Harry Aaron Finkelman (May 26, 1914 - June 26, 1968), better known by the stage name Ziggy Elman, was an American jazz trumpeter most associated with Benny Goodman, though he also led his own Ziggy Elman and His Orchestra.
He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but his family settled in Atlantic City when he was four. His father was a violinist who had hoped he would play violin as well. Although, he learned to play the violin, Harry preferred the brass intruments. He began playing for Jewish weddings and nightclubs at age 15 and in 1932 had his first recording where he played trombone. At some point in the decade he adopted the name Ziggy Elman. Elman is a shortening of Finkelman while "Ziggy" is believed to be a reference to Florenz Ziegfeld.
He joined the Benny Goodman orchestra as a trumpet player in 1936. His 1939 composition "And the Angels Sing" with lyrics by Johnny Mercer became the number one song in the nation. .. This song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1987. He loved frailach music, later known as klezmer, and made a few recordings of such with Mickey Katz. In the period from 1940 to 1947 he was honored in Down Beat magazine readers poll six times.
By the 1950s big bands had declined. In 1956 he had a heart-attack which curtailed his musical career. By the end of the 1950s he had to work for a car dealership and was financially ruined. In 1961 it was revealed at an alimony hearing that he was virtually bankrupt. He later worked in a music store and taught trumpet to some up-and-coming musicians. He died in 1968 at 54 and was buried at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery."
.Herb Alpert was born in Los Angeles on March 31,1935.
The son of a Russian immigrant and a Hungarian mother, began playing the trumpet when he was eight.
"He grew up in Fairfax, the Los Angeles equivalent of the Lower East Side, steeped in Yiddish, pickle barrels and halvah. His father, Louis, was a tailor who came to America from a village outside Kiev. But it was his mother, Tillie, who encouraged Herb and his brother and sister in music. He recalled practicing his trumpet all the time, and "the neighbors yelling and my mother yelling back, 'If you don't like it, move.' "
Ziggy Elman and Herb Alpert:
"Perhaps the biggest humiliation came around October 1961: "Pleading strained financial straits, the trumpeter testified that six of his seven bank balances range between $1.19 and $11. The seventh, he confessed, is overdrawn. attorney questioned Elman. 'You are known as the world's leading trumpeter?' asked the lawyer. Replied Ziggy, 'Lots of people think I am, but I still can't get much work.'" To partially fill the void, Elman offered trumpet lessons out of his home. One of Elman's students was Herb Alpert, who later had many record hits as leader of the Tijuana Brass. " In 1966 or '67, he [ Alpert ] did And the Angels Sing, put it on one of his albums." That provided Elman some happiness. "Sure it did," affirmed his son Martin."
The Klezmer Sound of ZIGGY ELMAN:
"After the depression the Klezmer scene was virtually wiped out, mainly because of sudden change in immigration quotas. Also, people were trying to assimilate and forget all of their cultural roots, and at the same time the recording companies virtually wiped out their entire ethnic area, which was one of the main sources of work and income for the Klezmer bands. A lot of the young, hot Klezmer players of the day went into jazz: people like Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, Ziggy Elman . . . In certain pieces you can hear the Klezmer influence; "And the Angel's Sing" has a big trumpet solo in it--that whole tune is based on a Klezmer piece--played by Ziggy Elman, and he's playing the Klezmer bit the whole way through."
Video: Yiddish favorites Herb Alpert and Ziggy Elman. click here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9KunFWrP78
