Klezmatics Continue Their Tradition

With equal measures of reverence and revolution, New York’s Klezmatics return with a lively, soul-stirring set on “Possessed” that continues their cosmopolitan updating of traditional Eastern European Jewish folk music. With guest pianist John Medeski, the band’s progressive side comes out on such tracks as the clattersome, Arabic-sounding “Moroccan Game” and the smoky, languidly jazzy “Mizmor Shir Lehaneff (Reefer Song),” which celebrates a pastime some might consider less than kosher. More traditional klezmer perspectives are found in “Kolomeyke,” “Svarts Un Vays (Black And White)” and “Sirba Matey Matey.” The album concludes with excerpts from the Klezmatics’ score for Kushner play “A Dybbuk: Between Two Worlds”: the sweetly serene folk balladry of “Fradde’s Song,” and the lurching grotesquerie of “Beggar’s Dance.”