Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on December 27, 2014

Barney Josephson opened Cafe Society in 1938, but the music he featured (and is featured in the play Cafe Society Swing) has been around much longer.

Jazz originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in African-American communities most notably in New Orleans. As it spread, the music began to draw on different traditions, including the work of Jewish composers who populated Tin Pan Alley.

Because it took in so much from so many places and changed so much from its origins, Jazz might easily be called the Yiddish of musical forms. It includes everything from ragtime to be-bop to big band, and in most of these incarnations the Jewish impact was large. Here are 9 Jewish artists who helped shape the many different sounds of jazz:

1. Willie The Lion Smith (1893-1973)

An early jazz great, pianist Smith was the son of a Jewish father, Frank Bertholoff. He apparently learned Hebrew from a rabbi for whom his mother worked, and according to all accounts was a bar mitzvah at age 13. In fact, he told Nat Hentoff, People cant seem to realize I have a Jewish soul and belong to that faith. According to his autobiography, later in life he served as a cantor for a black Jewish congregation in Harlem.

2. Teddy Charles (1928-2012) Born Theodore Charles Cohen, Teddy was an influential percussionist (most famously on the vibraphone) and composer. He was also a much sought-after session musician who played with Miles Davis, Charles Mingus and others.

3. Benny Goodman (1909-1986)

The King of Swing was one of 12 children of immigrants from Poland and Lithuania. His first clarinet lessons were at a local Chicago synagogue. Frankly, because he was white, he helped make jazz acceptable, especially with his famous 1938 concert at Carnegie Hall, the first jazz show there. He also had the first integrated band, which helped black artists such as Lionel Hampton and Teddy Wilson get their starts.

4. Herbie Mann (1930-2003):

Herbert Jay Solomon was born in Brooklyn, and got his first professional gig at age 15 in the Catskills. His was a rare career in a couple of ways. For one thing, he had a number of Billboard top 200 albums, a level of mainstream success that has eluded most jazz artists. But even odder was that the success came from a flautist, which is hardly a common jazz instrument.

See more here:
Nine Jews who changed the sound of jazz

Category: Jewish American Heritage Month
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