The Jewish Telegraph
Transcription
The Jewish Telegraph
24 JEWISH TELEGRAPH Friday January 22, 2010 CONTACT MIKE COHEN ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT Grant helped to send Mike to USA on the trail of jazz legends T BY SIMON YAFFE HE cool, uplifting world of jazz has inspired and attracted many Jewish musicians. From Artie Shaw to Pete Sokolow to Stan Levey, Jews have made important forays into jazz. “In its early years, jazz attracted ethnic minorities in America, such as Jews, blacks, Italians and the Irish — it never attracted WASPS,” Mike Gerber, author of Jazz Jews, told the Jewish Telegraph. In the book, Mike concentrates on the performers and writers and explores the role of Jews in breaking the colour bar in American jazz. He also debates whether there is such a thing as Jewish jazz. Freelance journalist Mike, of Walthamstow, east London, decided to write the book after being approached to submit an article on Jewish jazz for the Jewish Socialist magazine. Mike recalled: “I knew that a company called Five Leaves had published a book called Rock ‘n’ Roll Jews. “I wanted to delve more into Jews and jazz, so I approached them and asked if they fancied doing a follow-up.” He subsequently received a grant from the Jewish Music Institute at London’s School of African and Oriental Studies in 2002 and went to America to search out the legendary Jewish stars of jazz. Mike’s interest in jazz began at a young age. He remembered: “My dad had a 78 rpm record of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue — you had to turn it over to hear the rest of the song. “This was in the 1960s and I was a big fan of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks and The Animals. “But Gershwin’s sound was like nothing I had heard before — it was quasi-classical in a GERSHWIN FAN: Mike Gerber way, just totally different.” Mike recalls watching a performance by the American jazz drummer and bandleader Buddy Rich at a Royal Variety Performance in the 1970s. He continued: “It was one of the best performances I have ever watched. “I also went to see Sonny Rollins, McCoy Tyner, Muddy Waters and Dizzy Gillespie when they were in London. Born and brought up in Kilburn, north London, he was barmitzvah in 1966, just after the World Cup. And his barmitzvah at the local synagogue was the second one there. “It had been burned down, probably by neo-Nazis, and then restored,” Mike explained. The 56-year-old did not get into journalism until he was in his 30s. He said: “I had a string of dead-end, low-paid jobs, such as working in a textile factory and in a warehouse. “There came a point where it became so boring and I was just not getting any job satisfaction at all. Mike decided to do a degree in history with Spanish at BRUSQUE: Jazz legend Artie Shaw Middlesex Polytechnic and then applied to do a post-graduate course in journalism from the London College of Printing. “It was a tough course to get on to and tough to do,” he continued. Mike spent time writing for a range of periodicals, including the National Union of Railwaymen’s magazine, London magazine City Limits, The Guardian, The Financial Times and The Observer. He also wrote music features for Channel 4’s website and various folk and roots’ magazines. “It was all part of my music development,” Mike observed. His venture into jazz started in 2002. The lifelong Tottenham Hotspur fan used to frequent the legendary Ronnie Scott’s jazz club in London, He phoned Jim Godbold, editor of the club’s magazine and told him he wanted talk about Jews in jazz. “That conversation lasted half-a-minute, he just was not interested,” Mike recalled. Amazingly, however, a friend later phoned Mike who told him that Godbold had written an editorial on Jews and jazz and had even alluded to their phone call. Mike said: “I was not annoyed, I actually mention the story in the preface to my book.” His research for the book and subsequent trip to America led to him tracking down the renowned jazz clarinettist, composer and bandleader Artie Shaw, who he went to see at his home in Thousand Oaks, California. Shaw, born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky, died in 2004, and the interview he gave to Mike for the book was one of his last. Mike said: “He was quite brusque and prickly, but highly intelligent. “I knew he was not sympathetic to what I was writing, he said it did not make a difference to him when he was hiring people for his band what religion or ethnicity they were. “He was actually opposed to the premise of my book, but we spoke and it remains my proudest interview.” Mike also interviewed Pete Sokolow, Barbara Carroll, Terry Gibbs and Stan Levey among others. He found that many Jews in jazz were inspired by the Talmudic songs and prayers they heard recited by the chazanim in synagogues when they were young. He said: “I am still researching the subject in my spare time. “My passion for it has just grown and grown.” ■ Jazz Jews is published by Five Leaves, priced £24.99. [email protected] Tel: 0161 741 2637 MAD ABOUT AWARD: From left, January Jones, Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner, Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, Christina Hendricks and Vincent Kartheiser celebrate their Golden Globe award ‘Jew Hunter’ waltzes away with a Globe AUSTRIAN actor Christoph Waltz picked up yet another award on Sunday night for his portrayal as Hans Landa, the Jew Hunter, in Quentin Tarantino’s hit flick Inglourious Basterds. Waltz won best supporting actor at the prestigious Golden Globes, held on Sunday in Los Angeles. He has already won more than 15 awards for the role set during the Second World War. The Hangover, directed and produced by Todd Phillips and Daniel Goldberg, won best film (musical or comedy). Mad Men, created by Matthew Weiner, won best series (drama), while Julianna Margulies picked up best actress (drama) for her role as Alicia Florrick in the legal drama The Good Wife. It will be screened on Channel 4 from Monday (10pm). James Cameron’s epic Avatar swept the board, at the expense of Inglourious Basterds and Quentin Tarantino. Daniel Day-Lewis (Nine), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (500 Days of Summer) and Michael Stuhlbarg (A Serious Man) lost out to Robert Downey Jr in the best actor (musical or comedy) category. Anna Paquin missed out on a best actress award for her role in The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler. Sendler saved 2,500 Jewish children by smuggling them out of the Warsaw Ghetto. Composer Marvin Hamlisch music for The Informant was beaten to best original score by Michael Giacchino for Up. Entourage’s Jeremy Piven and The Closer’s Kyra Sedgwick also missed out on awards. WINNER: Christoph Waltz PREPARE TO BE HUNGOVER: The Hangover won the award for best motion picture, comedy or musical. Pictured, from left, Ed Helms Justin Bartha, director Todd Phillips, Heather Graham, Bradley Cooper and Mike Tyson