5-3 Yaron Gershovsky - Pianist, Composer & Band Leader

In this episode we’ll interview Yaron Gershovsky. As bandleader for Manhattan Transfer for 44 of their 50 years, he has a treasure trove of knowledge and experience around performing and composing which he will share with us on this episode. Get ready for a fun ride as we discuss his origins, career and what’s next.

In the spring of 2006, I was in a production of the musical “City of Angels” by Cy Coleman, David Zipel and Larry Gelbart with the Burlington Players in Burlington, MA. The musical is a story about a novelist whose book is adapted into a movie and about the entire LA movie scene. As the novel is turned into a screenplay the movie moves further and further away from the novel’s original purpose and meaning.  This causes a sort of schism in the mind of the novelist where he ends up having arguments with his lead character. There are lots of transitions from reality to scenes from the movie and so forth. 

At any rate, I was a part of a quartet that served as kind of a chorus that commented, amplified and clarified the action of the play, as choruses do. The whole play had a sort of film noir feel about it and the music for the chorus was very challenging jazzy close harmony type singing. I noticed that the vocal arrangement was written by one Yaron Gershovsky. I was curious about this fellow, so I Googled him. Now back in 2006 Google was primarily a search engine and not the GOOGLE that it is today. But regardless, I found out that Yaron was the band leader of Manhattan Transfer. That made so much sense in the context of the sound of the arrangements.

 Skip ahead to the early twenty teens. I was at Sculler’s, a jazz venue in Boston, to see Manhattan Transfer when who should I see walking down the hall toward me but Yaron himself. I introduced myself to him and told him that I had sung the Bass part in a production of “City of Angels”. In his quiet, understated way he looked at me and, I assume referring to the difficulty of the part, said, “I’m so sorry.” So began our acquaintance.

Transcript

[Intro Theme – Motor]

In the spring of 2006, I was in a production of the musical “City of Angels” by Cy Coleman, David Zipel and Larry Gelbart with the Burlington Players in Burlington, MA. The musical is a story about a novelist whose book is adapted into a movie and about the entire LA movie scene. As the novel is turned into a screenplay the movie moves further and further away from the novel’s original purpose and meaning.  This causes a sort of schism in the mind of the novelist where he ends up having arguments with his lead character. There are lots of transitions from reality to scenes from the movie and so forth.

At any rate, I was a part of a quartet that served as kind of a chorus that commented, amplified and clarified the action of the play, as choruses do. The whole play had a sort of film noir feel about it and the music for the chorus was very challenging jazzy close harmony type singing. I noticed that the vocal arrangement was written by one Yaron Gershovsky. I was curious about this fellow, so I Googled him. Now back in 2006 Google was primarily a search engine and not the GOOGLE that it is today. But regardless, I found out that Yaron was the band leader of Manhattan Transfer. That made so much sense in the context of the sound of the arrangements.

Skip ahead to the early twenty teens. I was at Sculler’s, a jazz venue in Boston, to see Manhattan Transfer when who should I see walking down the hall toward me but Yaron himself. I introduced myself to him and told him that I had sung the Bass part in a production of “City of Angels”. In his quiet, understated way he looked at me and I assume referring to the difficulty of the part said, “I’m so sorry.” So began our acquaintance.

[Pod Lick]

Hi. I’m Tim Rose and this is the Tim Tunes Podcast. In this episode we’ll interview Yaron Gershovsky. As bandleader for Manhattan Transfer for 44 of their 50 years, he has a treasure trove of knowledge and experience around performing and composing which he will share with us on this episode. Get ready for a fun ride as we discuss his origins, career and what’s next.

[Pod Lick – Big D]

 
[Start the interview]

I met with Yaron for our interview in the living room of his home in Queens, NY. Except for the baby grand piano, and the extraordinary artwork it was like any other living room. Let’s listen in…

{Play clip – “Intro” and “I was born in Tel Aviv”}

[Podlick]
 
[Scarborough Fair]

Let’s take a short break before we move on to the next part of our interview and listen to the track “Scarborough Fair” from Yaron’s Last album Transitions. I should mention that as we were talking Yaron would occasionally jump up to the piano and play a phrase to make a point as he did with the Mozart sonata a few minutes ago. Some things are better or more easily said musically than with words.

