• About
  • Support AJW
  • Jewish Community Directory
  • Subscription Information
  • Contact Us
American Jewish World
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • All
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Australia & New Zealand
    • Europe
    • Israel/Mideast
    • Latin America
    • Minnesota
    • US & Canada
    Rabbi Harold Kravitz steps down

    Rabbi Harold Kravitz steps down

    Les Block, our music maven

    Les Block, our music maven

    ‘Rav’ and ‘chaver,’ rabbi and friend, Kassel Abelson dies at 99

    ‘Rav’ and ‘chaver,’ rabbi and friend, Kassel Abelson dies at 99

  • Arts
    • All
    • Blue Box
    • Books & Literature
    • Music
    • Televison & Film
    • Theater & Performing Arts
    • Visual Arts
    Les Block, our music maven

    Les Block, our music maven

    Journey to the old land of woe

    Journey to the old land of woe

    Jews bring the funny to the Fringe

    Jews bring the funny to the Fringe

  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Health & Wellness
    • Home & Garden
    • Travel & Culture
    Robyn Frank finds her niche in the cookie business

    Robyn Frank finds her niche in the cookie business

    Editorial: More from my European vacation

    Editorial: More from my European vacation

    Our Rosh Hashana special edition

    Our Rosh Hashana special edition

  • Editorial
  • Opinion
  • AJW Digital Archives
  • News
    • All
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Australia & New Zealand
    • Europe
    • Israel/Mideast
    • Latin America
    • Minnesota
    • US & Canada
    Rabbi Harold Kravitz steps down

    Rabbi Harold Kravitz steps down

    Les Block, our music maven

    Les Block, our music maven

    ‘Rav’ and ‘chaver,’ rabbi and friend, Kassel Abelson dies at 99

    ‘Rav’ and ‘chaver,’ rabbi and friend, Kassel Abelson dies at 99

  • Arts
    • All
    • Blue Box
    • Books & Literature
    • Music
    • Televison & Film
    • Theater & Performing Arts
    • Visual Arts
    Les Block, our music maven

    Les Block, our music maven

    Journey to the old land of woe

    Journey to the old land of woe

    Jews bring the funny to the Fringe

    Jews bring the funny to the Fringe

  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Health & Wellness
    • Home & Garden
    • Travel & Culture
    Robyn Frank finds her niche in the cookie business

    Robyn Frank finds her niche in the cookie business

    Editorial: More from my European vacation

    Editorial: More from my European vacation

    Our Rosh Hashana special edition

    Our Rosh Hashana special edition

  • Editorial
  • Opinion
  • AJW Digital Archives
No Result
View All Result
Morning News
No Result
View All Result
Home Arts Music

Helping Leonard Cohen sound good

Minneapolis native Leanne Ungar will be working behind the scenes, when Canada’s most famous Jewish singer-songwriter performs at the Orpheum

erin by erin
March 24, 2023
in Arts
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

By MORDECAI SPECKTOR

The great Duke Ellington famously said of music: “If it sounds good, it is good.”

READ ALSO

Les Block, our music maven

Journey to the old land of woe

When Leonard Cohen performs on Sunday at the Orpheum Theatre, Minneapolis native Leanne Ungar will help make the renowned bard of Montreal and his band sound great.

Leanne Ungar (Courtesy of Berklee College of Music)
Leanne Ungar (Courtesy of Berklee College of Music)

The Washburn High School and University of Minnesota grad has worked as an audio engineer on eight of Cohen’s albums since 1984 (and co-produced the 1994 Cohen Live and the 2002 compilation album The Essential Leonard Cohen).

Ungar is in charge of the stage monitors; her task is to help the musicians hear the precise sound they are creating.

When she’s not on the road, Ungar has taught audio engineering and music production at Berklee College of Music. This is her fifth year at the prestigious music academy in Boston; but she has taken a leave of absence this year to do the tour with Cohen.

Ungar also has another significant connection to Leonard Cohen’s music — her husband, Bob Metzger, plays guitar in the band.

“We met 21 years ago, in 1988, on Leonard Cohen’s tour in support of the record I’m Your Man,” Ungar recalled last week, during a telephone chat from Seattle, Wash. “I had flown over to Stockholm to record the band for Swedish television, and Bob and I met at that time.”

Ungar recalls that she met her husband-to-be on April 30, which was Walpurgis Night (Valborg, in Swedish). The Swedes were lighting bonfires throughout the city, “so it was a memorable evening,” said Ungar, who also has worked on albums for Laurie Anderson, Holly Cole, Fishbone, Guster, Janis Ian, the Temptations and other artists.

Ungar then handed the phone to her husband. Metzger, a native of the Milwaukee suburb of Shorewood, reported that the Cohen tour has been playing to sold-out houses and good press reviews. “It’s just been an overwhelming response,” he said.

