I was listening to my local public radio station while I was driving to work the other day. Roger Bennett, co-author of And You Shall Know Us By the Trail of Our Vinyl, was talking with Marco Werman about his attempt to save decades of American Jewish music from obscurity.

We, at the JSA, are very proud of our participation in helping Roger and his co-auther, Josh Kun to find materials that eventually found its way into their wonderful book.

Even though he didn’t mention us by name, we knew who Roger was talking about when he mentioned visiting Boca Raton, Florida, “where old Jewish vinyl goes to die.” When JSA Director, Nathan Tinanoff listened to the interview he told me, “He got that wrong! The JSA isn’t where old Jewish vinyl goes to die.  It is where it goes to be reborn!”

The book is a wonderful compendium of stories, information, photos, and album covers from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.

Josh Kun, Associate Professor of communication and journalism at USC Annenberg School for Communication and the author of Audiotopia: Music, Race, and   America, which won a 2006 American Book Award, co-authored the book with Roger Bennett who also co-authored Bar Mitzvah Disco.

The authors write about how they “encountered the Judaica Sound Archives of Florida Atlantic University, where Nathan Tinanoff and his devoted staff generously opened their collection to us.”  And where they found “thousands of LPs, shelf after shelf filled with dsicarded cardboard and vinyl that we gushed over like scientists marveling at new speciments” (p.17).

Looking through the book is an education and a trip down memory lane. From Steisand to Bagels and Bongos by the Irving Fields Trio, from Molly Pecon to the Four Bursteins, from Neil Sedaka to Theodore Bikel, the names and images pop off the pages.

The following JSA featured performers are highlighted in the book: Cantor Yossele Rosenblatt, Oysher-Michaels Family, Benny Bell , The 4 Bursteins, Gladys Gewirtz, Shimon & Ilana Gewirtz, Gadi Elon.

A friend of mine who loves the book told me that when she goes on the JSA website it is like the “book comes to life” right on her computer. I can’t think of a nicer compliment.

You might think that Adam Sandler has the last word when it comes to Chanuka songs.  But you would be wrong! The Judaica Sound Archives has hundreds of Chanukah songs that your whole family can enjoy. This year’s Chanukah Mix highlights 17 songs by some of our favorite JSA performers.

You might also enjoy these holiday albums:

Chanukah Favorites – Judy Caplan Ginsburgh

Chanukah Festival of Songs – Sidor Belarsky

Chanukah is Freylekh! – Lori Cahan Simon

Chanukah Melodies – Honore Singer

Chanukah Songs For Children – Shimon & ilana Gewirtz

Hanukkah Sing-A-Long

Hanukkah Sing-A-Long II

Hanukkah Sing-A-Long III

Hanukkah The Feast of Lights – Emanuel Rosenberg

Happy Channukah! – Fran Avni

Isaac Goodfriend Sings Hanukka Songs – Isaac Goodfriend

Kinder Songs – Holiday Songs for the Entire Family – Deborah Katchko-Gray

Latkes and Hamentashen – Fran Avni

Make a Chanukah Miracle – Cantor Benjamin Maissner

Mother Goose Rhymes for Chanukah – Honore Singer

The Chanukah Collection – Safam

The Chanukah Party – Fred Vogel (Narration), Jesse Silverstein (Songs)

The name of Cantor Moshe Koussevitzky can be placed alongside Cantor Yossele Rosenblatt, Cantor Gerson Sirota, and Cantor Zawel Kwartin — the most honored names from the Golden Age of Cantorial music. The JSA’s online selection of recordings by Cantor Moshe Koussevitzky contains 13 albums from the JSA’s Collectors Guild and Famous record label collections, a total of 100 separate song tracks.

Moshe Koussevitzky was born into a family of cantors and so his vocal gifts were not overlooked, even at an early age. Born in 1899 in Belarus, he was a teeneager when WW I began. The Koussevitzky family relocated to Russia where his cantorial studies continued. By 1925 he could be heard in the Great Synagogue of Vilna, Poland. And in 1928 Koussevitzky was awarded the position vacated by the renowned great Cantor Gerson Sirota at the Tlomacki Synagogue of Warsaw.

