The Israeli Woman Who's Reviving the Jazz Clarinet

by Marc Davis for Jewniverse

Among the world's top jazz musicians, there are few women instrumentalists, and even fewer Israeli women. In fact, there is only one: Anat Cohen, the best jazz clarinetist alive.

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The Grammys And The Jewish Condition

Rabbi Gerald Skolnik, Jewish Week Online Columnist; originally printed 01/30/14

Partly because my daughter had asked me to, but also because I enjoy live performances of music, I watched the Grammy Awards last Sunday night. In all honesty, I should say I watched the Grammys until I nodded off in my very comfortable chair, but I saw a good deal.

I am one of those boomers who remain addicted to the music that I grew up to. There’s a wonderful line in the classic movie “The Big Chill” in which Kevin Kline’s character is accused of playing only the music from his college years. He replies, “there is no other music.” Largely, I agree. I’m not quite that exclusive in my tastes, which are actually eclectic, and incorporate choral, classical, and country in addition to classic rock. But still… give me some good Crosby, Stills and Nash, or the Beatles, and I’m good to go.

In that vein, it was nice to see Paul McCartney singing with Ringo. But really, who wanted to hear them sing a new song that no one knows? As long as they were singing together, and you the only two surviving members of the Beatles were making music, couldn’t they have done something that they recorded together all those years ago? But I digress…

What struck me most of all about the Grammys program was the degree to which it wasn’t at all about the music as much as it was about the production. This is not particularly a new insight. With the advent of music videos more than twenty years ago, it became nearly impossible for an artist to release a song without an accompanying video. Some, of course, became classics, like Michael Jackson’s. But whether they were memorable or not, they represented a major transition point for rock music. It was no longer about the song per se; it was about a different kind of art form. A video could make or break a song, regardless of whether the song was outstanding on its own, or totally forgettable. (See Miley Cyrus, among others…).

So at these Grammy, you had P!nk singing while impersonating a Cirque du Soleil performer, and enough artists performing to explosions of fire and smoke to satisfy the hardest core pyromaniac. And oh yes… plenty of provocatively dressed back-up dancers, another newly indispensable component of any live rock performance these days (see Robin Thicke).

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2014: The Year Fiddler Turns 50

 Was there ever a real-life shtetl as joyful, as funny, as musical and, ultimately, as heartbreaking as Anatevka? Probably not. But after five decades, "our little village" in Fiddler on the Roof still embodies what many American Jews imagine Jewish life was like in the Old Country.

Fiddler managed to create an almost-perfect formula for a Broadway hit: A time capsule of homogenized Jewishness so infectious that goyim love it, yet authentic enough that multiple generations of Jews have embraced it.

Debuting in 1964, Fiddler opened with Zero Mostel as the everyman Tevye. and Bea Arthur as the meddlesome matchmaker Yenta. In 1972, it became the longest running Broadway musical. Although its record has long since been shattered by Grease, Cats and others, few shows have had such a lasting cultural impact. Is there a Jewish father alive who hasn't gotten misty-eyed at "Sunrise Sunset," or a Jewish daughter who hears the "Sabbath Prayer" and doesn't remember Grandma Sophie's Shabbos dinners?

2014 year marks Fiddler's 50th anniversary. L'chaim and happy new year!

- Marc Davis for Jewniverse

The Jazz Concert That Changed Black and Jewish History

When Benny Goodman, the Jewish clarinetist and so-called "King of Swing" took center stage at Carnegie Hall on this day in 1938, the audience was in for more than just a rollicking time.

The Benny Goodman Orchestra's performance on January 16, 1938 has reigned for decades as the most significant concert in jazz history. It was not only the inaugural jazz show at Carnegie Hall, but also among the first public concerts to feature a racially integrated cast. Goodman was the first leader of a swing orchestra to hire black musicians, such as pianist Teddy Wilson, and vibraphonist Lionel Hampton.

With classics like "Honeysuckle Rose," Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm," and the towering, electric "Sing, Sing, Sing," Goodman led his orchestra brilliantly, shattering barriers with his howling horns. Guest appearances from legends like Count Basie and Martha Tilton peppered the evening.

Goodman had a reputation as being difficult, a perfectionist through and through. And for seldom deviating from what was right. Referring to the great jazz pianist Teddy Wilson, Goodman was asked once why he "played with that n*****?" Goodman didn't miss a beat. "I'll knock you out if you use that word around me again." Fortunately, he didn't have to.

- Zachary Solomon for Jewniverse