Arts a Entertainment
Taking Credit
Thank Jewish writers, composers and peOrmers
for many Christmas traditions.
VIVI ABRAMS
Special to the Jewish News
A
Methodist dad wants to get into the
Christmas mood. He plays a record of
"The Christmas Song," and sings along
to the familiar "chestnuts roasting on an
open fire" refrain. Then he feels like a movie, and
watches White Christmas with his family. Before
bed, he reads his daughter the Caldecott-winning
children's Christmas book The Polar Express.
He's just had a very Jewish night.
Not many people know it, but Jews have a long
history of orchestrating Christmas, back to the
early 1800s when French composer Adolphe Adam
wrote the music for "0 Holy Night."
"Christmas Song" composer Mel Torme also was
Jewish. Chris Van Allsburg, a convert ro Judaism,
wrote The Polar Express. And White Christmas, a
Bing Crosby film about song-and-dance men who
romance women for the holidays in a Vermont ski
lodge, had a Jewish star (Danny Kaye), director
(Michael Curtiz) and composer (Irving Berlin).
Berlin, born Israel Baline, wrote the song "White
Christmas" for Holiday Inn, another Crosby film, in
1942, and resurrected it for White Christmas in 1954.
Actor and commentator Ben Stein recently wrote
an essay saying that Jews should feel no shame about
having so much power in Hollywood because it's a
sign of how much they love America. He told the
Jewish News the same about Christmas.
"I have always felt that no one loved Christmas like
the Jews," Stein wrote in an e-mail. "No family ten-
sions, no disappointments about the wrong gift, just
that great Christmas spirit. For a Jew to be in America
at Christmas, with all the love in the air, after two mil-
lennia of being hunted and killed at Christian holi-
days, is pure bliss, and I believe we feel it keenly."
Nate Teibloom, editor ofjewhoo.com , a Web site
that identifies famous Jews, had a different reason
for why Jews involve themselves in the Christmas
spirit: the bottom line.
"There's a huge market," he said. "Virtually every
recording artist puts our a Christmas album eventu-
ally; including Jewish recording artists.
It's money in the bank. [However],
some Jewish recording artists tend to
shy away from doing the religious
Christmas songs."
One Jewish popular songwriter, who
asked not to identified, believes so
many Jewish composers write Christmas
Not only did Irving
Berlin, center, write
the ever-popular
"White Christmas,"
he also wrote the score
for the film "Easter
Parade," starring Fred
Astaire, left, and Peter
Lawford, right.
Vivi Abrams is a staff writer for our sister paper;
the Atlanta Jewish Times.
Secular Sounds
Had your fill of Christmas music? Check out this sampling of new CDs from Jewish performers.
GAIL ZIMMERMAN
Arts & Entertainment Editor
IV
hile Christmas albums
from Jewish performers
are a staple this time of
year — witness Barbra
Streisand's Christmas Memories, a new
CD of holiday music featuring a beauti-
ful version of Schubert's "Ave Maria" —
there is plenty to whet the appetites of
those yearning for some secular tunes.
Here is a handful of some of the
best new releases in recent weeks:
For The Rock Fan
The Essential Neil Diamond a com-
prehensive two-CD collection of his
career to date, spans 1966 to 2001, with
38 tracks from Diamond's Bang
Records, Uni, Capitol and Columbia
Records output. Highlights include the
original mono "Solitary Man" and
"Cherry, Cherry," "Song Sung Blue,"
12/21
2001
58
"Cracklin
Rosie," "You
Don't Bring Me
Flowers" and
"September
Morn." The song
"You Are the
Best Parr of Me"
hails from his
last album, Three Chord Opera. A trilo-
gy of hits from The Jazz Singer—
"America," "Hello Again" and `Love on
the Rocks" — also is featured. This col-
lection boasts nearly two dozen songs
that hit the Top 20 during the last 35
years, and 10 live concert tracks, six of
them previously unreleased.
4V:91 MANN
For The Folk Fan
Simon & Garfunkel' The Columbia
Studio Recordings 1964-1970 is a
boxed set containing five digitally
remastered classic albums by the first
1960s duo to be inducted into the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame. The packaging
incorporates cardboard sleeves replicat-
ing the original LP releases of
Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.; Sounds of
Silence, Parsley Sage, Rosemary and
Thyme, Bookends, and Bridge Over
Troubled Water. Also included in this
specially constructed long-box format
are a booklet with rare photos, original
liner notes and
newly commis-
SyVt9N & GARF LINKE.
sioned liner
notes. Fans also
are treated to 13
rare and previous-
ly unreleased
bonus tracks,
including demo
versions of "A
Poem on the
Underground
Wall," "Old
Friends" and
"Bridge Over
Troubled Water."
For The Big Band Jazz Fan
Artie Shaw: Self:Portrait is a five-
CD set of remastered tracks five and
six decades old but still fresh and
vivid. Shaw, 91, one of the best clar-
inetists of the 20th century and a
peerless band leader and jazz innovato•
who led various ensembles from 1936-
1954, chose the music for what is the
most complete collection assembled of
his vast output. Incorporating classical
interpretation into his arrangements,
Shaw brought swing jazz into new ter-
ritory. He includes his favorites in this
collection, such as his famed versions
of 'Star Dust," "Begin the Beguine"
and "Streamline." Live performances
of "At Sundown," "Sweet Sue" and
"Diga Diga Doo" feature drummer
Buddy Rich.
For The Standards Fan
Jeff Harmer: Sammy Cahn All the
Way features the award-winning