“There’s no bum like a ‘pretty good artist’ and I think you’re ‘pretty good.’” –Johnny Green’s father
By Eric George Tauber
LA JOLLA, California –The 2017 San Diego Jewish Film Festival has come and gone. With eighty different screenings at five venues –with filmmakers traveling from as far as Hungary and Israel- and selling more than 17,000 seats, I think we can call this a success.
Housebound with a nasty cold, I missed all but closing night of this year’s offerings. But the closing night film, Body and Soul: An American Bridge was at the top of my “must-see” list. It was a personal milestone for Director Robert Philipson as well. It was his first feature-length documentary and –with both a Jewish and a jazz loving audience- his best attended screening.
The song Body and Soul by Johnny Green was one of the most popular of its day and lays the foundation of this film. It has been sung by the likes of Tony Bennett, Sarah Vaughn, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole and “Old Blue Eyes” himself, Frank Sinatra.
Torch Singer Libby Hollman was famous for her “primal and mellifluous” rendition of the song. Sexy and swarthy, she was often described as “Moorish,” not as the German Jew from Cincinnati that she actually was.
Jazz was born from jam sessions between African Americans and Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. The Ragtime syncopations -made famous by Scott Joplin- are deeply rooted in West African drumming. They combined with the “laughter through tears” frenetic wailing in minor keys of the klezmorim, creating a child that was new and uniquely American.
Louis Armstrong got his first trumpet from a pawnshop, bought by his boss, the kindly rag dealer, Mr. Karnovsky. In his early days, Armstrong was little known outside the black community and some hip jazz musicians. It was his manager, Joe Glazer that brought him to the mainstream and made him a household name. These landsmen had such an influence on Satchmo that he proudly wore a silver Star of David around his neck and always kept matzah in his pantry.
Benny Goodman should get more credit for leading the charge of integration. Goodman hired the elegant pianist, Teddy Wilson for his trio in 1935. Jackie Robinson wouldn’t break the baseball color line with the Dodgers until 1947 and Truman wouldn’t integrate the US Military until the 1950s.
There’s a “seductive narrative” that American Jews and Blacks had a natural kinship. After all, we were both the descendants of slaves and lived as minorities relegated to the sidelines of the American mainstream. But the story is a bit more complicated.
For more of the story, Body and Soul: An American Bridge will give you a deeper appreciation for the roots of Jazz music and the American Dream.
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Tauber is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts. He may be contacted via eric.tauber@sdjewishworld.com