“We do songs from every part of Leonard Cohen’s career,” explained Metzger, who has played with the enormously influential poet, novelist and songwriter since 1988.

Cohen’s current tour is his first extended concert swing in some 15 years; he played the State Theatre in Minneapolis in 1993. (I attended his only other local show, a 1975 concert at Orchestra Hall.)

The tour wound through European cities from June through December last year, said Metzger. The American and Canadian concerts began in April and will run into early June, then the musical troupe heads back to Europe in July.

In a Billboard review of Cohen’s warm-up concert for his U.S. tour, on Feb. 19, at the Beacon Theatre in New York City, Lavinia Jones Wright noted that the singer-songwriter’s “energy throughout the performance was electric, driving the crowd to its feet after nearly every song. Cohen’s touring band, led by musical director and bass player Roscoe Beck, laid a subtle, shimmering and sometimes funky background behind Cohen’s celebrated lyrics and theater-shaking basso profundo. And the surprisingly spry singer wobbled into shuffling foot dances and rascally grapevine steps as guitarist Bob Metzger and saxophone player/multi-instrumentalist Dino Soldo took their solos.”

Asked about Cohen’s stage presence this time around, Metzger responded, “I think he’s aged, but I think his voice is possibly even better than it was before. He’s very focused on this tour. Obviously, he’s 74 years old, so he needs to really rest a lot. And he saves his bullets for the stage — he’s got tremendous stamina.”

Leonard Cohen (Photo: Avi Gerver)

Metzger also commented that Cohen exhibits great humility onstage and shares the limelight with his musicians and technical crew. “He introduces the band, usually twice during the show … and thanks everyone involved in the show … He’s been great; he’s very gracious to the audiences.”

In her review of the February show in New York City, Jones Wright stated that the “evening was joyful; for the audience, but more so for Cohen himself. He seemed positively elated to be back in front of an audience in his beloved city, skipping off the stage at the end of the main set and then again after each of two encores. Any first-timer would have seen every bit of the power of Leonard Cohen both as a performer and a songwriter in the show.”

Underlining that sentiment, Cohen’s guitar ace encouraged all Leonard Cohen fans to head for the Orpheum on May 3.

“The show is really worth seeing,” Metzger enthused. “He’s put together a great band … He’s at the peak of his powers now.”

***

Leonard Cohen will perform 8 p.m. Sunday, May 3 at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis. For tickets, go to: ticketmaster.com.

(American Jewish World, May 1, 2009)

Related Posts

Les Block, our music maven
Minnesota

Les Block, our music maven

August 8, 2023
Journey to the old land of woe
Books & Literature

Journey to the old land of woe

August 7, 2023
Jews bring the funny to the Fringe
Theater & Performing Arts

Jews bring the funny to the Fringe

August 7, 2023
Repressing memories of a week in 1970
Books & Literature

Repressing memories of a week in 1970

July 23, 2023
A guide to Jewish artists at Twin Cities art fairs
Visual Arts

A guide to Jewish artists at Twin Cities art fairs

July 17, 2023
Book explores the bard of Hibbing’s local roots
Books & Literature

Book explores the bard of Hibbing’s local roots

July 12, 2023
Next Post

Sun sets on Federation's "Israel @ 60 Mission"

Comments 0

  1. Pingback: American Jewish World » Blog Archive » New CD/DVD set gathers Leonard Cohen’s artistry

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

RECENT ARTICLES

Rabbi Harold Kravitz steps down

Rabbi Harold Kravitz steps down

August 9, 2023
News from the Jewish World — and the Jewish world

News from the Jewish World — and the Jewish world

August 9, 2023
Les Block, our music maven

Les Block, our music maven

August 8, 2023
‘Rav’ and ‘chaver,’ rabbi and friend, Kassel Abelson dies at 99

‘Rav’ and ‘chaver,’ rabbi and friend, Kassel Abelson dies at 99

August 10, 2023
Journey to the old land of woe

Journey to the old land of woe

August 7, 2023

About

Since 1912 the AJW has served as an important news resource for the Jewish community. The Jewish World unites the main Jewish communities in St. Paul and Minneapolis, as well as those in Duluth, Rochester and smaller cities, and bridges the divides between the various Jewish religious streams.

Quick Links

  • About the AJW
  • Advertising Information
  • Submission Guidelines
  • Subscription Information
  • Jewish Community Directory

Contact Us

The American Jewish World
3249 Hennepin Ave., Suite 245
Minneapolis, MN 55408

Tel: 612.824.0030 / Fax: 612.823.0753
editor@ajwnews.com

  • Buy JNews
  • Landing Page
  • Documentation
  • Support Forum

© 2023 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
  • News
  • Food
  • Health & Wellness
  • Lifestyle
  • Opinion

© 2023 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.