Re: two blues jews

[George Robinson <GRComm...>]

Was Paul Butterfield Jewish?
Certainly Mark Naftalin must have been (PB's first pianist). 

Also
Doc Pomus (definitely) 
Blues harpist Steve Cohen (plays with fellow harpist Jim Liban)
Houston-based blues bassist Guy D. "Bluesguy" Schwartz

Bob margolin? (was Muddy Waters' guitarist for many years)
Ann Rabson? (co-founder of Saffire -- the Uppity Blues Women)
J Geils?
Peter Wolf?




Meantime, as far as Siegel-Schwall goes, this is (excerpted) from the
entertaining on-line Blues'zine, Blues Bytes
(http://www.bluenight.com/BluesBytes/):

The Siegel-Schwall Band were never as great, as innovative, as
serious in their study of the blues, as that other mid-60s Chicago white
blues band, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band. 

(snip)

Still, for a time, this low-volume four-piece band played a major role
in the discovery of the blues by the hippie/college crowd. Furthermore,
even though they are now largely forgotten (especially when compared
to       Butterfield and his acolytes, Michael Bloomfield and Elvin
Bishop),       co-leaders Corky Siegel and Jim Schwall were every bit as
honest and enthusiastic in their approach, and just as genuinely in love
with the masters, especially Howlin' Wolf. The Complete Vanguard
Recordings & More! (Vanguard Records) is a three-CD package that
collects in their entirety the band's first four albums for Vanguard,
plus
six previously unreleased tracks. The first couple of these, including a
cover of Howlin' Wolf's "Howlin' for my Darling," were recorded (under
the name Corky Siegel and Jim Schwall Two-Man Blues Band) as
demo tracks in 1965, within a year of their discovering the blues!
Within a year, they were discovered by Sam Charters, no less

[snip}

They sounded VERY white but didn't rock enough, they weren't great
singers, and, well, they never really could pull off a slow blues
without making it sound kind of boring. After the release of the
slightly "more electric" and definitely more experimental (and partly
live) Siegel-Schwall 70, produced by Bill Trout, they moved to the RCA
imprint Wooden Nickel, where they released five more albums, before
splitting and going in different directions. (Corky Siegel has been
involved with his Chamber Blues project, fusing classical music and the
blues, while Jim Schwall now teaches music).
                                                --- Benoît Brière 


Now, what i want to see is a list of great Jewish country singers -- and
don't say Kinky Friedman. (Hey, is Joe Goldmark, a terrific pedal-steel
player, MOT?)

George (I'm as country as any Jew in Washington Heights!) Robinson

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