While searching online for insight into the Jewish influence on blues and jazz I found a neat article by “The Blues Blogger” called “The Jewish Influence in Blues and Jazz.” While it’s not the most comprehensive article on the subject (you would need books to understand that subject completely anyway), it’s a personal and well-written twist through Jewish influences on those musical styles over the generations. The Blues Blogger writes:
Tunes were always playing in our house even before my birth. It would appear I was breast-fed music and by the time I was in my early teens I developed a natural but unusual knowledge level for my age. My father played the harmonica and my brother the guitar. Together they would have jam sessions that filled the house with a vibrancy that I can never forget.
I started thinking to myself… Out of all the blues and jazz music I remember, how many of these were Jewish? I mean the roots of blues originated in the late 19th century in the American south by African-American slaves forced to work from sunup to sundown. Hmmm… Sunup to Sundown… Sunrise Sunset… Sorry drifted off.
His article examines the development of Klezmer, and Jewish musicians like Artie Shaw, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, and Peter Green, while integrating Youtube videos of the artists, and photos. Take a moment and read the full article here.
