Two Michigan friends of Bass — one from Hebrew school and one from middle school — built their own musical careers in other states but were able to participate in the Jakey B. LP during visits back home. Will Feinberg, a fellow student of Bass at Temple Emanu-El now working in New Orleans, played keyboards for the song “Real Smooth Like.” Ian Ludlow (Lefkowitz) did arranging and editing for the album. Feinberg, the son of pianist Henry Feinberg, grew up in Huntington Woods, has appeared in the New Orleans Jazz Fest among diverse engagements and teaches private students. His band Tansy released its first album, Full Bloom, in 2020. “Jake’s album has a really nice groove,” said Feinberg, who performed professionally in China while also working for the Institute for the International Education of Students as he initially contemplated a career in international relations. Ian Ludlow, who works in California, got to know Bass at Norup Middle School while living in Oak Park and preparing for his bar mitzvah at Congregation Beth Shalom. He also did some remote fiddling for the recording. “I like the free feeling of the album,” Ludlow said. “It’s not the same over and over.” Ludlow, who also studied at Columbia College Chicago, has toured as a producer and DJ artist in the electronic and pop styles. He regularly has worked with Chance the Rapper. — Suzanne Chessler
writing words to it and asked for a meeting. “We have since toured the country, the United Kingdom and Israel,” Bass said. “Last year, we put out his second album, Little Victories, which got to No. 1 on the Amazon hip-hop charts. He can feel the music and read my lips; that’s how we get it done.” Bass is married to an attorney, Danielle (née Klavons), whom he met in Hebrew school at Temple Emanu-El. They are rais-
ing a 3-year-old daughter, Layla, who could represent the third generation of Bass musicians. “I’m teaching her music, and she loves the piano and drums,” said Bass, who has been active with JFamily Detroit and The Well. “We got a little microphone for her, and she’s always in my studio. She’s having fun, but she respects the instruments. I have a lot of guitars, and she knows to be gentle with them. It’s pretty fascinating.”
ARTS&LIFE CELEBRITY JEWS
NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST
FRYE’S HOME MOVIES, CNN CHANGES, SAMMY DAVIS’ DAUGHTER I previously wrote about the Feb. 25 premiere of a reboot of the hit ’80s series Punky Brewster. The co-star of Punky, Soleil Moon Frye, 44, is also the star and director of an intriguing new documentary, titled Kid 90. It premieres on Hulu March 12. Back in the 1990s, Frye massed hundreds of hours of footage of her famous contemporaries with her video camera. The videos provide a focus for Frye and a group of about a dozen actors (all about her age) to talk about many subjects, such as sex, aging, drugs, the special problems of young women in showbiz and the price of early fame (eight persons in the videos later committed suicide). Interviewees include David Arquette, 49, and Stephen Dorff, 47. March is the last month in which Wolf Blitzer, 74, will hold the title of “lead political anchor” of CNN. Starting April 1, Jake Tapper, 51, will assume that title. Also, on April 1, Blitzer’s daily CNN program, The Situation Room, will be reduced from two hours to one. The Lead with Jake Tapper will expand to two hours. Meanwhile, Tapper has already begun to share his Sunday program, The State of the Union, with correspondent Dana Bash, 49. They host on alternate weeks. All three have strong Jewish backgrounds. Blitzer is the son of Auschwitz survivors and became fluent in Hebrew while working for the Jerusalem Post. Tapper is a Jewish day school grad.
EDWARD KIMMER VIA WIKIPEDIA
A Reunion of Bass Buddies
Wolf Blitzer in 2017
Bash’s mother has a masters’ degree in Jewish studies. Dana was formerly married to Jeremy Bash, the son of a Conservative rabbi, and CNN correspondent John King, 59, who converted to Judaism before marrying Bash. A few weeks ago, I came across a press release from last October saying a biopic about Sammy Davis Jr. (19251990) was in the works and would be based on a 2014 memoir, Sammy Davis Jr.: A Personal Journey with My Father, by Tracey Davis. I recently got a library copy of the book, a lavish production with great photos. Tracey writes about some of her family’s Jewish ties, and she includes the full text of a moving statement that a rabbi made as he presided over the 1960 interracial wedding of her father to Swedish-born actress May Britt, now 86 (both converted to Judaism before the wedding). Tracey said her mother always celebrated Shabbos on Friday night, but, sadly, her father was rarely there because he was “always” working, which led to her parents’ divorce in 1968. Last week, I looked up Tracey and was shocked to learn she died Nov. 20, at age 59, following an unspecified “short illness.” She is survived by her four children, three brothers and her mother. MARCH 11 • 2021
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