How Don Byron Brought Klezmer Music And Mickey Katz Back To Life

[mjzee]

A pre-eminent contemporary multi-instrumentalist and composer rooted in jazz, Don Byron has engaged with a wild variety of musical styles — from rap to neo-classical, funk to heavy metal — and is currently touring with the New Gospel Quintet, exploring the heritage of African-American spirituals It was his encounter with klezmer, however, and his tribute album to the Borscht Belt musician and comedian Mickey Katz (“Don Byron Plays the Music of Mickey Katz”), that brought him a great deal of attention earlier in his career, two decades ago.

Over the years, this encounter served as a source of both mirth and awe; in retrospect, Byron’s attempt to resuscitate Katz (1909-85), and his peculiar interpretation of the klezmer legacy has had a major impact on further development of klezmer and on the unfolding of what came to be known as the Klezmer Revival. The Forward’s Jake Marmer talked to Byron about klezmer, cultural appropriation, assimilation and hipness.

Read more: http://forward.com/articles/173734/how-don-byron-brought-klezmer-music-and-mickey-kat/?p=all

Edited April 8, 2013 by mjzee

[fasstrack]

A good read. Thanks for posting.

[JSngry]

I'm not much for Don Byron's music in general, but this exchange makes as much sense to me as anything I could imagine:

Certain thinkers, like Amiri Baraka, have had strongly negative feelings about non-African-American musicians playing jazz — and in particular, Baraka has singled out Benny Goodman a lot. At times, Baraka’s issue is with socioeconomic disadvantage, in which African-American jazz musicians have all too often found themselves; but he tends to probe beyond that, into questions of cultural appropriation. What are your thoughts on this, and in general, how do you see a musician’s identity factoring into both the content and forms of his/her work?

Well, to start, we need to be able to look objectively at how American culture has worked. So much of so-called white American culture comes from black musical roots, along with the disturbing repeating scenario that once whites are involved, the music suddenly isn’t black anymore. In country music, separating the music from blackness was a big part of the music’s development and marketing, this despite the fact that the much of the music was blues based. When I was active in klezmer, I could feel people’s concerns about these issues, yet I never said that the music wasn’t Jewish just because I was in it. African Americans are the only group in the world this has happened to. Rock, country, jazz, all these musics have become formerly black. If that happened to you, it might make you a bit cranky. This is where identity comes into play. European-American assimilation and music originating in the black community seem to go hand in hand…. I used my objectivity to present it in a different way, opened up new audiences to the idea that it could have some relevance and hipness, but I never denied its fundamental Jewishness. Nor was it an act of musical self-hatred to play it. I have stood up for my musical and personal blackness, injecting more of that into jazz clarinet than anyone of my era. It was never one or the other.

So, yeah, Don Byron, keep on keepin' on. I probably won't be paying that much attention, but others will, and hopefully to this part of it as well.

[papsrus]

It is a good read. Video is worth a watch, too.

I'll say this about Byron: he doesn't seem to lack for self-confidence. In any interview I've read with him -- which isn't a lot, mind you -- he usually offers up some generous account of his own accomplishments, yet he manages to do so in a way where he comes off as a straight-shooter.

No reason to think Byron's not right when he says he started the whole downtown klezmer thing, but to quote Margaret Thatcher on this day of her passing: "Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't."

[jeffcrom]

The interesting segment quoted by Jim aside, this article kind of grated on me. Byron's Mickey Katz album always seemed like a bad joke to me - for musical reasons, not sociological ones. By the time it came out in 1993, the incredibly inventive Klezmatics had issued two albums, and more traditional but excellent Klezmorim had put out six. Ben Goldberg is a far more interesting clarinetist than Byron; his New Klezmer Trio issued their first album three years before Byron's.

I just don't think Byron's klezmer stuff was nearly as influential as he and the article's writer think. In my circle of musical friends, The Klezmatics was the band that excited us. We all thought the Byron album was pretty silly.

On the other hand, Byron's Tuskegee Experiments was a striking debut. I wish Byron's later work had fulfilled the promise of that album.