According to Benedict Stambler, founder of Collectors Guild records, it was in Warsaw that Koussevitzky’s “voice reached its full power and brilliance.” His popularity spread as he performed throughout Europe and Palestine in the 1930s.

Trapped in Poland during WWII Koussevitzky was rescued by members of the Polish underground and brought to Russia. There he was reunited with his family soon afterward. After the German retreat he became the principal tenor in the Tiflis National Opera Company in Georgia. The four Koussevitzky brothers were all exceptional cantors. Moshe, David, Jacob and Simcha reunited in London in 1946 to give a stirring farewell appearance at the Royal Albert Hall before an audience of thousands.

The JSA’s online collection of Koussevitzky recordings encompasses the full career of this great cantor, from his early recordings to his later works. Of special interest is his recording of Sheyiboneh Beys Hamikdosh which allows the cantor’s full range of talents to be heard.

 

You might be able to imagine the excitement that is generated at the Judaica Sound Archives whenever we uncover a genuine piece of history. Today I will share with you three 78 rpm albums from the Jack Saul Collection which have sitirred up some nostalgia here at the JSA.

(1)  Fanny Brice starred in the Ziegfeld Follies in the 1920s and 1930s. A pioneer female comic, she was one of the most popular Jewish entertainers of her day. And her fame became even greater when Barbra Streisand played the starring role in Brice’s life story, “Funny Girl” (1968). From 1938 until her death in 1951 Brice had an incredibly successful radio show based on just one character, Baby Snooks, a precocious, bratty toddler. This album of three double-sided 78 rpm recordings was produced in 1949 on the Capitol Records label.

[audio:http://rsa.fau.edu/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Good-And-Bad-Snippet.mp3]

Click here to play a non-downloading snippet from this album.

(2)  Born in Brooklyn, NY as Moishe Miller Robert Merrill became one of the Metropolitan Opera’s most enduring and acclaimed baritones. He was also a famous baseball fan who often sang the National Anthem on opening day at Yankee Stadium.

In 1948 he recorded Brooklyn Baseball Cantata about an imagined World Series game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Yankees. Unlike the real world where the Dodgers consistently blew their chances, in this imaginary game the Dodgers were the winners! Fantasy became reality in 1955 when the Brooklyn Dodgers did actually beat the NY Yankees to win the World Series for the first and only time. This album of two double-sided 78 rpm recordings was produced on the RCA Victor Red Seal label. The sheet music, produced by Mills Music, which originally sold for $1.25 is included.

[audio:http://rsa.fau.edu/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Baseball-Cantata-Snippet.mp3]

Click here to play a non-downloading snippet from this album.

(3)  Paul Whiteman secured his place in history in 1924 when he commissioned and introduced George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Irving Berlin has been called “the greatest of American popular composers.” Born in Russia (1888), the family left for America when their home was burned to the ground. So it was in a crowded tenenment on Cherry Street in New York’s lower East Side that Irving Berlin (born Baline) grew up. His first big hit came in 1911 (Alexander’s Ragtime Band). He has written more than a thousand popular songs. During World War I his song, Oh, How I Hate To Get up In The Morning, became an anthem for the ordinary foot soldier.

The song became the band’s signature tune. Produced on the Decca label in 1939, Volume 1 of this collection of George Gershwin’s  most popular tunes consists of five double-sided 78 rpm recordings and includes: All Alone, Remember, Easter Parade, and How Deep Is The Ocean. Volume 2, also consisting of five double-sided 78 rpm recordings includes: Alexander’s Ragtime Band, What’ll I Do, Blue Skies,  and A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody.

[audio:http://rsa.fau.edu/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/All-Alone-Snippet.mp3]

Click here to play a non-downloading snippet from this album.

PLEASE NOTE: In accordance with US Copyright Laws these recordings are NOT featured on the JSA website (www.fau.edu/jsa). For further information about these or other recordings in the Jack Saul Collection, please contact the Judaica Sound Archives at Florida Atlantic University Libraries (561-297-0080).

