Music Style Modern Klezmer, which to the Dropouts is a mixture of Jewish, klezmer, jazz, rock, funk, Middle Eastern, and Afro-Latin traditions

Musical Influences Klezmer, Mingus, Sun Ra, Zappa, Zorn, Ellington, Miles, Coltrane, Klezmatics

Similar Artists John Zorn's Tzadik label Radical Jewish Culture Series, Klezmatics, Naftule's Dream

Artist History The Rabbinical School Dropouts was established in the music department of UC San Diego at the tail end of the 20th century by four college friends, namely, Michael Friedmann on reeds, Jonathan Rotter on trombone, Nicolas Carvajal on drum kit, and Patrick Shaw on bass. These fellows started to mess around with klezmer music, and the campus Union of Jewish Students and Hillel caught wind of their sounds and hired them for special events. As the Dropouts became more serious about their craft, Michael and his brother Jon-Jon (Long Beach, CA natives) began composing music loosely blending Jewish, klezmer, jazz, rock, funk, Middle Eastern, and Afro-Latin traditions. The boys in San Diego loved the tunes, and as their craving for more compositions was satiated, their craving for more musical cohorts grew. After several casting calls, the Rabbinical School Dropouts were joined by Hank Friedmann on bass clarinet, Bart Miller then Bob Weller on piano, traded Patrick Shaw for Danny Weller on bass, threw in a pinch of Jesse Bluelake Barkin on tenor sax and Ravi Deo on tabla for an occasional change of flavor, brought in Ze'ev Mahar on percussion, added a string section starring multi-instrumentalist Jon-Jon Friedmann as the sole member, and signed the master of the double reed and the mother of the little instrument himself, Scott Paul Levine, to round things off. Now working on their 4th, 5th, and 6th albums and finishing up their 3-part dvd, the Rabbinical School Dropouts are off to a prolific and exciting carrer, exploiting the possibilities of klezmer fusion.

Group Members Nick Carvajal, Ravi Deo, Jon-Jon Friedmann, Hank Friedmann, Michael Friedmann, Bob Weller, Danny Weller, Jonathan Rotter, Scott Paul Levine, Ze'ev Mahar

Instruments clarinet, tenor sax, trombone, bass clarinet, oboe, cello, guitar, theremin, bass, drum kit, piano, percussion, tabla, little instruments...

Albums Introducing the Rabbinical School Dropouts (1999 Amazing Colossal Records); Counterfeit Gelt (2002, Ethnic Warrior Productions); Cosmic Tree (2002, Tzadik)

Press Reviews Rabbinical School Dropouts, Introducing the . . . There's a reason the current crop of Klezmer bands are called Next Wave Klezmer. This is not your bubbe's klez. In the RSD's case, it is what they dub "esoteric space klezmer," at moments touching & traditional, other moments sounding like Sun Ra & Frank Zappa at Woody Harrelson's backyard bbq. Can it be a coincidence that the tune "Maimonodies" lasts 4:20 long? And I'm not sure how kosher songs like "Mishiguna Hora" & "Gremlin in the Kremlin" are, but this may be the perfect soundtrack for your next shul mixer. -Brian Broccoli, B-rockmagazine.com

Additional Info George Lewis, Jimmy Cheatham, and Erik Griswald helped in molding our collective clay

Location Long Beach, California - USA

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