Art Shryer

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Art Shryer, klezmer musician and bandleader (c.1936)

Art Shryer (Yiddish: ארט שרײער‎) was a Klezmer cornetist, bandleader, and recording artist who was active in the New York City area in the 1920s and 1930s.[1][2] In the late 1920s he recorded a number of Jewish and other Eastern European music sides for Brunswick Records, Vocalion Records, and Victor Records.[3][4]

Biography[]

Shryer's personal life, and musical training, are poorly documented outside of his recordings and performances from the 1920s and 1930s.

The majority of his recording career for 78-rpm records seems to have taken place in 1924, 1928, and 1929. His first recordings were made at Vocalion Records in New York in April 1924, where he recorded four klezmer tracks with a seven-piece orchestra under the name Art Shryer's Modern Jewish Orchestra.[4] His next round of recording was at Brunswick Records in January 1928, where he recorded four Jewish sides with a ten-piece orchestra which he called Art Shryer's Yiddish Orchestra.[5] He then returned to the same studio in April of that year to record another round of sides of Slavic music under the title Russky Narodny Orkestr.[3][4] His final round of recordings seems to have been at the Victor Recording Company in New York in January 1929, where he recorded another six sides of klezmer with a ten-piece orchestra.[4] The passing of the Immigration Act of 1924 which greatly restricted Jewish immigration from Europe, and then the onset of the Great Depression by 1930, essentially cut off the market for Yiddish and klezmer recordings in the United States.[6] Perhaps for that reason, Shryer does not seem to have recorded in studio again, although he did continue to perform on the radio, on stage and even occasionally on film.

Jewish orchestra led by Art Shryer, mid-1930s

During the 1920s and 1930s he regularly appeared on the radio in the New York areas, playing Jewish music with his orchestra, or playing cornet solo pieces.[7][8][9][10] He also had a brief career arranging music for Yiddish language films. In 1932, he directed the music for Henry Lynn's Talkie Die ungluckliche Kale (The Unfortunate Bride), as well as for another film that year called Mazel Tov, a picture featuring Molly Picon.[11][12][13] After that, he was often hired on touring showings of Yiddish films, including The Unfortunate Bride and Yiddish King Lear.[14][15]

Legacy[]

During and after the , there was renewed interest in klezmer recordings of earlier decades, and some of Shryer's records started to appear on reissue albums. These were primarily curated by Henry Sapoznik, and include Klezmer pioneers 1905-1952: European and American recordings (Rounder Records, 1993), Jakie jazz 'em up: old-time klezmer music, 1912-1926 (Global Village, 1993), and Cantors, klezmorim, and crooners, 1905-1953: classic Yiddish 78s from the Mayrent Collection (JSP, 2009).[16][17][18]

References[]

  1. ^ Rubin, Joel (2020). New York klezmer in the early twentieth century : the music of Naftule Brandwein and Dave Tarras. Rochester, NY: Rochester University. p. 349. ISBN 9781580465984.
  2. ^ Sapoznik, Henry (1999). Klezmer! : Jewish music from Old World to our world. New York: Schirmer Books. p. 126. ISBN 9780028645742.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b "Shryer, Art". Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Spottswood, Richard K. (1990). Ethnic music on records : a discography of ethnic recordings produced in the United States, 1893 to 1942. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. pp. 1515–6. ISBN 9780252017216.
  5. ^ Laird, Ross (2001). Brunswick Records: New York sessions, 1927-1931. Greenwood Press. pp. 543, 632.
  6. ^ Rubin, Joel E. (2020). New York klezmer in the early twentieth century : the music of Naftule Brandwein and Dave Tarras. Rochester, NY: Boydell & Brewer. pp. 260–3. ISBN 9781787448315.
  7. ^ "The Listener's Corner". The Yonkers Stateman. 1930-08-27.
  8. ^ "Today on the Radio". The New York Times. 1927-03-07.
  9. ^ "Evening Post Radio-Timetable". The New York Evening Post. 1925-08-14.
  10. ^ "RADIO PROGRAMS". The Mount Vernon Daily Argus. 1929-05-25.
  11. ^ The American Film Institute catalog of motion pictures produced in the United States. New York: Bowker. 1993. p. 645. ISBN 9780520079083.
  12. ^ Hoberman, J. (1991). Bridge of light : Yiddish film between two worlds. New York: Museum of Modern Art. p. 184. ISBN 9780805241075.
  13. ^ Within our gates : ethnicity in American feature films, 1911-1960. Berkeley, Ca.: University of California Press. 1997. pp. 649, 1086. ISBN 9780520209640.
  14. ^ "FEATURE FILMS SHOWING TODAY". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1936-03-20.
  15. ^ "The Unfortunate Bride at the Maryland Theatre". Center for Jewish History. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  16. ^ "Klezmer pioneers 1905-1952: European and American recordings". WorldCat. 1993. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  17. ^ "Jakie jazz 'em up: old-time klezmer music, 1912-1926". WorldCat (in Yiddish). 1993. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
  18. ^ "Cantors, klezmorim, and crooners, 1905-1953: classic Yiddish 78s from the Mayrent Collection". WorldCat. 2009. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
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