Yale Strom is a writer, musician, and filmmaker. There is a superlative new output from the first of these professions. In his latest book, Dave Tarras, the King of Klezmer, Strom chronicles the man, Dave Tarras, his times, and his music. Tarras was born in the Ukraine in 1898 and came to American in 1920. In short order he became one of the leading Klezmer players in the United States. He remained so into the 1960's and 1970's, and was awarded the highest honor for folk musicians by the President, the national Heritage Folk Life Award, in 1984.
Yale Strom's book in divided into two parts: The first part is an extensive biography of Dave Tarras. Much of the information on Tarras came through interviews with the musician and with those who knew and worked with him. The second section, the Music Section, gives sheet music transcriptions for many tunes that Tarras played.
The biography vividly brings Tarras, the man, and his times to life. This includes his growing up, and playing klezmer music in the Ukraine and his life in the United States. The sheet music, in the 2nd section, is given for both C and Bb instruments and includes full melodies and chord notation to enable solo or group playing of these tunes on a variety of instruments. The song types include bulgars, horas, shers, doinas, and demonstrate the wide variety of tunes that Tarras recorded. There is also an extensive discography of Tarras' recordings.
Other brief biographies of Tarras include those of Henry Sapoznik in Grove's Dictionary of American Music in 1986, and in a 1992 CD "Davie Tarras: Yiddish-American Klezmer Music" on the Yazoo label. Yale Strom's book has greatly added to the information about, and understanding of, this great American musician. For anyone who wants to learn about Dave Tarras, and play many of his tunes, Yale Strom has now appreciably added to Tarras' legacy. The book is published by Or-Tav, they are found at ortav.com , while the author himself is at yalestrom.com.