Tonight from 6:00-9:00 PM, tune in to the Musician's Show for a live interview with jazz and klezmer saxophonist Paul Shapiro. Based in New York City, Shapiro has been a mainstay of the downtown avant-garde and radical Jewish culture scene for more than three decades. One of the most recent fruits of Shapiro’s border-crossing, experimental music is the 2014 masterpiece Shofarot Verses. This record features Shapiro with guitarist Marc Ribot, drummer Tony Lewis, and double-bassist Brad Jones, on a set of songs inspired by the liturgy connected to the Jewish New Year. Recontextualizing traditional themes in challenging new settings has been crucial to Shapiro’s work for years, and is particularly highlighted on this record, which one reviewer called “open, passionate, and joyful.”

In 1994 Shapiro co-founded a musical collective called “Brooklyn Funk Essentials” with American record producer Arthur Baker. Shapiro was also commissioned by the Museum of Jewish Heritage to compose a modern score for the 1925 silent film His People. Shapiro has recorded eight albums of his own, in addition to guest performances on the albums of many other, including John Zorn’s 1992 album John Zorn's Cobra: Live at the Knitting Factory, Janet Jackson’s 1995 album Janet Remixed, and Lou Reed’s 2000 album Ecstasy. In addition to his own recordings (on John Zorn’s Tzadik label), Shapiro has played tenor saxophone in New York City with the Microscopic Septet.