The loss of a beloved music icon

By Arlene Stolnitz

In February, a light went out in the world of American popular music. After a lifetime of creating music that was often thought of as “shmaltzy” or “makeout” music, Burt Bacharach passed away peacefully at the age of 95.

A beloved icon for several generations of fans, Bacharach achieved a myriad of accolades for his popular music as well as screen music. Today, everyone can hum his tunes, whether it is “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” “Alfie,” or one of hundreds of other songs he wrote.

Bacharach was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1928 to Irma and Mark Bertram (Bert) Bacharach. His father was a well-known newspaper journalist and his mother a “would-be” painter and songwriter. By the time he was 4 years old, his family had moved to Kew Gardens, New York City where he grew up. He attended Forest Hills High School and graduated in 1946.

Like so many parents of gifted children who are musically inclined, his mother pushed him and saw that he had piano lessons at an early age. In later years, Burt said he always thought he would be a classical pianist. However, he hated practicing and often skipped out, getting a fake ID to attend 52nd Street nightclubs. He was fascinated with jazz rhythms and was able to hear the “greats” like Dizzie Gillespie and Charlie Parker, who, much later, were an influence in his style.

After the bebop musicians, his most serious influence was the French composer, conductor and teacher, Darius Milhaud, who was considered one of the key modernist composers. Milhaud taught many future jazz and classical composers, including Burt Bacharach, Dave Brubeck, Philip Glass, and others.

The family were nonpracticing Jews. I read a comment he made later in his life in which he stated that the kids he knew were all Catholic. He knew he was Jewish but didn’t want anyone to know about it. There was a lot of antisemitism during his growing-up years, which affected his religious outlook. And, yet, Jonathan Freedman, author of “Klezmer America: Jewishness, Ethnicity, Modernity,” stated in Jewish Week in 2013, that what made Bacharach’s music Jewish was his “wild play with time signatures;” he calls Bacharach “audacious and experimental,” much like Gershwin’s chord changes. Bacharach is seen by Freedman as an example of what Jewish artists do as they “enter popular forms and make them their own.”

His collaboration with Dionne Warwick was famously known, and her statement upon his death revealed their close association and affection for each other despite their “ups and downs.”

Bacharach had four wives, the most well known being Angie Dickinson. His last marriage in 1993 to Jane Hansen, 32 years his junior, was his most successful. They remained together, virtually out of the spotlight, until his death at age 95.

American Masters on PBS recently featured a program on Burt Bacharach, which I viewed with anticipation, recalling my love of his music when I was much younger. Upon hearing his songs, I was surprised to realize how much music has changed since those days. The music sounded very stylized and repetitive, almost primitive in style. The music we hear these days (which I don’t always like) has evolved into much more complex forms.

I wonder about your thoughts on this …

Arlene Stolnitz, a retired educator, has been a regular contributor to Federation papers in Southwest Florida. Her interest in all kinds of Judaic music has led to this series of articles.