Sid Beckerman: Biography

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• Yale Strom
• Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band
• The Klezmatics
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• Brave Old World

Genre:

Klezmer Music

Decades Active:

1990's

The son of influential klezmer clarinet player Sholymke Beckerman, Sid Beckerman continues to expand on his father's musical legacy. A teacher at Klez Kamp, a Yiddish folk arts program in the Catskill Mountains for more than a decade and a private instructor since the early '90s, Beckerman has shared his knowledge with scores of enthusiastic students, including the Klezmatics founding member Margot Leverett. As a member of Klezmer Plus, Beckerman continues to reinterpret his father's repertoire with saxophonist Howie Leess, keyboardist Pete Sokolow, tenor banjo player Henry Sapoznik, and drummer Michael Spielzinger. A native of New York's South Bronx, Beckerman began his musical career at the age of 14. Except for a brief period during World War II, when he served as a radio operator in the United States Army, he supported himself as a full-time musician until the mid-'50s when he accepted a job as a post office clerk. Maintaining a low profile as a musician for nearly three decades, except for occasional weddings and bar mitzvahs, Beckerman successfully launched a comeback after retiring from the post office in 1984. Teaching at the first Klez Kamp in 1985, he remains one of the program's best-respected teachers. Beckerman was inducted into the People's Hall of Fame in February 1994.

- Craig Harris, All Music Guide