New Orleans Klezmer AllStars

The New Orleans Klezmer All Stars formed in 1992, bringing together musicians who recognized the unexpected but profound affinities between the klezmer tradition and the New Orleans musical ethos. Both musics are rooted in community celebration and mourning, both are built on improvisation and groove, and both carry the traces of African-American musical influence.

The band's recordings and performances demonstrated that the fusion was not a novelty but a genuine musical marriage — the second-line rhythms of New Orleans providing a natural home for the wailing clarinet lines and minor-key melodies of the klezmer tradition.

They have been a fixture of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, where their sets are among the most joyfully chaotic and musically surprising of the entire event. The band's membership has evolved over the years while maintaining the core concept.

The New Orleans Klezmer All Stars represent the city's remarkable capacity to absorb diverse musical traditions and make them its own — a living demonstration of the principle that in New Orleans, everything eventually becomes New Orleans music.