Rocking The Cello, Fuzz Box Included

George Robinson; Special To The Jewish Week

Maya Beiser calls her eclectic and unpredictable musical career a “wild ride,” and her latest CD, “Uncovered” (Innova), certainly suggests that the brilliant cellist is up for any challenge.

The album, which was released this week, is a collection of rock and blues classics as reimagined for cello and rhythm section, with dense multi-tracking and fuzz-box distortion. Beiser will be performing the material live as well, kicking off a brief tour on Sept. 4 at Le Poisson Rouge (158 Bleecker St., [212] 505-3474, lepoissonrouge.com).

Born in the late-1960s on a kibbutz in the Galilee, Beiser grew up surrounded by classical music and the Latin American music her family brought from Buenos Aires to Israel. But the rock and blues of “Uncovered” also come from the heart.

“Here I was, a 15-year-old classical music geek, growing up in an insular world of Western classical music,” Beiser recalls, her storytelling punctuated by chuckles. “One day I heard Janis Joplin on the radio, I think it was ‘Me and Bobby McGee.’ I was blown away by her approach to singing and performing: that raw, immediate engagement. I remember vowing, ‘This is how I want to play the cello, the way she sings.’”

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