As you can hear, Yaron is a fairly soft-spoken individual, his piano playing is anything but. You’ve already heard a little of “Scarborough Fair” I played it in the intro section of the podcast. This was recorded during our conversation. It came up as one of the songs I liked on the album and up jumped Yaron to start playing it. What you are about to listen to is the released version. The vocalist is Aubrey Johnson, the bassist is Boris Kozlov, Ross Pederson on drums and the pianist and arranger is, of course, Yaron. Released in 2022 here is Scarborough Fair.

[Play Track - Scarborough Fair]

Now, let’s get back to our conversation as we discuss Yaron’s musical past in Israel and his transition to the US.

{Musical Life in Israel}
{Going to Berkley}
{Memories of Boston}
{Joining Manhattan Transfer}
{Manhattan Transfer History}

 

[What She Said]
[Podlick – The Outer limits chord]

Let’s take a break and listen to another composition from Yaron’s latest album, Transitions. This cut titled “What She Said” is dedicated to Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Recorded during COVID, it features Boris Kozlov on Bass, Ross Pederson on Drums and was mixed by Dave Darlington. Here is “What She Said”

[Play Song  - What She Said]

It’s easy to get distracted when interviewing someone with as storied a career as Yaron, so we moved on to what it was like to be the band director of Manhattan Transfer to get us back on track.
 
[Northern Lights]

Let’s take a break from our conversation and listen to another track from Yaron’s latest album transitions. Imagine being asked to play something like this at a moments notice. And then multiply it by the hundreds of songs in the Manhattan Transfer Catalog. Daunting doesn’t even begin to cover it. Here is Northern Lights.


[Play - Northern Lights]

That was Northern Lights written and arranged by Yaron who is also on Piano, Boris Koslov playing bass, and Cliff Almond on drums.

Let’s get back to our conversation as it turns to composition and songwriting. I mean that is what this podcast is about, right?


 
[A Song For Mia]

This next song was written for Yaron’s granddaughter Mia.  Written and arranged by Yaron, it features Yaron on Piano, Boris Kozlov on bass and Ross Pederson on Drums. From the transitions album released in 2022, here is “A Song for Mia”

[Play – A Song for Mia] 

[Outro]
That’s the end of our time with Yerone Gershovsky. I hope he will forgive me for mangling the pronunciation of his name a few times in the podcast. It was a real pleasure and an honor to interview him. We had a lot of fun together.

You can find Yaron’s work on any the popular music streaming and selling sites. His latest album “Transitions” is now available. During 2024 he will be releasing an album he recorded with Janis Seigal of Manhattan Transfer titled “Colors of My Life -The Music of Cy Coleman”

You can also keep up with Yaron on his website “yaronmusic.com” or on his facebook page.

As for me, if you are in the New England area on April 13th or 14th of 2024 come see me at the North Shore Music Theater in Hello Dolly! I’ll be running around as a crazed waiter in this Voices of Hope production. By the way, Voices of Hope recently donated their one millionth dollar to cancer research. Help us reach our second million and come see the show. But don’t dawdle! Tickets are going fast and we often sell out.

As always, please feel free to send me comments on this episode via Facebook at the Tim Tunes Podcast group or email me at timtunespodcast@gmail.com or if you are a Patreon subscriber you can send me messages via Patreon.

I’ll be publishing the second installment of the reverb collection in a few weeks featuring the popular Funny Songs episode. Then, in about four weeks I’ll be publishing my interview with star of stage and screen, Debra Monk. You won’t want to miss that one!

Now, instead of my usual closing music I’m going out with one final Yaron tune. “Birthday Bash” featuring Yaron, Boris and Ross. After that, hang around after for a funny story from Yaron, just for you.

Adios, muy chochos. Here is Birthday Bash.

[Play – Birthday Bash]