[Dixielandjazz] Re: Jews in jazz

[Don Mopsick]

More important than who was or was not Jewish in jazz is what music in
jazz is specifically Jewish.

1. "Palesteena" was composed in 1920 by Con Conrad & J. Russell
Robinson, who I'm guessing were not Jewish. However, the melodic line of
the last 4 bars of the chorus with the lyric "She was fat but she got
leaner, Leaning on her concertina" comprise a Jewish or klezmer scale.
You could also say it's an Arabic scale but the composers would have
been more familiar with Jews than Arabs in 1920. The tune was recorded
by the ODJB and famously by the Bob Crosby Bob Cats. We played it just
last night at the Landing.

2. Everyone knows that "And the Angels Sing" is a klezmer "freylakh"
(Yiddish word translating literally as "joyous" or "happy"). By the way,
"klezmer" and its plural "klezmorim" translate from Yiddish as
"musician(s)." Goodman and Elman recorded other klezmer examples.

3. Irving Berlin (Izzy Beilin) wrote "Russian Lullaby" which we also do
in the JCJB at the Landing. The melody is only vaguely Jewish, but more
purely Russian--the shape of the melody is very reminiscent of
Tchaikowsky's opening theme from "Swan Lake." But I know of no other
Berlin hit song that is even vaguely Jewish. In fact, remember that
Berlin wrote "White Christmas" and "Easter Parade."

4. "My Heart Belongs to Daddy" by non-Jew Cole Porter contains a very
Jewish section in the major-key second strain. This was a conscious
choice by Porter when he wrote it, according to the biographies. He
wanted to include Jewish music in his songs because none of the other,
Jewish songwriters did.

There's a point to be made here: 

Yes, there were lots and lots of Jews active during the Golden Age
between the wars who were either hard-core jazz players, bandleaders, or
important composers/songwriters. In fact, in terms of songwriters one
has to think hard to come up with the non-Jewish exceptions like Cole
Porter and Hoagy. And Jews were also heavily involved in every other
aspect of the entertainment industry, especially Hollywood movie
studios. 

So then, why are there NOT more Jewish themes in films, songs, and
particularly pre-war jazz? The above examples are the only obvious four
that come to my mind. It is the ABSENCE of overt Jewish-ness in Classic
American culture of the Golden Age that jumps out at you. 

The answer is that Jews of that era were very anxious to blend in the
American mainstream. With memories of brutal pogroms in Eastern Europe
fresh in their cultural consciousness, the last thing a Jew in the
entertainment business wanted to call attention to was his ethnic
identity. I can personally testify that Jews of my parents' generation
whose parents were born in the "old country" wanted very much to
assimilate, to appear just as American as other ethnic groups who had
emigrated earlier like the Irish, for example.

The fact that Goodman was able to counter this pressure to assimilate is
a testament to his grit and his sheer star power at the time, and also
perhaps to the "democratization" power that jazz had as a part of its
rebelliousness. I'm sure that Goodman's klezmer recordings pissed off
the bobby soxers' parents just as much as the African-American quality
of the music did (not to mention that Goodman insisted on using Teddy
and Hamp in public performances). 

This theme has been written about in a book and public TV documentary on
American Jews' contribution to American culture, author and title
escapes me at the moment (perhaps one of you can come up with the info
for our readers).

This is why Louis B. Mayer, ruler of MGM, banned the production of films
on Jewish themes during the '30s. The author wrote that Mayer wanted to
avoid at all costs the "Cossaks once again riding into town on horseback
to burn the shtetl down." And, famously, this was the reason for the
establishment of the Black List in the 1950s, an attempt by Mayer and
other Jewish studio heads to stave off McCarthy raising the old bugaboo
of Jews being or sympathizing with Communists, which guys of Mayer's
generation feared might have effectively merged red-baiting with "good
old-fashioned anti-semitism" (a phrase in use during the Third Reich).  

And Hollywood was so very important to songwriting after the invention
of talkies. Guys like Gershwin and Arlen were in effect a part of the
Hollywood machinery after a certain point. 

Don Mopsick, Riverwalk Webmaster