From Avenue A to the Great White Way: Yiddish & American Popular Songs From 1914-1950
From Avenue A to the Great White Wayis a two-CD set that collects 50 songs tracing the early recorded history of Jewish music in New York and the subsequent influence that music had on American popular song. Henry Sapoznik, the producer ofThe Yiddish Radio Projectseries that appeared on PBS, compiled the tracks. He's unearthed some fascinating items, including rare recordings from early stars of the Yiddish theater such as Molly Picon, a klezmer piece by Abe Schwartz, and a beautifully operatic performance from the cantor Yossele Rosenblatt. Among his most interesting finds are the previously unreleased track from 1914 ofIrving Berlinsinging his song "What Am I Gonna Do?" and a vocal group from 1933 known as the Funnyboners singing the obscure Gershwin tune "Mischa-Yascha-Toscha-Sascha." Sapoznik's excellent liner notes do a fine job of connecting the dots between such seemingly disparate songs as the 1928 Yiddish song "Inzer Rebin's Vunder (Our Rabbi's  Wonder)" and Cab Calloway's 1939 swing tune "Utt-Da-Zay (That's the Way)."  While it would have been nice to have translation of the Yiddish lyrics, that is just a minor quibble with what is a otherwise intriguing survey of long overlooked part of American musical history.--Michael Simmons