Podcast Summary: All Of It – Michael Winograd Plays TANZ! in CR5

Host: Tiffany Hansen (in for Alison Stewart)
Guest: Michael Winograd (clarinetist & composer) and band
Date: December 18, 2025
Theme: Revisiting and performing the influential 1956 album "Tanz"—a klezmer dance music landmark—with discussion of Jewish musical heritage, the klezmer revival, and how dance music underpins communal experience.

Episode Overview

This episode brings renowned clarinetist and composer Michael Winograd and his ensemble into the studio for a discussion and live performance centered around the reimagining of "Tanz," a 1956 klezmer album. Exploring its place in American and Jewish cultural history, the conversation delves into the origins, social function, and legacy of klezmer music, the process and purpose behind reviving "Tanz" live, and the ongoing cyclical revivals of this vibrant tradition.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Meaning and Essence of "Tanz" — Dance as Culture

• [00:09] The episode opens with context: "Tanz," meaning "dance" in Yiddish, was not a concert album at its inception but music designed for social gatherings.
• [05:32] Winograd emphasizes, “Klezmer music. It’s dance music. It’s great Yiddish dance music.”
• The host notes how dance threads through musical traditions, persisting across generations, and Winograd elaborates:
  “So it was what brought communities together and... defined the social ways of the people that it came from.” [06:28]
• Klezmer as social music—its roots are in weddings, coming-of-age ceremonies, not formal concerts.

2. How to Define Klezmer

• [07:12] Is klezmer just dance music? Winograd explains there are subgenres, but, “The dance music is what really is at its essence... made to get people up and moving together.”

3. Is Klezmer “Jewish Jazz”?

• Host references Winograd’s article headline, Klezmer Jewish Jazz? Not really, but sometimes [07:30]
• [07:51] Winograd discusses clarinetist Dave Tarras—frequently called the “Jewish Benny Goodman”—as a bridge between the genres:
  “A lot of people would say that, you know, that klezmer was kind of Jewish jazz.”
• The term, he notes, is “maybe a way to describe the music” for new listeners, but doesn’t capture its true essence.

4. Why Re-create “Tanz”—Not Just as an Album, But as a Concert Experience

• [08:49] Winograd on motivation:
  “To me, the idea that it’s not just recreated as an album, it’s more recreated as a concert experience. That was the part that was exciting... the music in its time was never performed in full... So this is an opportunity to play this music as it’s presented on the album in a concert setting, which I think is pretty exciting.”
• The album was important to later klezmer musicians, though it was little-known at the time.

5. The American-ness of “Tanz”

• “I think that this album really is the American klezmer album... it was a meeting of worlds and a meeting of sounds and a meeting of musical and cultural experience.” [10:24]
• Sam Musicer embodied both traditions, as a Jewish musician and as a jazz player.

6. Collaboration and First Encounters

• Winograd interviewed Ray Musicer (original album contributor, Sam’s younger brother):
  “He gave me all sorts of stories and tidbits about it...” [11:04]
• Band introduced: Eileen Stahl (clarinet), Andy Kataskas (saxophone/bass clarinet), Ani Kistlinger (trumpet), Josh Dolgan (piano), Will Holzhauser (accordion), Zoe Giggenau (bass), David Licht (drums). [15:35]

7. Discovery and the Process of Transcribing “Tanz”

• First heard the album in his teens from a CD passed on by Jim Gutman; he was “blown away.” [16:06]
• The transcription project began during a snowstorm, driven by curiosity and influence—not by commission or pandemic.
  “A couple months later, the transcription project turned into a live concert.” [17:10]

8. The Klezmer Revival(s)

• Original 1956 release “not so much” a hit; rediscovered in the 1980s by new generations [18:05]
• [18:35] Winograd on the ‘klezmer revival:’ “The klezmer revival, a renewal in interest in music, started around the late 70s… when they found this album, they realized it was like a pinnacle moment in the music.”
• Young Jews in the 1980s sought connection to their culture and were drawn to klezmer.
• Are we in a new revival? There are “chapters... waves of the revival.” [19:42]

9. Re-creation vs. Re-imagining

• Asked if the 2025 performance would sound very different from 1956:
  “We weren't recreate—we weren't—we were trying to recreate it, not reimagine it. So... we want it to sound true to the original and then also sound like ourselves.” [20:47]

10. Is It Hanukkah Music?

• Host jokes that because it’s the fifth night of Hanukkah, it’s Hanukkah music.
  “Is this Hanukkah music?”—“Sure, of course it is. What’s not Hanukkah music?” (Winograd, [21:16])*
• Klezmer as a celebration soundtrack for all festive occasions.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Klezmer as Social Glue:
  “This was dance music, of course. This was a version of the dance music that was made into a programmatic record in the mid-50s. But traditionally the music was played for dancing at social events, at weddings, and at coming of age ceremonies... it’s what brought communities together...”
  – Michael Winograd [06:28]

• On Jewish Jazz:
  “He was labeled the Jewish Benny Goodman, which is pretty funny... a lot of people would say that... klezmer was kind of Jewish jazz.”
  – Michael Winograd [07:51]

• On Motivation for Transcribing:
  “I just kind of wanted to learn what was... I knew that this was very influential on me, and I found myself, you know, taking ideas from it over the years. And so I think figured it'd be a good idea to really learn it as best as I could.”
  – Michael Winograd [17:39]

• On ‘Revival’ versus ‘Renaissance’
  *“I feel like there’s been chapters... waves of the revival.”
  – Michael Winograd [19:47]

• On Fidelity to the Original:
  “We weren’t recreate—we weren’t—we were trying to recreate it, not reimagine it. So I think that... we want it to sound true to the original and then also sound like ourselves.”
  – Michael Winograd [20:47]

Timestamps for Music & Segments

• [01:24–04:55] Opening Performance: "Romania"
• [11:40–15:19] Second Performance: "Der Neier Doiner" (Sam Musicer composition)
• [22:33–26:53] Closing Performance: "Sam’s Bulgar" (Sam Musicer)

In the Studio: Light, Inclusive Tone

• The episode features a warm, community-focused atmosphere—Winograd gently teases the band about meeting each other, jokes about whether music is “Hanukkah music,” and the host and guest riff on the role of the internet as an arbiter of truth.
• The musicianship and camaraderie are palpable, with Tiffany Hansen as an enthusiastic, upbeat surrogate for the audience’s curiosity.

Conclusion

This lively episode celebrates the ongoing life of klezmer music as both a historical artifact and a living, breathing force in contemporary culture. Michael Winograd’s revival of the "Tanz" album embodies the balancing act between fidelity to the past and authenticity in the present, reinforcing the power of dance and music to unite and sustain community across generations.

To experience the music and the nuanced interplay of tradition and renewal, listen to Michael Winograd and his band’s celebratory renditions peppered throughout the episode.