Max Yankowitz

Max Yankowitz (1875–1945) or Yenkovitz was a Romanian-born American Klezmer accordionist and recording artist. He was one of the first musicians to record Klezmer music in the United States, making a handful of recordings for Columbia Records in 1913; he continued to record sporadically until around 1929.

Biography He was born Meir Yankowitz in Bacău, Romania on March 23 or 24, 1875. His parents were named Bernard and Hannah. Little is known about Yankowitz's early life or musical background. He emigrated to the New York area via Hamburg in June 1900.

He made his first known recordings with Columbia Records in New York in April 1913. This set of 8 accordion recordings included Yiddish theatre music, Klezmer dances and Romanian music, and were made with the accompaniment of a cimbalom player named Goldberg. He applied for U.S. citizenship in 1918.

According to Klezmer researcher Joshua Horowitz, Yankowitz seems to have remained active as an accordionist until around 1937. He was 70 years old. He was buried in the Montefiore Cemetery in Queens in the section of the First Bucecer Independent Benevolent Association, a Landsmanshaft for immigrants from Buczacz.

Family Max's wife was named Gisela (née Lazarowitz) and was born in Romania in around 1878; they seem to have been married around the time they emigrated in 1900. Daniel, who changed his family name to Yates, became a violinist and later relocated to Florida in the 1940s. In particular, accordionists focused on his unusual technique which was partly due to the type of accordion he played and partly due to his idiosyncratic, rustic playing style. Because recordings of the Klezmer cimbalom from that era are also quite rare, the accompaniment on his tracks has also attracted attention.