[robertoart]

I'm not much for Don Byron's music in general, but this exchange makes as much sense to me as anything I could imagine:

Certain thinkers, like Amiri Baraka, have had strongly negative feelings about non-African-American musicians playing jazz — and in particular, Baraka has singled out Benny Goodman a lot. At times, Baraka’s issue is with socioeconomic disadvantage, in which African-American jazz musicians have all too often found themselves; but he tends to probe beyond that, into questions of cultural appropriation. What are your thoughts on this, and in general, how do you see a musician’s identity factoring into both the content and forms of his/her work?

Well, to start, we need to be able to look objectively at how American culture has worked. So much of so-called white American culture comes from black musical roots, along with the disturbing repeating scenario that once whites are involved, the music suddenly isn’t black anymore. In country music, separating the music from blackness was a big part of the music’s development and marketing, this despite the fact that the much of the music was blues based. When I was active in klezmer, I could feel people’s concerns about these issues, yet I never said that the music wasn’t Jewish just because I was in it. African Americans are the only group in the world this has happened to. Rock, country, jazz, all these musics have become formerly black. If that happened to you, it might make you a bit cranky. This is where identity comes into play. European-American assimilation and music originating in the black community seem to go hand in hand…. I used my objectivity to present it in a different way, opened up new audiences to the idea that it could have some relevance and hipness, but I never denied its fundamental Jewishness. Nor was it an act of musical self-hatred to play it. I have stood up for my musical and personal blackness, injecting more of that into jazz clarinet than anyone of my era. It was never one or the other.

So, yeah, Don Byron, keep on keepin' on. I probably won't be paying that much attention, but others will, and hopefully to this part of it as well.

Kismet

[Chuck Nessa]

I don't much care for any of this music. It seems too contrived to me.

[papsrus]

The interesting segment quoted by Jim aside, this article kind of grated on me. Byron's Mickey Katz album always seemed like a bad joke to me - for musical reasons, not sociological ones. By the time it came out in 1993, the incredibly inventive Klezmatics had issued two albums, and more traditional but excellent Klezmorim had put out six. Ben Goldberg is a far more interesting clarinetist than Byron; his New Klezmer Trio issued their first album three years before Byron's.

I just don't think Byron's klezmer stuff was nearly as influential as he and the article's writer think. In my circle of musical friends, The Klezmatics was the band that excited us. We all thought the Byron album was pretty silly.

You've confirmed my impression that Byron may have overstated his own influence.

[paul secor]

I first heard Don Byron on a couple of recordings by the Klezmer Conservatory Band. Those introduced me to klezmer and led me to early recordings of the real stuff - though the K.C.B. might have felt they were the real thing too. Haven't had any real interest in Mr. Byron's recordings since then.

[JSngry]

I got to know him through those Ralph Peterson BN records, which I wanted to like a lot more than I actually could.

[Larry Kart]

I don't much care for any of this music. It seems too contrived to me.

He did a Raymond Scott album, too.

[Chuck Nessa]

I don't much care for any of this music. It seems too contrived to me.

He did a Raymond Scott album, too.

Guess I was wrong.

[Larry Kart]

I don't much care for any of this music. It seems too contrived to me.

He did a Raymond Scott album, too.

Guess I was wrong.

No, you were right.

[mikeweil]

The Raymond Scott album made me check out the originals, and although these are not jazz in a strict sense, I think they swing with much more abandon than Byron's version.

I saw Byron live with his Cuban tinged band, and his playing missed that certain kick that makes for really thrilling music. I liked him on Ralph Peterson's CDs, but I would still like them if he wasn't playing ...

[seeline]

The interesting segment quoted by Jim aside, this article kind of grated on me. Byron's Mickey Katz album always seemed like a bad joke to me - for musical reasons, not sociological ones. By the time it came out in 1993, the incredibly inventive Klezmatics had issued two albums, and more traditional but excellent Klezmorim had put out six. Ben Goldberg is a far more interesting clarinetist than Byron; his New Klezmer Trio issued their first album three years before Byron's.

I just don't think Byron's klezmer stuff was nearly as influential as he and the article's writer think. In my circle of musical friends, The Klezmatics was the band that excited us. We all thought the Byron album was pretty silly.

On the other hand, Byron's Tuskegee Experiments was a striking debut. I wish Byron's later work had fulfilled the promise of that album.

Lorin Sklamberg - the Klezmatics' lead vocalist - sang lead for several tracks on Byron's Mickey Katz album.

