How Jews promoted and popularized Black music

Jews have long been at the heart of America’s music business, from the early Tin Pan Alley days to the rise of indie labels specializing in rhythm and blues. They were — and are — business people, composers and top-notch performers working with music genres connected to African American culture, from jazz to rock and roll, according to Associate Professor of History and Judaic Studies Jonathan Karp. “Jews were extremely prominent as interpreters of Black music, as musicians themselves but also as entrepreneurs of Black music,” he said. Currently, Karp is working on a new book that explores Black and Jewish relations through the lens of popular music and the music business. His research often focuses on the complex interaction of the Jewish community with other communities that surround them, including the roles played by Jews in modern economic life and the images and stereotypes that have accompanied them. “Jews are a minority and a diasporic people and, throughout their history, they have had to contend with being a small people, usually disliked and in a hostile environment,” Karp said. “You can only understand their history by understanding how they navigated and negotiated relationships with other surrounding groups.” In Europe,...