Jews and Jazz: Improvising Ethnicity in America
The CSULB Jewish Studies Program is sponsoring a talk by Charles Hersch on of “Jews and Jazz: Improvising Ethnicity in America” this Thursday, November 20th, at 7 pm at the Alpert JCC (3801 E. Willow St.).
What happens when Jewish culture meets America’s greatest musical art form? Hersch will explore the surprising and powerful ways Jewish musicians have shaped and been shaped by American jazz.
From Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw to Stan Getz and Michael Brecker, Jewish artists have used jazz to express who they are at different periods in American history:
- To claim their place as Americans (1920s and 1930s)
- To stand in solidarity with African Americans (1940s and 50s)
- And to rediscover their own Jewishness in a multicultural world (1960s to present)
Discover how jazz became a stage for identity, belonging, and creativity — and why this story still matters today.
Charles Hersch is Professor of Political Science at Cleveland State University. He is the author of three books, including Democratic Artworks: Politics and the Arts from Trilling to Dylan (1997), Subversive Sounds: Race and the Birth of Jazz in New Orleans (2007), and Jews and Jazz: Improvising Ethnicity (2017), as well as numerous articles.
Like all Jewish Studies talks, this is free and open to the public. To speed admission through security, the JCC asks that people rsvp first: https://jewishlongbeach.regfox.com/free-lectures .