Our work at the JSA involves working in our offices for hours and hours on computers. Nathan Tinanoff is always busy entering information about newly acquired recordings into the database and I spend my time writing this blog and creating all the public relations materials for the JSA. So we were more than happy to take a break two Fridays ago to visit a good friend.

Cantor Udi Spielman of B’nai Torah Congregation (6261 SW 18^th Street, Boca Raton, FL) asked us to stop by for a visit.  He said that he wanted to give us something.

What he wanted to give us were some copies of his new CD as gifts and to share on the JSA Website. He has been a JSA featured performer since January, 2008.

This newest CD is truly special. Recorded live at B’nai Torah Congregation in March 2009, it features the Cantor and his wife Varda singing songs of the High Holy Days written especially for the occasion by their dear friend Cantor Meir Finkelstein.

Their beautiful rendition of L’dor Vador has special meaning for the JSA. This song, more than any other, encapsulates the idea of heritage and knowledge being passed from “generation to generation.” This concept inspires us and motivates us to work tirelessly to preserve the Jewish heritage of recorded sound. To listen to the CD, click here.

It is always a delight to meet with Cantor Spielman because he is so full of ideas and enthusiasm. He helps the JSA by reaching out to other cantors and performers, encouraging them to share their music through the JSA website.

He also wanted to tell us about the exciting new Concert Series at B’nai Torah. This year Debbie Friedman, a favorite of my children and now my grandchildren, will be appearing.  Also on the program is Shuly Nathan who will always be remembered for her amazing rendition of “Jerusalem of Gold,” Cantor Alberto Mizrahi, Joshua Nelson, Frank London, and others.

Although these artists are not yet JSA featured performers we can always live in hope.

Have you ever opened a surprise box not knowing what you might find? That is what has been going on at the JSA since the truckload of recordings from Jack Saul’s collection arrived on September 11, 2009. So you might be wondering, “Did you find anything interesting or unusual?” Of course we did!

JSA volunteers and staff have been busy for the past three weeks unpacking recordings, sorting them, and entering information into the JSA database. After three weeks this is what has been accomplished.

(1)  Total progress: About 20 % of the Jack Saul donation of recordings to the JSA has been processed so far.

(2)  Processing of 78rpm recordings: 926 recordings were completely processed.  This means they have been unpacked and checked against the database. Of these, 213 recordings were found to be new to the collection. Information about each of these recordings has been entered into the JSA database.

(3)  Processing of albums: 2096 recordings (LPs, CDs, and tapes) were completely processed (unpacked and checked against the database). Of these, 366 recordings were found to be new to the collection. Information about each of these recordings has been entered into the JSA database.

(4)  Unusual or interesting items of note:

[audio:http://rsa.fau.edu/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Raisins-and-Almonds.mp3]

Click here to play a non-downloading snippet from this album.

Golden Slumbers is a book of lullabies from around the world published in 1956 by Book-Records. This “Soundbook” contains 16 lullabies, 8 on each side of a 10 inch LP phonograph record , including the beautiful Yiddish song Rojinkes mit Mandlen. The book describes the history of lullabies and provides sheet music and lyrics as well as a High Fidelity sound recordings of all the songs. The book’s editor, Sidney Reisberg writes, “Although “Raisins and Almonds” was originally composed for an opera, it appears to be based on some older folk-tunes.  In any event, it has since become absorbed into the folk tradition and idiom.”

The JSA has many recordings by the amazing Sophie Tucker.  But this one is special indeed! This Decca album, recorded in 1945, contains three 78 rpm recordings (six songs) and was personally autographed by Sophie Tucker in November 1948 at the Latin Quarter in New York City.

 

 

 

 

PLEASE NOTE: In accordance with US Copyright Laws these recordings are NOT featured on the JSA website (rsa.fau.edu/judaic). For further information about these or other recordings in the Jack Saul Collection, please contact the Judaica Sound Archives at Florida Atlantic University Libraries (561-297-0080).

