{"id":6763,"date":"2013-04-25T11:24:24","date_gmt":"2013-04-25T17:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=6763"},"modified":"2013-04-29T09:34:16","modified_gmt":"2013-04-29T15:34:16","slug":"jazz-fest-shabbat-stars-michael-white","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/jazz-fest-shabbat-stars-michael-white\/","title":{"rendered":"Jazz Fest Shabbat stars Michael White"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By ALAN SMASON<\/p>\n<p>For Touro Synagogue Cantor Jamie Marx, the selection of Basin Street Records artist Michael White as the star for the 22nd annual Jazz Fest Shabbat this Friday evening was a no-brainer. White, a heralded clarinetist and important jazz scholar, had already played at a service at the Reform temple several years ago. But more important than that was the notion that White would more likely be\u00a0 involved with the spirituality of the service than many of the other well-known previous headline performers like Irma Thomas, Allen Toussaint, Marcia Ball, Kermit Ruffins or John Boutt\u00e9.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_6764\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Michael_White.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6764\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-6764 lazyload\" title=\"Michael_White\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Michael_White-300x204.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"204\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Michael_White-300x204.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Michael_White-1024x699.jpg 1024w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/204;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6764\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-6764\" title=\"Michael_White\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Michael_White-300x204.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"204\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Michael_White-300x204.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Michael_White-1024x699.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-6764\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michael White and his quartet will headline the 22nd annual Jazz Fest Shabbat service on Friday, April 26. (Photo by Alan Smason)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8220;We wanted not only someone who is a premier New Orleans jazz artist &#8211; someone who represents New Orleans jazz and has an extensive knowledge of jazz history as Dr. White has,&#8221; explained Marx. &#8220;But 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. That was expressly what we asked for.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>For someone who is not Jewish, White has been inside quite a number of synagogues. Shortly after Hurricane Katrina-related flooding caused his evacuation from the city in 2005, White and his quartet hunkered down in bluegrass country in Louisville, KY at Congregation Adath Jeshrun, an egalitarian Conservative synagogue. In 2010 in recognition of the fifth anniversary of the storm in 2010, White&#8217;s group was invited back to perform there again. It was around that same time that White performed at Touro for the first time with a six-piece group.<\/p>\n<p>Through the course of the last two decades, White had heard about the Jazz Fest Shabbat events from his mentee and Panorama Jazz Band leader Ben Schenck. &#8220;He told me his band was doing it and it was a nice thing,&#8221; White recalled. &#8220;And he told me it might be a nice thing for me to do one day.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As it turns out, Schenck and the Panorama Jazz Band will be on the bill with White and his quartet of players on Friday night, supporting him along with the Touro Synagogue Choir, Marx and music director Terry Maddox. Rabbi Alexis Berk will officiate.<\/p>\n<p>The opening of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival traditionally signals what might be considered the busiest time of the year for jazz lovers and jazz players such as White and his quartet. Touro Synagogue&#8217;s Jazz Fest Shabbat was instituted 22 years ago by 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.<\/p>\n<p>White believes his quartet&#8217;s traditional approach to jazz is &#8220;the right size&#8221; for the domed sanctuary at Touro with its excellent acoustics. &#8220;It&#8217;s a chamber music approach approach to New Orleans jazz,&#8221; he explained, &#8220;but it&#8217;s loud enough to cover any volume that&#8217;s there, and there\u2019s more emphasis on the ensemble and rhythm that you can hear more clearly.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>White plans on playing a number of New Orleans jazz standards, but he also intends to incorporate several jazz songs penned by famous Jewish composers like Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern and George Gershwin. &#8220;Also I&#8217;m going to do one of my songs that is based on a Jewish song, that is, in terms of the chord structure,&#8221; he continued.<\/p>\n<p>White agrees that almost all Jewish composers favored the use of the minor keys in their music. Their sizable contributions have added to many memorable Broadway tunes and favorite selections found in the Great American Songbook in addition to the many parts of the jazz lexicon.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_6765\" style=\"width: 199px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Michael_White_solo.