Collected here for the first time are the complete studio recordings of one of the major ensembles in the renaissance of Jewish Jazz. Featuring five Downtown New York improvisers, these four CDs originally released by Knitting Factory records from 1996 to 2001 embrace the Hasidic musical legacy with a fresh new voice. Blending together an intense mixture of ethnic and cosmopolitan sounds, Hasidic New Wave fuses spiritual songs from Hasidic dynasties to funk and jazz, Arabic dances with avant-garde rock, and juxtaposes horas and freylekhs with intense improvisation. Including an additional full CD of rare recordings and a 28-page booklet filled with photos, posters, remembrances by band members and appreciations by friends and colleagues, this is an essential document of a major band out of Radical Jewish Culture. Hasidic New Wave’s alternatingly ecstatic and meditative performances, imbued with joy and passion sound better than ever!