Label Bleu and Table Pounding Records is thrilled to announce the release of clarinetist, composer and bandleader David Krakauer’s first album under his own name in eight years: Mazel Tov Cocktail Party. Always searching to expand his aesthetic boundaries and find new sounds, Krakauer has teamed up with producer Kathleen Tagg to create a cathartic expression of joy and affirmation. In response to rising bigotry and intolerance world-wide, Krakauer and Tagg have assembled a crew of artists from a wide variety of genres and cultural backgrounds to convey a counter-message of positivity that celebrates our shared humanity. The album will be released on Feb 25th, 2022 on streaming platforms as well as in CD and vinyl formats.

The album and touring project Mazel Tov Cocktail Party were conceived and created by Krakauer and producer Kathleen Tagg as a “good vibes explosion” in response to the current climate of incredible polarization and negativity that pervades our daily lives. Along with Krakauer and Tagg, the album showcases a brand new line-up consisting of an incredibly high-octane group of world class musicians: Clarinet wizard Krakauer is the Godfather to Tagg’s quirky keys and production, Iranian dynamo and multi-talent Martin Shamanpoor’s drumming, jazz guru Jerome Harris’ virtuosic bass, sultry soul singer/rapper Sarah MK’s voice and words & oud/guitar-meister Yoshie Fruchter’s lines.

Together this group brings their enormous musical and cultural diversity to the project, and collaborate to create both original material as well as unique re-imaginings of material from around the world. The album takes traditional, old dance forms and completely recasts them to bring an overt message of tolerance and inclusion. Polka, Square Dance and the Hora never sounded this way before, with electro beats, acoustic middle Eastern hand drums, deep grooves and lyrics that call for space for all. Krakauer’s wailing clarinet cries out for us to join together, celebrate and feel the power in our aliveness.

A Square Dance? Polka? Hornpipe, Hora and Calypso? Urban beats mixing with acoustic instruments and thought provoking rap? What is this music? In the heavily polarized months of 2020, Krakauer and Tagg began to deeply reflect on what we all share as humans as a counter to the constant barrage of stories of how different we are. It disturbed them profoundly that the conversation is so divided, blind bigotry is rampant and tensions between different groups of people are at an all-time high: Urban vs rural. Red vs blue. Conservative vs liberal etc. What’s the common place where we have the potential to come together as humans and don’t need to know the beliefs of the person next to us to have a good time? It’s with music and dance.

So Krakauer and Tagg went to the old dance forms. The ones designed for communities to come together and move. Dances that are instantly recognizable. And from there they dove into the realities of our America with all its amazing diversity and added those sounds in: eg. a Square Dance with words partly in Quebecois French, drumming on an Iranian daf and a beat by Moroccan-born, NYC-based beat maker. Music with the form and pulse of a traditional Square Dance but the beat of a Brooklyn nightclub. A musical meeting place where each member showed up as they were with their entire history and skill sets, to create a new sound where the individual strands create the whole.

It’s a Mazel Tov Cocktail Party and everyone’s invited!! In these uncertain times, it’s a chance for performers and audience alike to come together, celebrate all that we have in common and throw a metaphorical “Mazel Tov Cocktail” up in the air to light up the world!

For the past 25 years, David Krakauer has spearheaded projects that bring together multicultural strands in unexpected ways. He is considered one of the leading forces in terms of redefining and re-imagining the music of his Eastern European Jewish cultural heritage. In 2008 he founded Table Pounding Records as a hub for genre-crossing projects. Then in 2015 Kathleen Tagg joined Krakauer to create the production and creation wing of Table Pounding Records: Table Pounding Music.

Mazel Tov Cocktail Party features:
David Krakauer, Clarinet and Vocals
Kathleen Tagg, Keyboards, Cello, Accordion, Electronics/Samples
Sarah MK, MC, Vocals and Rap Vox
Martin Shamoonpour, Daf (Iranian Frame drum), jaw harp and mouth percussion
Yoshie Fruchter, Electric Guitar, Oud and Mandolin
Jerome Harris, Bass and Vocals

Also featured are electronic tracks from acclaimed beat makers Bergsonist (Morocco/NYC), Socalled (Montreal Canada), Jeremy Flower (aka Keepalive) (Boston) and Kathleen Tagg (South Africa/NYC).