Re: More on Jews in R/B and Jerry Ragovoy

[Lori M Simon <lorelecs...>]

Upon scanning the book in question at our lovely local Jewish
art/bookstore, Merkaz, a while ago, I noticed not only the seemingly
random choices of the author of whom to include, but also that in the
first paragraph most of the bios said a variant of "(Ploni Almoni) grew
up in a home that was not very observant."  I wonder if that had
something to do with it.
Lorele

On Tue, 02 Dec 2003 13:34:37 -0600 Alex Lubet <lubet001 (at) umn(dot)edu> 
writes:
> But one must ask, I think, if there is an almost exclusively behind 
> the 
> scenes role throughout popular culture for Jews, when exceptions are 
> all 
> either forthrightly assimilationist or strangely 
> filtered/marginalized, 
> what's truly going on?  Could it be that so few Jews really wanted 
> to be 
> media stars?  Seems to me that's what most American kids want to be 
> at 
> least at some point in their maturing years.  There is a cloak of 
> ineffable 
> otherness on the Jewish role in pop performance that doesn't seem to 
> be 
> going away.
> 
> At 05:23 PM 12/2/2003 +0100, you wrote:
> >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
> >
> >
> 
> Alex Lubet, Ph. D.
> Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music
> Adjunct Professor of American and Jewish Studies
> University of Minnesota
> 100 Ferguson Hall
> Minneapolis, MN 55455
> 612 624-7840 (o)
> 612 699-1097 (h)
> 612 624-8001  ATTN:  Alex Lubet (FAX)
> 
> ---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org 
> ---------------------+
>