In his graphic novel, Market Day (Drawn & Quarterly), James Sturm illustrates a day in the life of Mendleman, a rug weaver who struggles to sell his quality wares in a marketplace that no longer needs such handcrafted goods. Set in an early 20th century eastern European shtetl, the story of Mendleman’s uncertain fate, with a [...]

Tales From the Earth (Otá), flutist Mark Weinstein’s collaboration with Cuban-born virtuoso Omar Sosa, on vibraphone, marimba and piano, is for the musically adventurous listener. The album is heavy with African rhythms percolating around Weinstein’s lyrical playing.  A native of Brooklyn, Weinstein got his musical start as a trombonist in leading salsa bands. He left [...]

Local Jewish artist Joyce Lyon joins Elizabeth Erickson and Sandra Menefee Taylor in a new exhibit titled Gardens for Winter, which is on display through April 3 at Form + Content Gallery, 210 N. Second St., Minneapolis. An opening reception will take place 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, March 5. The artists’ new works, in a [...]

Just in time for Purim, the Coen brothers’ whimsical look at Midwest Jewish life in the 1960s is available for home viewing. A Serious Man (Blu-Ray Hi-Def and DVD, from Universal) includes three bonus features: “Becoming Serious,” with commentary about the film by the Coens, actors and crew members; “Creating 1967,” about locations and set design; [...]

Israeli native Roni Ben-Hur plays a smooth electric guitar in the tradition of Wes Montgomery and Kenny Burrell. He’s a big favorite of mine (won’t someone bring him to town for a show?), and his most recent album, Fortuna (Motéma Music), a collection of 10 Spanish-tinged tunes, burnishes his reputation. Ben-Hur, who’s from a Sephardic Jewish [...]

Jewish chauvinism aside, it’s a fact that Jews composed the great majority of tunes that make up the body of work known as the Great American Songbook. David Lehman, in A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songs (Shocken/Nextbook) details how Jewish musical geniuses — Berlin, Gershwin, Hammerstein, Bernstein et al. — were inspired by American life [...]

Jazz trumpeter Randy Brecker began his amazing journey to Tykocin, Poland, in 1994, when he met Wlodek Pawlik, an acclaimed Polish pianist. In 2005, Brecker’s brother, Michael, a jazz saxophonist and his longtime musical partner, was diagnosed with leukemia. Pawlik helped in the search for a stem cell donor, which took the Breckers to their [...]

Marv Davidov is known locally as a guiding light of the Honeywell Project, the campaign to stop the Minneapolis-based firm’s manufacture of conventional and nuclear weapons. In You Can’t Do That! Marv Davidov, Nonviolent Revolutionary (Nodin Press), poet Carol Masters provides an empathetic account of the colorful life of a local radical political activist. She [...]

Mark Bloom covers a range of style — blues, funk, jazz, rock, salsa and swing — in his new double-CD album, Holidays in Bloom. In the run-up to the Festival of Lights, the Plymouth-based musician includes “Jumpswing Dreydl,” a Hanuka song for hep cats who want to cut a rug.

On the minor holiday theme, [...]

Madison, Wisc.-based jazz pianist and composer Ben Sidran has recorded an album of Dylan covers. Dylan Different (Nardis Music) includes Sidran’s renditions of “Highway 61 Revisited,” “Tangled Up in Blue,” “Maggie’s Farm,” “Blowin’ in the Wind” and other tunes by the renowned troubadour from Hibbing, Minn. In a story about Sidran earlier this year (4-17-09 [...]