Re: David Krakauer

[Fred Jacobowitz <fredj...>]

Seth,
        Nice article. Thanks for the attempt to explain Klezmer in a 
serious, non-patronizing fashion. Unfortunately, you made a few quite large 
mistakes which you should know about:

> WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., Aug. 22, 1996 --Klezmer is typically 
> regarded as an Eastern European-derived, Jewish party music from 
> the 19th and early 20th-century,
        This should read: "...from the early 18th C. to today." It has not 
stopped 
being Jewish Party muscic. It is not a museum exhibit. It is alive and 
kicking.

> played by traveling musicians 
        Wrong again: contrary to popular myth Klezmorim were not gypsies. They 
lived in towns and "worked the area", just as we do today. Most of my 
band's playing is within a one-hour drive from my house. About the same 
travel time  (or even LESS) than way back when.

> at weddings and other joyful occasions and featuring fiddle, 
> clarinet, accordion and horns. For the most part, klezmer has 
> remained an ethnic music, only occasionally surfacing in more 
> popular arenas, most notably in the klezmer-like opening bars of 
> George Gershwin's "Rhapsody In Blue,"
        Pardon Me??!!!! That's ***JAZZ*** that Gershwin used, not a Klezmer 
lick. 
The story is well-known: Paul Whiteman's orchestra had a clarinetist who 
was a Jazzer...

> in the klezmer-like tones 
> of jazz clarinetists Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw and Ziggy Elman, 
        Let's put this bubbeh Meisse (grandmother's tale) to rest once 
and for all, please: Benny Goodman ***NEVER!!!!**** played Klezmer. Anyone 
who can prove 
otherwise (I haven't even ever heard any anecdotal evidence to bear this 
out) sure hasn't surfaced in the last twenty years. There is no recorded 
evidence of Artie Shaw playing it either. There IS a recording of him 
doing one tune trying to put Romainian and Russian melodies (not 
particularly Jewish melodies at that) into a pastiche. It sounds 
extremely hokey and contrived and DEFINITELY not seriously done. As for 
Ziggy, when he played Jazz, it was Jazz. No Klezmer sounds. It's like 
being bilingual. I you speak French and Spanish well, you don't clutter 
up one with the other's accent, expressions, idioms, etc. 

        Everything else in the article seems fine to me. However, you 
mention that David Krakauer is the 'FORMER' clarinetist with the 
Klezmatics. When did he leave them? I haven't heard anything about this 
and in the small fraternity of Klezmorim, one usually hears these things.
        Thanks for letting me bend your ear and hopefully set the world 
straight on a few points of cultural literacy.

Fred Jacobowitz
Clarinet/Sax Instructor at Peabody Preparatory in Baltimore and
Machaya Klezmer Band in the Washington, DC/Baltimore area