Jazz Fest Shabbat goes traditional
By ALAN SMASON
Touro Synagogue’s 22nd annual Jazz Fest Shabbat went back to the roots of traditional jazz with clarinetist Michael White as the headliner for the event on Friday, April 26. The event played to a full house of approximately 800 gathered for the unique Jewish liturgical service which combines elements of jazz and other indigenous New Orleans music forms with a Sabbath worship service.
With Shabbat candles in the foreground, Michael White entertains at the Jazz Fest Shabbat. (Photo by Alan Smason)
White, a renowned recording artist for Basin Street Records, is also considered an important jazz scholar, but it was his ability to integrate his performance with several pieces of Jewish liturgy that made him the selection of the Jazz Fest Shabbat committee chaired by David Hammer and implemented by Cantor Jamie Marx.
Previous headline performers at past Jazz Fest Shabbats such as Allen Toussaint, Irma Thomas and Marcia Ball played their sets without much collaboration with the Touro Synagogue Choir led by music director Terry Maddox or backing group, the Panorama Jazz Band led by Ben Schenck.
Da Wright Band, a traditional New Orleans brass band made up of students from nearby Sophie Wright Charter School, played several tunes to welcome attendees into the auditorium. Large lines queued up a half hour prior to the doors opening near 7:00 p.m.
Prior to the secular performance of White and his quartet, Berk and Marx led worshipers through the Friday night liturgy including the singing of Sholom Aleichem, the lighting and blessing of Sabbath candles, a kiddush over wine, Kabbalat Shabbat songs such as Lecha Dodi, the Shema and V’Ahavata and the Silent Amidah.
White was then called out to perform with Marx in a special arrangement he had rendered of the jazz standard “Down by the Riverside” with “Lo Yisa Goy,” the Hebrew text from the Bible (Isaiah 2:4), which includes the phrase “nation shall not make war no more.”
Michael White's quartet inside Touro Synagogue. (Photo by Alan Smason)
“We wanted someone who could appreciate and get into the spirituality of the service and to get the regular Sabbath attendees into the worship service as well,” said Marx prior to the event. “That was expressly what we asked for.”
The Jazz Fest Shabbat was the brainchild of former Touro Synagogue Cantor Steven Dubov of blessed memory, who wanted to combine elements of a traditional Jewish worship service with jazz music as an homage to the unique American art form.
White’s quartet, which featured trumpeter Gregg Stafford on vocals, played a half-hour set of traditional tunes such as “Paul Barbarin’s Second Line.”
White received a standing ovation for his rendition of Gershwin’s “Summertime,” as previously rendered by New Orleans clarinetist and soparano saxophinist Sidney Bechet. “There are some similarities in his (Bechet’s) style and what you hear in Klezmer,” White stated prior to his appearance. At the event he joked Bechet “had something very few jazz artists ever have: “A hit record!” The crowd reacted with peals of laughter.
This was Marx’s second year in charge of the Jazz Fest Shabbat and he acknowledged a decision on the part of the Jazz Fest Shabbat committee to bring the focus of the event to one of prayer first and live performance second. “It’s been a priority for the last two years and certainly of mine to make it as much as a prayer service as possible,” Marx said.
Michael White, left, holds a special coat presented to him by Jazz Fest Shabbat chair David Hammer, (Photo by Alan Smason)
Following the group’s performance, White was presented by Hammer with a specially decorated white tails topcoat, decorated by a Touro Synagogue member. A colorful silhouette of a clarinetist adorned the back, while other items such as a vinyl record album emblazoned the front, intended to symbolize his music career. The quartet members left the sanctuary while the service continued.
Following the Aleinu and the Mourner’s Kaddish, White and the quartet members were invited back to join with the entire ensemble in the finale, the singing of Adon Olom to the tune of “When the Saints Go Marching In.”
An Oneg Shabbat featuring an array of desserts, fresh fruit and other light refreshment was held in the social hall, where members of the Panorama Jazz Band entertained the crowd.
