Abe Schwartz

Abe Schwartz (Yiddish: אבּ שװארץ or אייב שווארץ) (1881 near Bucharest, Romania – 1963 in Bronx, New York City) was an American klezmer violinist, composer, Yiddish theater and ethnic recordings bandleader from the 1910s to the 1940s. In his various orchestras, he recorded many of the leading klezmer musicians of the early twentieth century, including Naftule Brandwein and Dave Tarras.

Biography

Schwartz was born outside of Bucharest, Romania on April 15, 1881. In immigration documents he gave his birthplace as "Mihaleni" (Mihăileni). It is unclear what musical education he received there, but according to klezmer researcher Henry Sapoznik, his father was a tinsmith who tried to discourage Abe from becoming a musician. Schwartz emigrated to the United States with his parents sometime between 1900 and 1902. During the First World War he gave his place of employment as musician at the Little Bessarabia Restaurant on East Houston Street. As Jeffrey Wollock put it, "an independent contractor for Columbia's East European (and possibly other ethnic) records, [...] it was Schwartz's job to put bands together." Wollock continues: "Schwartz was a "house conductor" in the foreign department, and his bands consisted of whomever he hired for the session. Since he often did without written arrangements, relying on his players to "know what to do," the playing on most of his band recordings is vernacular, spontaneous, and somewhat ramshackle."

By 1919 Schwartz published his first song "Dos Zekele mit Koilen" and recorded it with Yiddish language singer Abraham Moskowitz, marking Schwartz's entry into the world of Yiddish theater music. In that year he also recorded a number of non-Jewish recordings under pseudonyms such as Orkiestra Wiejska and Russky Narodny Orkestr.

His most famous tune, which is still performed today, was Di Grine Kuzine (the Green cousin). The song was so successful that it spawned a number of imitator in the world of published scores, such as Hyman Prizant's Mayn Kuzine and Jacob Leiserowitz's Di Grine Kuizine. In 1927, he helped put together another ensemble, the Boiberiker Kapelye, which performed on the radio and on records for five years, and which included such soloists as Dave Tarras, Alex Fiedel, and Berish Katz.

Schwartz continued to record and compose through the 1930s, slowing down somewhat by the 1940s. To him, Schwartz was just an elderly violinist, but many of the audience had followed his career since the 1920s and saw him as "an icon, a cult figure".

Discography