On the morning of MLK Day, Cleveland lost one of the longtime mainstays of its music community, sax player Norman Tischler. It was an appropriate day for the passing of a man as committed to social justice as to his music.
While Norm was not a native Clevelander, he might as well have been. He arrived in town 50 years ago, in his early 20s, as volunteer with VISTA, the anti-poverty program founded in 1964 to be the domestic version of the Peace Corp. That said a lot about who Norm was and what his priorities were.
One of those priorities was certainly music. On arrival, he rapidly plugged into the local music scene, joining Cleveland’s popular Tiny Alice, an eclectic, acoustic-based ensemble that performed a mish-mash of folk, jazz, blues, bluegrass and rock and recorded an album for Kama Sutra in 1972. He also became part of the house band on Cleveland’s syndicated Upbeat show, which hosted national touring acts each week through 1971.
After that Norm was never without a band — or several bands at once. If you needed a sax (or flute or clarinet) player and he wasn’t booked, he was there. He played every kind of music from rootsy rock & roll to blues to swing to klezmer. There’s no need to recite a list of artists and bands he played with — it’s too long. But almost everyone who’s been part of Cleveland music for the last 50 years probably has memories of a couple. What stood out about him was his passion for playing his instrument.
Norm was such an omnipresent part of the area’s music scene, with his engagingly warm, effusive and humorous personality and his eagerness to play anywhere any time, that it’s hard to believe that you won’t run into him next weekend at a local club where he’ll once again hand you one of his business cards.”
A service will be held in Norm’s memory Sun 2/3 @ 2pm at The Temple-Tifereth Israel.
With her permission, I’m sharing a poet for Norman written by Donna Shimko, a longtime area music lover.
Elegy for Uncle Norman
I wish I could write you a farewell flight tune
a so-long sonata
a swirling scat-song which swings around you and your silver Selmer
as you press those keys, kiss that mouthpiece and raise that sax to the sky
you lift off, riffing sweet and low, giving us a thousand grace notes
to sustain us
during this everlasting break from your soaring solo sojourn on our stage
your swingin’ stompin’ zoot-suit daddy
your blues delta-deep and Chicago cool
your comrade-comforting klezmer
your reefer-man, rastaman reggae
your raucous raunchy roots rock
no sound you could not spin and charm and sway for us all
‘I need to hear just…one…more…song’
Dear Norman – bodhisattva – wry – wise – boundless heart
Your music has made you immortal