Co-founded by my pal David Katznelson, the Idelsohn Society is a nonprofit dedicated to the musicology of great old Jewish music by the likes of Irving Fields, Gershon Kingsley, and The Barry Sisters. Their new compilation explores the intersection of Jewish and Latin culture, or as they describe it, “bagels and bongos, Spanish and Yiddish, manteca and schmaltz, that’s been a bubbling undercurrent of American pop music since the early 1900s.” The two-CD set, It’s a Scream How Levine Does the Rhumba: The Latin-Jewish Musical Story, 1940s-1980s, features mambo movers by the likes of Tito Puente, Abbe Lane, Carole King, Herb Alpert, and many more. Above, Ruth Wallis sings the title track. Check out a couple more cuts here.
If you’re in San Francisco tonight, there’s a CD release party tonight (12/5) at the Contemporary Jewish Museum with records spun by DJ Oro11 and DeeJay Theory of Tormenta Tropical, noshes by my favorite Jewish deli Wise Sons, and a cash bar! Party details here.
It’s a Scream How Levine Does the Rhumba: The Latin-Jewish Musical Story, 1940s-1980s (Amazon)