Re: (Non music topic, but....) "Native" Yiddish Speaker

[Marvin <physchem...>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Eliott Kahn" <Elkahn (at) JTSA(dot)EDU>
To: "World music from a Jewish slant" <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2001 10:10 AM
Subject: Re: (Non music topic, but....) "Native" Yiddish Speaker


> Thanks Simon. I loved this. Reminds me of the second evening of Ken Burns'
"Jazz," when they relate the story of the Jewish family that had such an
important influence on Louis Armstrong's early life. A little bit of
rakhmones goes a long way.
>
> Eliott K.

In another segment of the series, on the Harlem "stride" piano players, two
explanations were given for Willie "The Lion" Smith's nickname.  According
to the program, Smith sometimes said it meant Lion of Judah (it was
pronounced Judea on the program) because of his attachment to Judaism.  In
that period, there were good relations between the Negro and Jewish
communities.  Quite a few Negroes spoke Yiddish well.  Other minorities did
too, to a lesser extent.  There's the joke about the man who walks into a
kosher deli and finds a Chinaman behind the counter speaking Yiddish, so he
asked the owner where he found a Chinaman who spoke Yiddish.  The reply was,
"He thinks he's learning English."

The latest section got into the big swing bands. I wonder if they'll mention
Bunny Berrigan's klezmer solo on one of Goodman's recordings.


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