A SLICE FROM THE KLEZ PIE

I know a union leader who plays mandolin in a folk band. He’s a hyphenated guy. Musician-union honcho. And I’ve read about a lawyer who writes hit pop tunes. No, I heard him on Terri Gross’ show. And who can forget Mark Warshavsky, the famous Polish Yiddish songwriter/lawyer.

All hail Charles Ives, Wallace Stevens and Denny Zeitlin — the jazz piano-playing  shrink.

Just about everybody in my band is a don’t-quit-your-day-job guy. Exception, our violinist, Steve Ostrow, who teaches and/or plays music all day. He doesn’t do anything that isn’t musical. Even his wife is a musician. His whole life is music. He also plays trombone, trumpet and classical guitar. He went to Eastman on a performance scholarship and saved up when he played seven years in a Venezuelan orchestra. Then he decided not to have kids and live happily ever after.

It helps not to have kids in the music biz.

I have another friend — a single guy — who is one of the best klezmer violinists in the world. He has played all the festivals: Cracow, Weimar, Montreal. He lives in Cleveland and makes it on music alone too. He used to be in Yiddishe Cup. Then he went out on his own to make it internationally. Everybody in the klez world knows him. Steve Greenman. (Well, everybody in the klez world knows me too, so I guess that ain’t saying much.) The klez world is slightly bigger than a 12-inch pizza.

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