Blue Box
Lazar’s ‘Jewish story’ captures imagination
In one story strand of Zachary Lazar’s compelling new novel, I Pity the Poor Immigrant (Little, Brown & Co.), the...
David Weiss’ new album finds hope amid tragedies
David Weiss is a brilliant trumpeter, leader, composer and arranger. He was a guiding influence in the comeback of jazz...
Aharon Appelfeld limns an unlikely love story
Aharon Appelfeld, a native of Czernowitz, Bukovina, and one of Israel’s most acclaimed novelists, has set most of his stories...
Alon Nechushtan, band soar on Venture Bound
Pianist and composer Alon Nechushtan, a Tel Aviv native, presides over a talented crew of musicians that delivers the goods...
Around the world in 80 knishes
“Who doesn’t love a knish?” asks Joan Rivers, in one of the epigraphs for Knish: In Search of the Jewish...
Oran Etkin’s travels inspire 'Gathering Light'
Israeli native Oran Etkin grew up in the United States, and he credits this country’s blues and jazz musicians (Yusef...
‘A Bintel Brief’ conjures Forward’s sage editor
“A Bintel Brief” (Yiddish for “A Bundle of Letters”) was the popular advice column that began running, in 1906, in...
Eli Degibri and band swing on new album
Eli Degibri, an accomplished Israeli saxophonist and composer, follows his last album, Israeli Song, with Twelve (Plus Loin), a batch...
Amos Oz writes about kibbutz life
At the age of 14, two years after his mother committed suicide, Amos Oz (né Klausner) joined the Labor Zionist...
New box set hits high notes of Mike Bloomfield’s career
The musical career of a great Chicago bluesman is surveyed in a new package of three CDs and a DVD...