Jerry Gonzalez is on it, too - he's not somebody I associate with having played up in the Catskills (where Latin bands used to be extremely popular), but I'm willing to bet that he's been on gigs at some of the old resorts...

Also, re. jazz/klezmer clarinet crossover, wasn't Andy Statman already playing klezmer in NYC when Byron's album came out? (Err... yes. he predates Byron by quite a few years. His 1st klezmer LP came out in 1979...)

Edited April 10, 2013 by seeline

[jeffcrom]

Lorin Sklamberg - the Klezmatics' lead vocalist - sang lead for several tracks on Byron's Mickey Katz album.

Also, re. jazz/klezmer clarinet crossover, wasn't Andy Statman already playing klezmer in NYC when Byron's album came out? (Err... yes. he predates Byron by quite a few years. His 1st klezmer LP came out in 1979...)

The Byron/Klezmatics connection goes back further than that - Byron and Frank London were bandmates in the Klezmer Conservatory Band. And for all I know, the boys and girls of The Klezmatics may have loved Byron's klezmer album. I still don't.

And Andy Statman is not really on my radar, because I'm bored by everything I've heard by him. I have no doubt that you're right, though.

[seeline]

Well, being bored by someone's music isn't the same thing as acknowledging their place in the overall timeline, right?

I 1st saw/heard Byron on a 60 Minutes segment on the KCB that ran way, way back... he was still in Boston at the time. Their lead vocalist called him "Dondele." (I'm not Jewish, but as a kid, I heard the "-dele" suffix more than a few times, from neighbors' parents and older relatives.)

As for Byron's Mickey Katz album, I like the pieces that feature Sklamberg, and i think everyone intended those to be jokey, since the originals certainly were. I don't think they're anything but clever parody, though - probably better as part of some kind of musical revue, cabaret or other stage show than anything else.

Byron's liners, though... and his opening and closing pieces for that album - are another thing entirely!

What really surprises me is that the Forward published this interview! I bet they've had lots of not-so-happy feedback from a lot of readers since it went up.

Edited April 10, 2013 by seeline

[jeffcrom]

Well, being bored by someone's music isn't the same thing as acknowledging their place in the overall timeline, right?

Right - but my point was that I don't don't know much about Statman's chronology (and am not interested in finding out more) because I don't find his music compelling. And my "pre-Byron" list was is certainly not (and is not intended to be) exhaustive - it was just some evidence of pre-Byron klezmer revival activity that come to mind quickly.

[seeline]

Listen, I think Byron's claims in that interview are way out of line... Oddly, though I'm not a big klezmer fan, I was fascinated by the 1st klezmer revival records I heard (some of them seemed closely tied to Yiddish theater, which has always interested me), so i guess I paid attention for cultural reasons if nothing else.

Whether someone's music grabs me or not is another story altogether!

[Steve Reynolds]

I remember years later when Romance of the Unseen came out on Blue Note with Jack DeJohnette on drums and one was thinking well maybeb THIS is the recording where he may touch the promise of the first record - or maybe even the brilliance that he exhibited on Gerry Hemingway's Special Detail from 1989 or so(on both clarinet *and* baritione saxophone), but, alas, it was pretty awful, no inspiration, typical middle of the road blue note sound of circa 2000, and not go on Byron again.............

and if anyone can find Special Detail (hat art), BUY IT - maybe as good as the somewhat later quintet albums

[Steve Reynolds]

Just looked up his discography - and I forgot about that disaster, Bug Music - one of the worst recordings of the 90's

[Teasing the Korean]

How do Byron's versions of the Raymond Scott tunes compare to the Beau Hunks? I think the latter did a great job.

[seeline]

Byron's fondness for concept albums might be part of the problem, I'm thinking.

Really do enjoy his playing on Ralph Peterson's 1st Fo'tet album as well as on his own Tuskeegee Experiments.

[sidewinder]

Really do enjoy his playing on Ralph Peterson's 1st Fo'tet album..

Same here - that is a strong album. There rest of the Fo'tet never quite lived up to the promise IMO.

I saw Byron's group on a Canada tour of that 'Music For Six Musicians' group when it came out. Another very good one, along with 'Tuskeegee'.

Edited April 11, 2013 by sidewinder

[A Lark Ascending]

Saw his gospel themed show at Cheltenham a few years back - one of the highlights of the weekend.