Known bizarrely for a time as the Jewish Benny Goodman, Ukrainian-born klezmer clarinetist Dave Tarras was the relatively reliable and refined answer to the wickeder Naftule Brandwein. Born in 1897, Tarras emigrated to the United States in 1921. He quickly rose through the ranks of Jewish musicians, first as a dependable sideman and later as a composer and band leader himself. Consisting mainly of skillfully remastered 78s, this diverse anthology collects two-dozen Tarras performances in a wide variety of settings (including samples of Jewish radio circa 1940). Tarras was a nimble wonder, with a singing tone and a seemingly endless stream of musical ideas. This album both captures Tarras's brilliance and preserves a form of music poised between the live-wire "crudeness" of European klezmer and the cool pop swing of the '50s. --Richard Gehr
