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<\/a><\/em>Everybody played there.\u00a0 The Jazz Temple was in business from 1960 to 1963.<\/p>\nI passed the Jazz Temple weekly on my way to Sunday school at The Temple, a Reform synagogue in University Circle, Cleveland.<\/p>\n
Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver was the head rabbi at The Temple.\u00a0 Rabbi Silver was\u00a0 very prominent; he spoke at the United Nations, advocating for the establishment of the state of Israel.\u00a0 Rabbi Silver\u2019s son, Danny, was the assistant rabbi.\u00a0 He played football at Harvard and blocked hard for his dad.<\/p>\n
The Sunday<\/strong><\/span> school kids at The Temple were mostly from Shaker Heights.\u00a0 One kid got a ride in a limo to shul.<\/em>\u00a0 The driver wore a chauffeur\u2019s cap.<\/p>\n I couldn\u2019t grasp how temple<\/em> — the word — fit into a non-Jewish setting, like in “Jazz Temple.”\u00a0 Was Jazz a religion too?\u00a0 (Give me a break. I was 10.)<\/p>\n Years later, I met a couple ex-beatniks who had been old enough to go to the Jazz Temple in the early 1960s.\u00a0 They had heard Trane and Ella.<\/p>\n The Jazz Temple was blown up in 1963.\u00a0 Somebody didn\u2019t like the club, or the owner, Winston Willis, a controversial black businessman.<\/p>\n At The <\/strong><\/span>Temple, the religious-school kids would attend the last part of the service and hear the sermon.\u00a0 Rabbi Silver looked like God and talked like Him.<\/p>\n Rabbi Silver: Live at the Jazz Temple.\u00a0 Interesting.<\/p>\n John Coltrane: Live at The Temple.\u00a0 Another possibility.<\/p>\n A love supreme . . .<\/p>\n A love supreme . . .<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n SIDE B<\/big><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n PRECIOUS<\/big><\/big><\/strong><\/p>\n In the arts,<\/strong><\/span> if you’re precious, you’re bad. Precious<\/em> is the worst thing. Precious<\/em> means you’re dainty and overly refined.<\/p>\n A friend (a former music critic) called all<\/em> college a cappella music precious.<\/p>\n Harvey Pekar called Willio and Phillio — the Cleveland music-comedy duo — precious. (Willio and Phillio was around in the 1980s.) Willio and Phillio was <\/em>precious — their stage name for sure. Willio (Will Ryan) went out to Los Angeles to work for Disney, and Phillio (Phil Baron) became a cantor in L.A. They were good, and probably still are.<\/p>\n Yiddishe Cup is precious occasionally. The musicians say \u201coy vey\u201d too much on stage. I\u2019ve tried to get my guys to stop. I can\u2019t.<\/p>\n<\/a>Today, at The Temple East in Beachwood, there is an Abba Hillel Silver memorial study.\u00a0 The rabbi\u2019s desk is laid out like he just stepped out for lunch. He died in 1963.<\/p>\n