Soundcheck
Soundcheck
WNYC Studios
Clarinetist Michael Winograd Infuses Klezmer Traditions With Jazz
21 minutes Posted Jan 12, 2026 at 5:00 am.
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Klezmer music may have its roots in the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe, but it found a home here in NY in the 1920s and 30s, and the klezmer revival that began almost a half century ago was also centered in New York. Clarinetist Michael Winograd has been a major figure on the klezmer music scene for a couple of decades now, both as a composer and as a kind of music historian. His current project is a remake of a 1955 album that flopped at the time and is now considered a classic meeting of klezmer and jazz. That album was called Tanz!, Yiddish for dance, and Michael Winograd leads a stellar lineup of musicians to play some of the tunes, in-studio. 

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