Shantel & Oz Almog present Kosher Nostra: Jewish Gangsters Greatest Hits

Shantel presents Kosher Nostra, an unparalleled journey back in time to the music clubs, vaudeville theaters and gambling casinos in the U.S.A. The sound can be described as a wild mix of swing, jazz, twist, Charleston and the adorable charm of Yiddish songs and ballads. The idea of Jewish gangsters in America is not something that is deeply ingrained in the popular imagination. Yet nobody who looks into the history of the American mafia can deny the extent to which such figures as Meyer Lansky, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, Dutch Schultz or Louis "Lepke" Buchalter shaped the machinations of the underworld, along with the classic Sicilian godfathers. The tracks on this anthology represent a parallel society made up of various ethnic scenes, all with their own media and an open-minded curiosity for new and exotic input from the WASP community on the one hand and the predominantly Catholic Irish and Italian communities on the other. This development of an aesthetic approach that crossed all ethnic boundaries spawned a music, film and musical industry in 1920s/1930s America that quickly spread, with an impact that was felt even in Europe. In the course of his research, Shantel unearthed some extremely rare gems: who knew, for instance, that Connie Francis had once recorded an entire album of Yiddish songs, or that Tom Jones had sung the praises of "his" Yiddish Mama? This unparalleled journey back in time to the music clubs, vaudeville theaters and gambling casinos of the 1920s to 1960s bears compelling witness to this enormously diverse and truly remarkable fusion of styles. The anthology is accompanied by an informative and detailed essay in a 60-page fully-illustrated booklet, giving an introduction to the theme of Kosher Nostra and introducing each of the artists featured. Other artists include: The Andrews Sisters, Chubby Checker and Al Jolson.