[Dixielandjazz] Jazz Funerals

[tcashwigg at aol.com]

Now Elazar my good friend,  you of all listmates should have already 
figured this one out, it is only a matter of marketing strategies,  I 
shall henceforth provide you with the where with all to go Ye forth and 
seek the gigs.

In the time honored traditions go to all the Jewish funeral directors 
and get them to sell a PRE-NEED Policy to their clients and as soon as 
the person gets Sick, call you the Band leader and have you come out 
and start the party and celebrate his life as fast as you can before he 
expires.   A Big selling point here is that he will be able to attend 
his own home going party for several days or months before passing on 
to the other side. :))     Since they are not yet dead you are not 
breaking any religious laws or customs, and the family has the entire 
year to not listen to any music after the final moment.  :))

P.S. get paid in advance from the Funeral home and not with a post 
dated check from the dying guy either.  :))

Cheers,

Rabbi Wigginstien   aka "Doubting Thomas"

-----Original Message-----
From: Elazar Brandt <jazzmin at actcom.net.il>
To: dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com
Sent: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 00:58:14 +0200
Subject: RE: [Dixielandjazz] Jazz Funerals

   An interesting thread. Here's a twist...

My group here in Jerusalem has had some discussion of jazz funerals, 
partly
academic because that's the background of some of the music, and partly 
because
one or another of us or our customers fleetingly mentioned that we 
might want to
go out that way when the time comes.

The problem: Jewish mourners are forbidden -- not sure if it's by 
custom or
actual religious law -- to listen to music for up to a year after the 
death of a
loved one. The year applies to immediate family. I believe there are 
shorter
periods like 1 week or 1 month for more distant relatives and friends. 
I know
active musicians who put down their axes for the full year, stopped 
coming to
any musical events, when a parent or sibling has passed on. I think 
arguably if
you make your living as a musician, you are allowed to play for your 
livelihood,
but not casually. (Now there are carefully reasoned and time-honored 
reasons for
this, so if you don't agree, at least respect it. It's not just a 
kill-joy
thing.)

My question to the list: Has anyone had experience with doing a jazz 
funeral for
a religious Jewish family? Based on the funerals I've been to in 
Jerusalem, I
think the sight of a band of any kind -- never mind a jazz band -- at a 
cemetery
would be inconceivable, even if not expressly forbidden. In Israel. I 
think all
the Jewish cemeteries are under the authority of Jewish religious law, 
so even
if the deceased or his family are not religious, doing it the old 
fashioned way
is the only option. This is probably not the case anywhere else in the 
world.

What we've done here in the past when a couple of our beloved folk 
musos have
passed on is to hold a memorial service a month after the death, in 
which
friends and colleagues play songs and tell stories that evoke memories 
of the
deceased. The boldest case I know of was a fellow I never met, but knew 
by
reputation. I went to a concert in which he was to be featured one 
night, only
to find that he had died of a heart attack earlier that day. He was 
emphatically
not religious, lived a raucous life and apparently died the same way. 
His family
and friends turned the concert into a celebration of his life on the 
very day he
died. This is someone who, if he wanted to do a jazz funeral parade, 
might have
gone for it. But that was not his style.

The best I can fathom for here in Israel would be to do a parade from 
somewhere
outside the synagogue, maybe a few blocks away, to somewhere near the 
cemetery.
I seriously doubt if a band would be permitted inside on either end.

Anyone have experience or know anything that might shed light on this 
question.
Maybe I'll be the first to plant the New Orleans tradition in Jerusalem 
-- not
too soon, I hope!

Elazar
Doctor Jazz Dixieland Band
Tekiya Trumpet/Brass Ensemble
Jerusalem, Israel
<www.israel.net/ministry-of-jazz>
Tel: +972-2-679-2537

P.S. I'm not worried about the song list. Some gospel tunes work, 
others don't,
for obvious reasons. But there is no shortage of appropriate songs.




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