Not Just Falafel Jazz: Transience and Precarity in the Israeli Jazz Community in New York City

• In Event: New Perspectives on Jews and the New York Entertainment Business

Abstract

In the neoliberal, post-pandemic music industry, the New York City jazz scene is a music scene barely holding onto its already financially precarious existence (Jeffri 2003). Within this scene is the Israeli jazz community, a large and growing group of jazz musicians who are disproportionately thriving with international tours, record deals, and consistent press coverage (​​Jeranwattananon 2010, Davis 2019, Handwerker 2022, Lemish 2024). For such a small country in the Middle East, Israel has become a disproportionately successful export of jazz musicians to New York City. Drawing upon Taylor’s writing on music communities and capitalism (2016 and 2023), I investigate how this community of musicians manages to sustain such precarious livelihoods in the most expensive city in the world. Through ethnographic research with Israeli jazz musicians currently living and working in New York City, this project addresses how the Israeli jazz scene in New York City operates as a mutual aid community, and the different networks within New York City, namely the Jewish American community, that contribute to a larger ecosystem of economic and social support.
This paper also considers how a shared experience of transience for Israeli jazz musicians plays into how this community operates – while there is certainly a large presence of Israeli jazz musicians spending the majority of their time establishing themselves in New York City, perhaps this community is one that extends to its multidirectional flows back and forth to Israel. Lemish’s recently released book (2024) on Israeli jazz musicians offers a fertile foundation for considering how the Israeli jazz scene operates transnationally. The unique musical and social qualities of the Israeli jazz community is both cultivated and challenged by its status as a precarious and transient group that is in constant flux, while also being shaped by New York City itself. Israeli jazz musicians must navigate both New York City’s challenging economic landscape, and a competitive music scene with far more musicians than work opportunities.

Author

• Rebecca Zola, Columbia University