Re: African-American musicians and Yiddish/Jewish m.

[Robert Cohen <rlcm17...>]

Slim Gaillard also recorded a delightful and charming jump blues number 
called "Matzo Balls" (on SLIM AND SLAM [Stewart], a Swedish label, 
apparently, recorded in NYC on 10/11/39), w/ lyrics:  "Matzo balls, 
gefilte fish/best ol' dish I ever, ever had/Matzo balls and gefilte 
fish/(it) makes you order up an extra dish/Now you put a little horse 
radish on it (on the side) and make it very mellow/because it really 
knocks you {right on out?}."  A gevalt!--obviously performed with, well, 
relish.  My (I think very knowledgeable) source advises that he indeed 
recorded a song w/ the title, as she remembered or knows it, "Dunkin' 
Bagel--Splat in the Coffee," but neither she nor I have any access to 
that record...Leo Watson recorded Ot Azoi (or, as there spelled, Utt Da 
Zay) (..."sings the tailor...") in the phrase of Yiddish and almost all 
English--as did Cab Calloway, whose recording, I (not very 
knowledgeably) assume, is the more well known.  Watson's is on LEO 
WATSON;  THE SCAT MAN, 1937-1946, on Swingtime; recorded NYC, 8/22/39, 
w/ the song evidently attributed (!) to Buck Ram--I assume the same guy 
who wrote, I think, and/or produced many Platters songs in the 50s--and 
Irving Mills.  Hope this is of interest to those ... for whom it's of 
interest.


>From: "Ingemar Johansson" <hebanon (at) swipnet(dot)se>
>Reply-To: jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org
>To: World music from a Jewish slant. <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
>Subject: SV: African-American musicians and Yiddish
>Date: Fri, 5 Mar 1999 12:23:39 +0100
>
>Somewhere I've read that singer and drummer Leo Watson sometimes 
excelled
>in Yiddish too. Unfortunately I can't find the reference now and I know 
of
>no records proving this (could be some in "The Spirits of Rhythm"
>collection, though), but it sounds plausible as he moved around in the
>circles of Slim Gaillard ("the jive-idiom" of these artists would be 
worth
>a close study, I think).
>
>Ingemar
>
>----------
>> Från: robert wiener <wiener (at) mindspring(dot)com>
>> Till: World music from a Jewish slant. <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
>> Ämne: African-American musicians and Yiddish
>> Datum:  den 5 mars 1999 01:55
>> 
>> I have heard from a reliable source that several African-American
>> musicians (other than Cab Calloway) who grew up in neighborhoods 
where
>> Yiddish was often spoken spoke some Yiddish themselves.  I supoose
>> that this shouldn't be too surprising -- remember our thread on Jimmy
>> Cagney speaking Yiddish in movies?  He mentioned Willie the Lion
>> Smith, Dinah Washington, and Slim Gaillard.  Does anyone know of
>> recordings of these (or other) African-American musicians that 
reflect
>> this cross-cultural phenomenon?
>> 
>> Bob
>> 
>> 
>
>
>


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