“Summertime” and “Our Love Is Here to Stay” have been in my performance repertoire for ages. And I can still hear the version of “Porgy” by Billie Holiday that was in my aunt’s vinyl collection when I was growing up. They were all written by Gershwin.

Kosher Jammers, the book by Mike Gerber, takes an in-depth look at Jewish contributions to jazz.

With my release of Seeking Billie: The Unusual Tribute to Billie Holiday, this passage from a summary of the book hits close to home:

Jewish clarinetist Artie Shaw, [Benny] Goodman’s contemporary, went even further by integrating black musicians into his big band, with vocalist Billie Holiday out front…

Nonetheless, I contend that it’s no coincidence that Shaw and Goodman did what they did. Or that Abel Meeropol wrote Billie Holiday’s most famous song, the anti-lynching classic ‘Strange Fruit’, or that the first recording of it was for Milt Gabler’s Commodore, America’s first specialist jazz label, or that Holiday introduced it at Café Society, an integrationist New York jazz club founded by Barney Josephson. Like Shaw and Goodman, Meeropol, Gabler and Josephson were Jewish.

Purchase Kosher Jammers at online retailers and visit www.mikegerberjournalist.co.uk to learn more.

 

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