Kosher Jammers: Jewish Connections In Jazz

Kosher Jammers: Jewish Connections In Jazz Volume 1: The USA
Mike Gerber
406 pages
ISBN: 979-8-224-74480-0
Vinyl Vanguard
2024

Jews have been so intimately, influentially and copiously involved in the story of jazz that every person's list of ten favourite musicians is almost certain to include one Jewish player, and probably more than one. Yet until 2010, when London-based writer Mike Gerber's Jazz Jews (Five Leaves Publications) was published, there was no book devoted to identifying Jewish connections in the music. Jazz Jews, which had been ten years in the making, ran to 654 pages and there were over 7,000 names in the index, which gives an indication of its scope and depth of detail. Nat Hentoff said of the book that it was "more comprehensive than I ever imagined possible," adding "The writing is not academic; rather, it grooves."

Gerber has since expanded Jazz Jews, adding newly researched material, and retitling it Kosher Jammers. To make the new edition's physical bulk more manageable, he has divided it into two volumes. Volume 1: The USA, the subject of this review, and an upcoming Volume 2, which will cover the rest of the world.

Volume 1: The USA chronicles Jewish involvement in the development of jazz from its beginnings through to the new millennium, its fifteen chapters taking in the cornerstone styles, the musicians involved, the composers of the Great American Songbook, the enablers and facilitators, producers and club owners, the role of women, and more. Along the way there is a feast of off-piste takeaways. It is not widely known, for instance, that throughout his life Louis Armstrong wore a Star of David on a chain round his neck, as a remembrance of the Jewish family in New Orleans who took care of him during his early teens. And how many people know that stride pianist Willie "The Lion" Smith considered himself Jewish (his business cards were printed in Hebrew) and that "The Lion" part of his name referred to the Lion Of Judah? There are many more fascinating tidbits along these lines.

The book also addresses weighty questions. Perhaps the most important of these asks to what extent, if any, does a musician's, or a composer's, Jewishness impact on the way they play jazz, or write songs. Gerber's interviewees come down on the subject variously. Some, like the saxophonist and label owner John Zorn, are certain that klezmer and the cantorial tradition are audible Jewish retentions in some Jewish musicians' jazz. Others are adamant that Jewish ethnicity and cultural traditions are not involved. Some, including Artie Shaw, in what was possibly his final interview, are unable to make up their minds. At times Shaw, in a lengthy interview, denies ethnicity has anything to do with it, at other times he implies that it does. Gerber presents the opinions and proffered evidence of both sides and leaves it to each reader to make up their own mind.

The book's many interviews—conducted in person in the USA, on the phone and by email—add considerably to the success of the book, which also draws on a wealth of published sources.

It would take more than a book even as chunky as Kosher Jammers to cover every person who has contributed to the totality of Jewish connections in jazz. Inevitably, there are some omissions. These include the late Bernie Brightman, who was a dope smoking regular at New York's Savoy Ballroom in the 1940s and who later founded Stash Records, launching its extensive catalogue with Reefer Songs in 1975. Brightman's accessible interviews throw valuable light on the personal and societal relationships between Jewish and African American jazz enthusiasts in the 1940s and early 1950s. Another omission is the new millennial proliferation of US-based Israeli musicians, such as the great tenor saxophonist Oded Tzur. Gerber says he will be covering this in Volume 2.

Bottom line: a scholarly, valuable and accessible addition to our bookshelves.