Abe Schwartz' Orchestra & Naftule Brandwein

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Abe Schwartz' Orchestra & Naftule Brandwein · Abe Schwartz was born in 1881 near Bucharest in Romania and emigrated around 1900 with his parents to the United States. In New York he worked as a violinist and leader of dance orchestras, among other Romanian klezmer leaders. In 1917 an A&R man from Columbia Records brought him into the studio, and from that moment he recorded klezmer and music for the Yiddish theatre for decades. He was a composer, violinist and bandleader all at once.

Music and breakthrough

His orchestras captured many of the best klezmer musicians of the early twentieth century, including Dave Tarras and the clarinettist Naftule Brandwein. In 1920 he had about thirty-five pieces registered with the Library of Congress. His best-known melody is Di Grine Kuzine, which is still played today and has had imitators. In 1923 Brandwein left the orchestra to start a group of his own on a rival label. Schloimke Beckerman took his place. Later Schwartz also helped found the Boiberiker Kapelye, which was heard on the radio and on record for five years. He retired in the 1950s and died in the Bronx in 1963.

Influence

The recordings of Schwartz and Brandwein show how the music of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe gained a second life in New York. They are dance music and lament in one, played on violin and clarinet, and they form the basis of klezmer as it was later rediscovered.

Listening

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  Firn di mekhutonim aheym · Abe Schwartz' Orchestra & Naftule Brandwein, 1923