Marty Levitt, klezmer clarinetist and a one time popular Jewish band leader in New York in the 1960s, died on Monday, March 10th. He was 77 and lived in Brooklyn, New York.The cause of death was lung cancer and lymphoma.

Levitt came from a long line of professional Jewish musicians; he was the son on of famed klezmer trombonist Yankl “Jack” Levitt a noted Yiddish theater musician and member of the famed Boibriker Kapelle.

During the 1950s and 1960s, Levitt, together with his wife, vocalist Harriet Kane, had one of New York’s most popular Jewish wedding orchestras regularly featuring an eight musician bandstand. The several LPs he recorded at this time for Tikva, Fiesta and other indie labels, picture a tuxedoed Levitt with a pencil thin mustache and horn rimmed glasses holding his clarinet at a rakish angle.

Though not one of the best of the old line klezmer clarinetists, Levitt commanded a unique and atypical repertoire and had a surprisingly literate knowledge of the history of klezmer music and its folklore. It was only his continual resistance to becoming part of the klezmer revival which kept him from being celebrated by a new generation of klezmer afficianados.

He is survived by a son, David, himself an outstanding jazz and klezmer trombonist. — Hank Sapoznik