Funny, It Doesn't Sound Jewish

While numerous studies have explored the African roots and wide influence of jazz and blues, little has been written about the musical influence of another group of immigrants who fused old-world practice with American popular idioms. With wit, intelligence, and lucidity, Jack Gottlieb chronicles how Jewish songwriters and composers transformed Yiddish folk and theater songs, as well as synagogue modes and melodies, into the popular music of mid-twentieth-century America. Drawing on numerous musical examples and a variety of historical and archival sources, plus a lifetime of experiences as a composer working simultaneously in the fields of synagogue, popular, and concert music, Gottlieb carefully and compellingly documents the Jewish influences on American popular music. An accompanying CD provides numerous musical examples, many of them rare, including a never-before-released recording of Leonard Bernstein at the piano, singing Marc Blitzstein's "The New Suit (Zipper Fly)."