Sadigursky’s Music Reflects on the Borscht Belt

Almost exactly a month ago, clarinetist Sam Sadigursky released a three-CD set entitled The Solomon Diaries. While there is no explanation for the “Solomon” of the title, the music that Sadigursky composed was inspired by a book of photographs entitled The Borscht Belt. I was gratified (but not surprised) to see that the Borscht Belt has its own Wikipedia page, although mine may be the last generation that appreciates its significance.

In the simplest of terms, the Borscht Belt refers to a region in the Catskill Mountains, north of New York City, which was the popular vacation spot for New York Jews. However, it was more than a region with resorts for Jews at a time when Jews were excluded from other resorts. It also nurtured a prodigious number of Jewish stand-up comedians; and the list of their names on that Wikipedia page is nothing short of jaw-dropping. One of those comedians was Woody Allen, and his role as narrator in Annie Hall gives one of the best samples of the sort of humor cultivated by the Borscht Belt.

However, The Solomon Diaries is not about Borscht Belt humor. For that matter, it does not seem to be about the experience of being Jewish at a time when Jews had to worry about being excluded from restaurants, hotels, and resorts. Rather, the music seems to have been inspired by a book of photographs by Marisa Scheinfeld entitled The Borscht Belt; and it is a bit of a pity that the curious listener has no way of connecting the tracks on Sadigursky’s three CDs with the pages in Scheinfeld’s book.

For that matter, Sadigursky does not seem to have much (if any) of a personal connection to the Borscht Belt. In addition to having toured with the Philip Glass Ensemble, he was one of the on-stage musicians in the Broadway production of The Band’s Visit. (The few vocal contributions to this collection were provided by Katrina Lenk, who created the role of Dina in The Band’s Visit.) Sadigursky’s only accompanist is Nathan Koci, who performs accordion, piano, and banjo across the 28 tracks in this collection.

The best way to become acquainted with the music for The Solomon Diaries is through Bandcamp. Separate Web pages have been created for the first, second, and third CDs in the collection. These are available only in digital form, either streamed or downloaded. Nevertheless, my own “aged” perspective suggests that Sadigursky is too young to establish a connection to Borscht Belt culture. To some extent I feel I have been informed by his portrait photograph for Bandcamp:

Sam Sadigursky, photograph by Joe Brent

There is no questioning the good intentions behind his three-CD project, but we all know about the road paved with good intentions.