Seventeen seasons later, the KCB has compiled an impressive record of national and international tours and a string of recordings; “Dancing in the Aisles,” their newest, will be released next spring. Credits include the film “Enemies, A Love Story,” a children’s video narrated by Robin Williams called “The Fool and the Flying Ship,“ Joel Grey’s Yiddish music revue "Borschtcapades '94," the PBS special “In The Fiddler’s House,” with violinist Itzhak Perlman, and Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion.”

This weekend at the Leventhal-Sidman JCC, former KCB members will reunite for the Jewish Theatre of New England’s Claire and Norton Sherman Klezmer Conservatory Band Reunion Concert and Mini Music Festival. Alumni will include Michael Alpert of Brave Old World; Temple Keren Shalom of Concord cantor Rosalie Gerut; Jeff Warschauer; and original saxophonist and former Schechter teacher Merryl Goldberg, who earned a Ph.D at Harvard and put together the KCB’s first concert, a 1980 NEC Jewish music fest. The KCB will perform Sat. night; prior to a second concert on Sunday, workshop offerings will include basic Yiddish, Jewish music, klezmer jam sessions, Eastern European Jewish dancing and more.

Klezmer music, influenced by synagogues as well as non-Jewish cultures, was first performed by bands of itinerant Jewish musicians in medieval Europe and later, Eastern European shtetls. The genre was later adapted by Jewish musicians in American jazz clubs and Yiddish theater stages. The tradition, which faded in the 1940s due to assimilation and newer musical styles, has been revived and is again in full swing.

“Most of the original members were students at the NEC,” recalled bass player/manager Jim Guttmann. “It will be great to see them.”

“It's kind of a homecoming,“ said Netsky, who is research director of the nonprofit Klezmer Conservatory Foundation, which is dedicated to the research and preservation of Yiddish music. Netsky has taught Yiddish Music at Hebrew College, the NEC and Wesleyan University and is in a Ph. D. Program in ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University. He was music director for "A Taste of Passover,“ a PBS/PRI concert production featuring Theodore Bikel, and composed scores for "Shlemiel the First,” and the NPR series "Jewish Stories from Eastern Europe and Beyond.” Netsky’s brother and former band manager Steve will be at the fest, as will be original violinist Marvin Weinberger, original drummer Charlie Berg, trumpeter Gary Bohan and Deborah Strauss, who Netsky said is considered by many the premier figure in re-inventing the traditional klezmer violin style. Strauss will be giving a workshop for string players and tsimblists (Romanian hammered dulcimer players).

“Hailing from Milwaukee, and a long line of ministers,“ said percussionist Grant Smith, “I never planned on being in a Klezmer band.” But something caught his ear one night after a house concert of Indian music. “A Bansuri (Indian flute) player played old klezmer recordings in my apartment, which was also a Tabla (Indian drum) masters studio.” he recalled. The Bansuri player was original KCB member Abby Rabinovitz.

Smith was with Empty Rituals, an early 80s punk rock band fronted by David Singer of Newton, who called Smith “boychik.“ “I knew what klezmer was and that I should not bring my tables, punk-rock or hip hop beats,“ he said. Ironically, 25 years later, Smith is doing exactly that with KCB, as well as “Klezperanto,“ a musical form based on KCB clarinetist Ilene Stahl and accordionist Evan Harlan’s klezmer rock/world music project. Stahl, often called the “Jimi Hendrix of klezmer clarinet,“ combines zydeco, cumbia, funk, second-line, and Romanian brass band surf music with klezmer.

“JCC is thrilled to be part of the celebration and festival,” said JCC Cultural Arts Director Barrie Keller. “The Klezmer Conservatory has an impressive 26-year history as a founding band of the whole klezmer revival.” Keller hopes that someday, Boston will host a festival on the scale of many other cities.

“The concerts should be a blast, filled with opportunities for us to celebrate many musical friendships as well as the continuity of this musical tradition that, because of the KCB, is so closely identified with Boston,” said Netsky. “Klezmer and Yiddish fans will be in their element, and those curious about klezmer and Yiddish can experience it firsthand.”

The Klezmer Conservatory Band reunion and mini-festival is co-sponsored by Workmen’s Circle and KlezmerShack and funded in part by a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. The KCB will perform on Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m. Pre-registration for the workshops, to be held on Sunday from 1-4 p.m., is recommended; please call 617-558-6486. Concerts are $22 general, $20 JCC member; youth tickets are $16 general, $14 JCC member. A festival pass (concert and workshops) is $25 general, $23 JCC member). A single workshop fee is $5 for JCC members and $7 for general. For concert ticket information, call 617-965-5226 or visit theatermania.com.