CD comes in slipcase with 60 page fully illustrated booklet.
Shantel and Oz Almog present "Kosher Nostra" an unparalleled journey back in time to the music clubs, vaudeville theatres and gambling casinos in the USA. The sound can be described as wild mix of swing, jazz, twist, charleston and the adorable charm of Yiddish songs and ballads.
The idea of Jewish gangsters in America is not something that is deeply engrained in the popular imagination. Yet the character of Hyman Roth in Coppola‘s The Godfather is based on Meyer Lansky, one of the most colourful figures in the Jewish-American underworld. In Europe, especially, the widespread myth of a predominantly Italian mafia in America has long overshadowed the significance of Jewish gangsters. Yet nobody who looks into the history of the American mafia can deny the extent to which such figures as Meyer Lansky, Benjamin ‘Bugsy’ Siegel, Dutch Schultz or Louis ‘Lepke’ Buchalter shaped the machinations of the underworld, along with the classic Sicilian godfathers. It is only in the past 10 years or so that any light has been shed on this in Europe.
The myth of Kosher Nostra, mafia methods as well as the background, circumstances, lives and deaths of Jewish gangsters in America all seem to us to be closely interwoven with the musical history of the USA in a rich and fascinating tapestry of diverse musical genres. In such hot-spots as New York, Chicago, Detroit and later Las Vegas, the music of Eastern European Jews fused with African-American jazz to create a new sound. Yiddish songs became incorporated into mainstream culture and became internationally popular. Swing, a fusion of black and Jewish musical forms, was the perfect vehicle for such musicians as Abe Ellstein, Benny Goodman, Dave Tarras, Sophie Tucker, Aaron Lebedeff and Al Jolson to go beyond the narrow confines of their own ethnic culture.
The tracks on this anthology represent a parallel society made up of various ethnic scenes, all with their own media and a open-minded curiosity for new and exotic inputs from the WASP community on the one hand and the predominantly Catholic Irish and Italian communities on the other. This development of an aesthetic approach that crossed all ethnic boundaries spawned a music, film and musical industry in 1920s/30s America that quickly spread, with an impact that was felt even in Europe.
01 - Connie Francis - Anniversary song
02 - Tom Jones - My Yiddishe Mamme
03 - The Andrews Sisters - Bei Mir Bistu Sheyn
04 - Chubby Checker - Misirlou
05 - Solomon Schwartz et son Orchestra - Hava Nagila
06 - The Bagelmann sisters with Abe Ellstein Orchester - A Vaibelle, a Tsnie
07 - Leonid Utjossow - Mu Mu
08 - Al Jolson & Andrews Sisters - The Old Piano Roll Blues
09 - Connie Francis - Shein vi de Levone
10 - Barry Sisters - Zug Es Meir Noch Amool
11 - Molly Picone - Es Fehlt Ihr Die Rozinke
12 - Aaron Lebedeff & Alexander Olshanetzky's Orchestra - What Can You Mach-S'is America
13 - Sophie Tucker - My Yiddishe Mamme
14 - Yiddish Swing Orchestra - The Bridegroom Special
15 - The Barry Sisters - Eishes - Chiyell
16 - The Gild Edged Four - Yiddisher Charleston
17 - Cleo Brown - When Hollywood Goes Black And Tan
18 - Sophie Tucker - Some of These Days
19 - Wilmoth Houdini - Black but sweet
20 - Connie Francis - O mein papa
21 - Roza Eskenazy - Hariktaki
Shantel and Oz Almog present "Kosher Nostra" an unparalleled journey back in time to the music clubs, vaudeville theatres and gambling casinos in the USA. The sound can be described as wild mix of swing, jazz, twist, charleston and the adorable charm of Yiddish songs and ballads.
The idea of Jewish gangsters in America is not something that is deeply engrained in the popular imagination. Yet the character of Hyman Roth in Coppola‘s The Godfather is based on Meyer Lansky, one of the most colourful figures in the Jewish-American underworld. In Europe, especially, the widespread myth of a predominantly Italian mafia in America has long overshadowed the significance of Jewish gangsters. Yet nobody who looks into the history of the American mafia can deny the extent to which such figures as Meyer Lansky, Benjamin ‘Bugsy’ Siegel, Dutch Schultz or Louis ‘Lepke’ Buchalter shaped the machinations of the underworld, along with the classic Sicilian godfathers. It is only in the past 10 years or so that any light has been shed on this in Europe.
The myth of Kosher Nostra, mafia methods as well as the background, circumstances, lives and deaths of Jewish gangsters in America all seem to us to be closely interwoven with the musical history of the USA in a rich and fascinating tapestry of diverse musical genres. In such hot-spots as New York, Chicago, Detroit and later Las Vegas, the music of Eastern European Jews fused with African-American jazz to create a new sound. Yiddish songs became incorporated into mainstream culture and became internationally popular. Swing, a fusion of black and Jewish musical forms, was the perfect vehicle for such musicians as Abe Ellstein, Benny Goodman, Dave Tarras, Sophie Tucker, Aaron Lebedeff and Al Jolson to go beyond the narrow confines of their own ethnic culture.
The tracks on this anthology represent a parallel society made up of various ethnic scenes, all with their own media and a open-minded curiosity for new and exotic inputs from the WASP community on the one hand and the predominantly Catholic Irish and Italian communities on the other. This development of an aesthetic approach that crossed all ethnic boundaries spawned a music, film and musical industry in 1920s/30s America that quickly spread, with an impact that was felt even in Europe.
01 - Connie Francis - Anniversary song
02 - Tom Jones - My Yiddishe Mamme
03 - The Andrews Sisters - Bei Mir Bistu Sheyn
04 - Chubby Checker - Misirlou
05 - Solomon Schwartz et son Orchestra - Hava Nagila
06 - The Bagelmann sisters with Abe Ellstein Orchester - A Vaibelle, a Tsnie
07 - Leonid Utjossow - Mu Mu
08 - Al Jolson & Andrews Sisters - The Old Piano Roll Blues
09 - Connie Francis - Shein vi de Levone
10 - Barry Sisters - Zug Es Meir Noch Amool
11 - Molly Picone - Es Fehlt Ihr Die Rozinke
12 - Aaron Lebedeff & Alexander Olshanetzky's Orchestra - What Can You Mach-S'is America
13 - Sophie Tucker - My Yiddishe Mamme
14 - Yiddish Swing Orchestra - The Bridegroom Special
15 - The Barry Sisters - Eishes - Chiyell
16 - The Gild Edged Four - Yiddisher Charleston
17 - Cleo Brown - When Hollywood Goes Black And Tan
18 - Sophie Tucker - Some of These Days
19 - Wilmoth Houdini - Black but sweet
20 - Connie Francis - O mein papa
21 - Roza Eskenazy - Hariktaki
