Re: David Krakauer

[Seth Rogovoy <rogovoy...>]

Fred: I've been away for almost a week, and just now had a chance to see 
your reply to my article.

I respect your opinions, however I beg to differ with your differences 
with my article, as follows:

On Sun, 18 Aug 1996, Fred Jacobowitz wrote:

> 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.

No, you didn't read my sentence. I wrote that klezmer is "typically 
regarded..." as such. In that, I am right. I wasn't saying it stopped 
being such, or that it isn't alive and kicking. Anyone could have seen 
that from the context of my article. I was setting up the misconception 
of Klezmer in order to knock it down.

> 
> > 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.
> 

Again, I wasn't saying anything about what klezmer musicians do today. As 
far as whether they used to travel, that is a matter of some debate, but 
I have plenty of sources that back up what I wrote.

> > 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. 

Again, it seems you have willfully misread what I wrote. By this point, 
I'm beginning to wonder why you do so. I specifically said "klezmer-like 
tones of JAZZ clarinetists." Nowhere did I call these guys klezmer 
musicians or say they ever played klezmer.  Plenty of people have heard 
and written about those opening notes of Gershwin's and heard the 
influence of klezmer in the music, as they have heard the influence of 
klezmer in Artie Shaw's and Ziggy Elman's playing. It's like the 
cantorial influence on Bob Dylan's singing. That doesn't meann that Dylan 
ever was a cantor or wrote cantorial music. It DOES mean that obviously, 
through first-hand experience or second hand or some sort or from hearing 
his grandfather sing at a seder, whatevver, Dylan absorbed Jewish 
liturgical singing.  I don't understand why you willfully misrepresent 
what I wrote in order to prove that I'm wrong about something I didn't 
say. It sounds to me like you have a chip on your shoulder.

> 
>       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.

Well, maybe you're not as well tuned in as you thought you were. Simply, 
I asked Krakauer if he was still a member of the Klezmatics, and he said 
he wasn't. Period. 

>       Thanks for letting me bend your ear and hopefully set the world 
> straight on a few points of cultural literacy.

The bending the ear part is fine, i set myself up for that by posting my 
article. As for cultural literacy, I respectfully urge a more careful 
reading of a text before jumping on it to find fault with it, when the 
only fault lies in the reader's purposeful misconstructions of the text.

*****************************************
Seth Rogovoy                        
rogovoy (at) berkshire(dot)net
http://www.berkshireweb.com/rogovoy
music news, interviews, reviews, et al.
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