “Hanukkah, Oh Hanukah.” Crazy as that sounds, Ellis proves the skeptics wrong.
Fans of the Nelson Riddle/Duke Ellington/Benny Goodman school of Big Band will find plenty to jitterbug to here. The CD kicks off with “Swingin’ Dreidel,” the syncopated version of the famous dreidel song. It’s no sillier than “A-Tisket A-Tasket” was for Ella Fitzgerald. In fact, it sounds almost exactly like that song (try it: Sing it along with the dreidel song).
It’s surprising how well the songs work as Big Band numbers, but they do. One standout is the Ladino-language “Ocho Kandelikas,” here performed as a full-out Ricky Ricardo showstopper. The album’s best track, “Rock of Ages,” truly re-envisions the stalwart tune as a smokin’ Quincy Jones cityscape.
Ellis has a smooth vocal style. He’s no Sinatra, but then again, who is? It’s hard to picture today’s hip-hop addled youth relating to this, but maybe it’s hip to be square these days.
The only downsides of the CD are a couple of lamer-than-lame originals that trip up an otherwise musically astute effort.
Hipper than hip, at least in theory, is “Hanukkah Lounge,” a new compilation of holiday-themed instrumentals, assembled by Jewish music mogul Craig Taubman. The CD features the ethereal club music made famous in Ibiza and other playgrounds of the thong-bikini set.
Participating artists include trumpeter/klezmer pioneer Frank London, Grammy-winning guitarist Laurence Juber, African American Jewish singer Josh Nelson and Taubman himself.
It’s all very pleasant, but I’ll go out on a limb here: All these mellow, alpha-wave-generating tracks sound alike. It’s possible to pick out the familiar Chanukah melodies, but they are largely buried in the benign atmospherics. There’s nothing wrong with it as audio wallpaper, but Chanukah party people could do better.
It’s nice to hear Chanukah music that stretches the boundaries, but if none of these suit your holiday style, there’s always Debbie Friedman.
“Hannukah Rocks” by the LeeVees is available online at www.jdubrecords.org. “Hanukkah Swings!” by Kenny Ellis is available at www.kennyellis.com.
“Hanukkah Lounge” is available at www.craignco.com.