At the same time that Jews helped establish jazz as America’s art form, they also used it to shape the contours of American Jewish identity. Elements of jazz infiltrated some of America’s earliest secular Jewish music, formed the basis of numerous sacred works, and continue to influence the soundtrack of American Jewish life.
This lesson explores jazz sacred services composed by the artists Gershon Kingsley, Charles Davidson and Jonathan Klein. It also introduces learners to the Jewish jazz of the concert stage, with music by John Zorn, Anthony Coleman, Steven Bernstein and Paul Shapiro. It ends with a brief look at the Israeli fascination with jazz, and shares the music of Anat Cohen, Avishai Cohen, and Anat Fort.
