Breath + Hammer: David Krakauer & Kathleen Tagg

(USA)

David Krakauer & Kathleen Tagg by Tasja Keetman

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(Note: A bus to the club venue WORM will depart at 22:15 from De Doelen in front of the entrance to the Grote Zaal.)

David Krakauer, clarinet
Kathleen Tagg, piano

Breath + Hammer are an all-star duo featuring clarinetist David Krakauer and pianist Kathleen Tagg. Krakauer ('Breath') is a klezmer, classical and jazz musician and composer, and Tagg ('Hammer') is a performer who has penned a musical, an 'alt-cabaret', chamber music, and many albums' worth of original works.

Breath + Hammer's music is rooted in the dizzying matrix of styles that Krakauer and Tagg command. They play on clever figures that fit within contemporary classical performance.

They splash jaunty klezmer into jazzy, improvisatory passages. There are sombre moments, and bombast after. They write their own music and cover works by composers such as American saxophonist John Zorn and Syrian clarinetist Kinan Azmeh.

'One of the most remarkable concerts I have ever attended anywhere in the world' is how one reviewer described a Breath + Hammer performance. Krakauer and Tagg are quickly redefining the rich tradition of clarinet-piano duos.