THE NEW ZUCKOFF

JAZZ AND FOLK MUSIC COLLECTION

This spring saw the arrival of a noteworthy collection of jazz and folk music recordings accumulated over about thirty years by Murray and Aviva Cantor Zuckoff. The son of immigrants in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City and a prize-winning journalist, the late Mr. Zuckoff (1925-2004) was attracted to jazz and other music of African Americans partly because of his interest in it as an expression of an oppressed people and reflective of their core beliefs or values. Ms. Cantor Zuckoff, who donated the collection in her husband’s memory, is responsible for selecting the folk music, which reflects her larger interest in ethnicity and assimilation.

The collection consists of 33 and 1/3 rpm long-playing records, some of which have come to us in near-mint condition. There are both twelve-inch monophonic and stereophonic recordings and a smaller number of early ten-inch monophonic recordings, many from labels that have been out of business for decades.

Among the jazz and jazz-influenced players recorded are a host of African-American greats, including Miles Davis, Sammy Davis, Jr., Lena Horne, Illinois Jacquet, Bunk Johnson, Jonah Jones, Thelonius Monk, Max Roach, and Fats Waller. Other musicians represented include Harry James, Peggy Lee, and the almost legendary Frankie Laine and Lee Wiley. Although the folk music recordings are fewer, they, too, have their fair share of bright spots. Leadbelly, Odetta, Stan Wilson, and the early Harry Belafonte are among the artists represented. Both the jazz and folk music records also include anthology albums that feature individual performances by many half-forgotten artists. A significant number of these individual performances have not been transferred to compact discs. Because of that, they represent a significant rarity. Among the jazz records are some thirty albums that might be characterized as jam sessions. On each are found two or more artists or groups performing about fifteen to twenty jazz standards by a variety of composers.

As Socialist Zionists, the Zuckoffs led lives of intellectual pursuit and social activism. Mr. Zuckoff started out as a writer for the Socialist Workers Party and eventually became editor of the Patterson, N.J., Morning Call, an old labor town newspaper with origins in the mid-nineteenth century. His paper broke the news on many important African American-related stories in the areas of black-white race relations and civil rights. According to his widow, “the fairness and understanding with which he covered the news brought him the trust of leaders in the religious communities and in the Black Power movement. He was often the only white reporter they allowed to attend their events.”

From about the late 1960’s to the late 1980’s, he served as head of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in New York City, transforming it from a vehicle for the dissemination of disparate self-serving press releases into a genuine news-gathering organization. This was during a critical period when American Jews were faced with major issues, such as the Six Day War between Israel and the Arab states, the War in Vietnam, anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union and Argentina, and other church-state issues. His papers now reside in the Robert Wagner Labor Archives of New York University, Xavier University’s Faculty Resource Network partner.

Ms. Cantor Zuckoff was editor of Jewish Liberation Journal, which was part of the Jewish Movement of the late 1960’s and early ’70’s and which was among the earliest supporters in the U. S. of a two-state solution for Israel. In 1976, she co-founded and became editor of the American Jewish feminist magazine Lilith. As Aviva Cantor, she has twenty-five entries for publications in OCLC, the Online Computer Library Center, with the latest being the 548-page Jewish Women/Jewish Men: The Legacy of Patriarchy in Jewish Life, which was published by HarperSanFrancisco in 1995.

When Ms. Cantor Zuckoff’s father died, her mother said that she had “lost my friend-in-life.” This is how Murray Zuckoff’s widow feels about her late husband, “my friend-in-life . . . my comrade in the kibbutz-that-is-marriage.”

Now in process of being cataloged, the Zuckoff Collection will be stored as a distinct unit in the Media Center, where students and visiting scholars will be able to audition the records and from which the records can circulate to faculty members.