is
ear guitarist'
has Is k band, Hershel Yatovitz follows a lifelong calling.
SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to the Jewish News
hen Chris Isaak and his band Silvertone appear at the
Meadow Brook Music Festival, Hershel Yatovitz will be
the featured player for many songs. As lead guitarist
since 1995, Yatovitz has toured with the singer-songwriter-actor
and appeared on his three-season TV series, The Chris Isaak Show.
"Speak of the Devil" and "Wicked Game" — Isaak hits — are
sure to be performed during the July 23 concert, with Yatovitz shar-
ing the spotlight.
"Being that the band is very much a vocal and guitar-oriented
group, most of the instrumental sections are-guitar-oriented," says
Yatovitz, 39. "One of the great things I love about working with
Chris is that the band has a wide spectrurn of dynamics. We can
bring it down soft and tender, and we really can kick it up.
"Chris usually sticks to his own material and some wonderfully
esoteric cover tunes, some from past generations. If he does an
Elvis song, it's off some strange cassette tape found in a vault
),
somewhere.
Yatovitz, who separately writes and records in his
Oregon home studio, met Chris through fellow
freelance musicians working in San Francisco,
where he grew up and worked early in his
career. The lead guitarist was playing a
wide range of styles with different groups
and producing albums in his California
recording studio when asked to audi-
tion for Silvertone.
"I was always in touch with music,"
says Yatovitz, who feels comfortable
with folk, rock, blues, jazz and even
opera. "My mom tells me I sang
jingles before I could hardly talk. I
connected with whatever music I
heard.
"I picked up trumpet in grade
school and guitar when I was 12.
Before I was bar mitzvahed, I
knew I was going to have a
career as a musician, so I asked
all of my relatives for gift certifi-
cates to a music store to get my
first nice guitar."
Yatovitz took private lessons
with Tuck Andress of the jazz duo
Tuck and Patti and went on to teach
beginners while appearing in a range of
venues. For nine years, the Isaak instru-
mentalist was an instructor at the Stanford
Jazz Workshop, a summer program.
Hershel Yatovitz:
"Ray blessed."
MUSIC MACHER
f .
on page 36
7/16
2004
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