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6765\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-6765 lazyload\" title=\"Michael_White_solo\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Michael_White_solo-189x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"189\" height=\"300\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Michael_White_solo-189x300.jpg 189w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Michael_White_solo-646x1024.jpg 646w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Michael_White_solo.jpg 720w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 189px) 100vw, 189px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 189px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 189\/300;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6765\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-6765\" title=\"Michael_White_solo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Michael_White_solo-189x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"189\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Michael_White_solo-189x300.jpg 189w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Michael_White_solo-646x1024.jpg 646w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Michael_White_solo.jpg 720w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 189px) 100vw, 189px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-6765\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Basin Street Records artist Michael White. (Photo by Alan Smason)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8220;Some of the early jazz musicians, especially Sidney Bechtet, played minor\u00a0 key songs,&#8221; he elucidated. The reason, White conjectures, was to get more vibrato and emotional effect out of their performances. &#8220;There are some similarities in his (Bechet&#8217;s) style and what you hear in Klezmer,&#8221; White stated. &#8220;He was trying to get more of a unique voice and probably more volume.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As to a favorite Jewish composer, White says he favors Gershwin. &#8220;I just kind of like his use of the jazz elements and blues elements in his work,&#8221; he admitted.<\/p>\n<p>White also acknowleged the important contributions of Jewish community members like Larry Borenstein and Barbara Reid Edmiston, who along with a gentile,Ken Mills, helped establish a &#8220;kitty hall&#8221; where local jazz musicians were able to play for donations. They founded the Society for the Preservation for Traditonal Jazz. &#8220;That was the precedent for what became Preservation Hall,&#8221; White noted. Later, the late Allan and Sondra Jaffe opened the building where Preservation Hall exists today. &#8220;The Jaffes had a business plan to take it further,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>White also credits the late Patti Arnold Samuels and her husband and co-founder of Basin Street Records, Mark Samuels, as a modern link in the chain of Jewish support of the jazz idiom.<\/p>\n<p>White and his quartet will play for a period of a half hour within the Friday night Shabbat service, but unlike previous Jazz Fest Shabbat services, he is expected to participate in at least two other portions of the Jewish liturgical service. Marx is especially looking forward to White joining him in an arrangement he made juxtaposing the traditional classic &#8220;Down by the Riverside&#8221; with the singing of the Hebrew verse (<em>Isaiah<\/em> 2:4) from which it is based.<\/p>\n<p>Marx says it&#8217;s his way of showing that New Orleans culture and Jewish ideals are not so divergent. In his second year at the helm as Touro cantor, Marx will add to his experience from his inaugural stint last year as the person in charge of the Jazz Fest Shabbat. &#8220;We want to show what it&#8217;s like to blend Jewish culture and New Orleans culture and to blend both New Orleans jazz and Jewish music and not only that, but to have it find its home at Touro Synagogue,&#8221; Marx said.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, Marx believes his emphasis on the Jazz Fest Shabbat will be to make it a spiritual experience. &#8220;I want people to participate in the service. This is not a concert. I want the Shabbat regulars to feel like they can come into the synagogue and engage in prayer and not feel like it&#8217;s just a performance.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Jazz Fest Shabbat patrons <em>will<\/em> get a private performance by White and his quartet prior to the service at a special dinner held in the Jacobs Social. Tickets for the event start at $150 per person along with special reserved seating for the Jazz Fest Shabbat service. Patrons who contribute $300 get a special Michael White Basin Street Records compact disc, while patrons at the $500 level get a specially signed poster bearing White&#8217;s likeness that is suitable for framing. Patrons at the $1,000 level get the CD and the poster.<\/p>\n<p><em>(The 22nd annual Jazz Fest Shabbat service is free and open to the public and starts at 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 6:45. For more information call 504-895-4843.)<\/em><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Jazz%20Fest%20Shabbat%20stars%20Michael%20White\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6764,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[8848,8785,8790,8795,8883,8788,8884,2621,8786],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6763"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6763"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6767,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6763\/revisions\/6767"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}