More on Jews in R/B and Jerry Ragovoy

[Eva Broman <evbr4965...>]

Hi everyone,

Jewish involvement in R&B and soul music is a fascinating subject, and one 
could of course include jazz and blues as well (though unfortunately they're a 
bit beyond my ken!). I'd love to delve into the issue a bit more later on, but 
right now I'd just like to throw in a few comments, which I hope won't be 
considered too far off-topic. First of all, concerning the "behind-the-scenes" 
role of Jewish song writers, producers etc....I would that that regardless 
whether the recording artist is black or white, pop or soul, the song 
writers/producers etc. (regardless of ethnic origin) usually remain in the 
shadows, so to speak, despite the fact that they are often all-important in 
shaping the sound of the artists. It's also worth noticing that once they 
decide to make records themselves, as Carole King did, they often become quite 
succesful. I don't know if I'm getting my point across here-what I mean is that 
someone like Jerry Ragovoy would probably rather write and produce for R&B 
artists than go out on his own as a singer/songwriter. That's probably the case 
with many others in the record industry as well. That doesn't mean that their 
contribution to the music should not be acknowledged, of course.

Another point is that there are of course many non-Jewish white 
producers/musicians/song writers who have done seminal work, but who are often 
not known to the greater public. I'm thinking of people like Rick Hall in 
Muscle Shoals, Jim Stewart at Stax and other mainly Southern 
producers/musicians/writers, who are responsible for some of the deepest and 
most heartfelt music in R&B and soul history (Aretha, Wilson Pickett etc.). I 
suspect that one reason for this is that we like to think of genres as 
"pure"....you know, "black" music is regarded as created, played, sung by black 
people, whereas white "country" music (to take one example) is considered "lily 
white"...which is quite far from the truth. There seems to have been a lot of 
mixing and cross-fertilization between styles that has not really been fully 
acknowledged so far.

Seth R wrote:

Jerry
Ragovoy is a first cousin -- his father and my grandfather were brothers
who, after they immigrated to the U.S. from Odessa by way of Hungary,
spelled their Russian names slightly differently. p.p.s. Jerry's =
grandfather
was a chazan. p.p.p.s. Jerry worked in a record store in a black
neighborhood of Philadelphia as a teenager and soaked in the music =
during
that time. the result, as we now know, includes "A Piece of My Heart" =
(Janis
Joplin), "Time Is On My Side" (Irma Thomas, the Rolling Stones), pretty =
much
Howard Tate's entire oeuvre (including his terrific new comeback CD) and
tons of other r&b hits. -- 

Jerry Ragovoy is one of my musical heroes! I love his work with Howard Tate, 
Lorraine Ellison ("Stay With Me Baby") and others, and I had the immense 
pleasure of seeing him and Howard Tate on their European tour and of getting my 
copy of their Verve recordings signed. Howard was in wonderful voice and his 
singing (as well as his life story, of course) was so moving that some in the 
audience were actually crying during his performance ("I Learned It All The 
Hard Way" should be his signature tune).....people who'd been waiting for some 
30 years to see him perform! Sorry, about the gushing, but I just can't believe 
that I'm talking to a relative of Jerry R.

Have to stop here and apologies for the O.T.

Eva