 

In today’s blog the JSA thanks and honors two great friends: Louis and Rouhama Danto. If you are one of the people who have been impressed and amazed by the incredible collection of recordings that the Judaica Sound Archives has received from the estate of the late Jack Saul, you might be wondering, “How did Jack Saul know about the JSA?”

Good question. And the answer is: Cantor and Mrs. Danto.

The JSA became acquainted with Cantor and Mrs. Danto about three years ago. They were known to JSA’s sound archivist Ben Roth-Aroni as friends of his mother and father, Cantor Zvee Aroni. The couple lives in Toronto, Canada and Ben urged them to visit the Judaica Sound Archives on their next visit to South Florida. On February 20, 2006 the JSA staff had the opportunity to meet this remarkable couple.

They were immediately impressed by what they saw and what the JSA was trying to accomplish. At the time, the JSA website was just beginning to put some of the music on the internet. Having a Cantor of Danto’s stature agree to allow us to put his albums on our website was a real coup! Cantor Danto signed a contract with us and about six months later his beautiful voice could be enjoyed by listeners around the world.

If that was all that we had to thank the Dantos for it would be more than enough. But there is more.

The Sauls and the Dantos knew each other from the years that Cantor Danto officiated a the Park Synagogue in Cleveland. The Sauls were part of the congregation and the Cantor often visited their home to listen to Jack Saul’s record collection and to talk about music. They told Jack about their experience with the JSA and how impressed they were with our genuineness and our professionalism. Although he was somewhat reluctant at first, Jack eventually agreed to visit the JSA “to see for himself.”

Jack Saul had spent a lifetime collecting sound recordings.  It was his passion.  It was his life. Now, with the encouragement of his good friends Louis and Rouhama Danto, Jack Saul was able to find a place that could take on the responsibilites of guardianship for the collection that meant so much to him.

For more information about Jack Saul and his record collection click the Jack Saul link on the right menu under the CATEGORIES heading and scroll down.

On Rosh Hashanah it is written and on Yom Kippur it is sealed: how many will pass from the earth and how many will be created….But during the Days of Awe, Repentance, Prayer and Charity can avert a severe decree.

Some of Judaism’s most beautiful and compelling music has been inspired at this sacred time of year.  The importance, emotion and solemnity of the music of the Holy Days represent the highest achievements of the cantorial art. The Judaica Sound Archives at Florida Atlantic University Libraries is proud of its outstanding collection of cantorial recordings. During the next few weeks the JSA will highlight some of the great cantors of the past and present singing the music of the High Holy Days.

The incredible lyrical tenor voice of Cantor Leib Glantz evokes the feeling and intensity of the old “Ba’al T’filoh” of Eastern European Jewish communities. Through his voice and his compositions we can be transported through time to an era long gone, but not forgotten.

Born in Kiev (Ukraine) in 1898, Cantor Leib Glantz lived in the USA from 1926 to 1954 when he was able to fulfill his dream of moving to Israel. He died on January 27, 1964 in Tel Aviv. He was the last, and perhaps the greatest cantor of the “Golden Age of Chazanut.”

The quality of his musical education, his penetrating knowledge of the Hebrew language, and his deep philosophical religiosity, enabled him to create musical interpretations of the prayers that brought new light and meaning to every word. “The words he sang seemed destined to rise like angels into the heavens. To listen to him was like witnessing a man speaking to God! He had a voice that sang like no other voice. Many cantors have tried to imitate his singing, but few have felt they have succeeded.”

Glantz combined his cantorial art with fervent and tireless Zionist activism. He edited a Zionist newspaper and was a leader in the Zionist movement in Eastern Europe, the United States, and finally, Israel. Leib Glantz was a great scholar who explored the origins of Jewish music and firmly established the historical continuity of Jewish music from its beginning in the Holy Temples of Jerusalem to modern times. He also founded an Academy for Cantors in the Tel Aviv Institute for Jewish Liturgical Music.

Click here to listen to this album