NEW YORK – Ruth Westheimer was 10 years old in 1939 when she boarded a train leaving Germany with 300 other Jewish children.

She took a doll with her, a favorite doll named Matilda. But a younger child was crying inconsolably, so Westheimer gave the little girl her doll — because, as she says today, she “needed it more.”

Nowadays, Dr. Ruth, America's favorite sex therapist, 88 years old. She lives in a New York apartment full of books, photos and honorary degrees.

And dollhouses. They give her joy and comfort and a touch of the innocence she lost so long ago, she said.

Westheimer was in his late 60s and already a celebrity when a friend started building dollhouses. Westheimer asked if she could have one. Now she has two and several more square “rooms” in bookshelves, as well as a collection of other boxes and tissue holders that double as dollhouses.

She attaches great importance to their content. They are Jewish houses with menorahs and other religious symbols. The dolls and furniture come from England and were made in the years between World War I and World War II – “the good years,” as she called them.

“It’s good luck,” Westheimer said, proudly holding up a small chimney sweep figurine in a dollhouse near the apartment entrance. “You can touch him!”

The faces of her dolls are expressive and wise. “Not like the Barbie doll,” she said. “Because you can’t tell your problems to a Barbie doll. You can tell these people your problems.”

Westheimer has four grandchildren, but the dollhouses were not intended for them. These are yours.

“I had no control over my life,” she said. “But I have control over it.”

Karola Ruth Siegel was an only child. Her parents were lower-middle-class Orthodox Jews in Frankfurt, but her childhood was enchanted. She remembers roller skates, 13 dolls and the undivided attention of her paternal grandmother.

Every Friday, her father, a salesman, took her to get ice cream and then to the temple. He repeatedly emphasized to her the value of education. “The most important thing for my father was learning,” she said, “because no one can take that away from you.”

She remembered hearing a neighbor warn them in the fall of 1938 that they would have to leave Germany. Her parents tried to keep her from worrying, but “I just knew terrible things were happening.”

After “Kristallnacht” in November 1938 – she doesn’t use the word “Kristallnacht” because it sounds too beautiful and noble – Nazis stood at the door of her apartment on the first floor. Westheimer watched from the window as the men led her father to a covered truck. Before he climbed in, he turned and looked at his daughter. She waved and he waved back. Then he smiled.

“Because he didn’t want me to cry,” she said.

Weeks later, a postcard came from her father, who was in the labor camp. It said she should board a Kindertransport – a train that saves Jewish children from the Nazis.

Frightened and sad, she hugged her mother and was loaded onto the train in January 1939, less than a year before the outbreak of World War II. She knew she had to distract other children from her tears, she said, “because I remembered my dad turning around and smiling.”

Most of the Kindertransport's passengers were headed to Britain, but she was headed to Switzerland, where she and 50 others ended up in a children's home that became an orphanage.

She exchanged letters with her parents for almost two years. She knew that they had both ended up in a ghetto in Poland. But then the letters stopped. It was only a few years later that she learned for certain that her father had died in Auschwitz. Her mother was listed as “missing.” Disappeared.

After the war, she trained as a kindergarten teacher, helped Israel in its fight for independence and moved to Paris to study at the Sorbonne. She had married, but when her husband wanted to return to Israel, they divorced; They remain good friends.

In 1956 she moved to the United States, also to visit an uncle who had survived the war and moved to San Francisco. “I wanted to find out if he was as short as me,” she said, laughing.

She settled in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, which became an enclave for many German-Jewish refugees. She remarried, had a daughter, and divorced when her second husband returned to Europe.

After a few years as a single mother, she met Fred Westheimer, a telecommunications engineer to whom she would be married for almost 38 years. He adopted her daughter and together they had a son.

Westheimer received a doctorate in education from Columbia University with a concentration in sex education and studied with Helen Singer Kaplan, a pioneer in the field of sex therapy.

In 1980, local radio producers in New York commissioned her to write a short weekly segment in which she answered listeners' most private questions. Her then-controversial show grew to two hours as audiences responded to her blunt conversations about erections and orgasms. Her strong German accent and irreverent humor made her an icon of the time.

She has published 40 books, still teaches at Columbia and lectures around the world. Almost every evening she is out and about, at the theater, the opera or at a charitable event. She has a Twitter account, a YouTube channel and has new projects in the works.

Dr. Ruth, who visited Columbus in September for the Gallery Players production “Becoming Dr. Ruth” has been a widow for almost 20 years. During this time, her apartment – the same one she has lived in for five decades – is full of dolls and figurines.

Her parents and grandmother, she said, “would have been very happy to see what happened to me.”

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Alon Nechushtan’s latest project, Moving Voices, is coming to the U.S. through the month of November! The New York based jazz pianist will be joined by his international quartet, comprised of François and Louis Moutin, two brothers from France, and Lisbon-born vocalist Sara Serpa.

Moving Voices, which consists of original compositions from Nechushtan, is aimed to amplify immigrant voices and other inspirational stories centered around ordinary people who make extraordinary voyages, moving to and from new homes. Juxtapositions between perspectives present the promise of hope and idealization of journeys to the US with the terror-inspiring survival stories of the French migrant camp known as “the Jungle” to serve as the impetus in this movingly ambitious project.

The compositions utilize excerpts from Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz, African poet Lenrie Peters, Italian Jewish Primo Levi’s emotional poem ‘Voices’, and Ethiopian-born writer Alemayehu Gebrehiwot, to tell stories about emigrating, migrating, immigrating, seeking asylum, shelter, political refuge and a bit of love and compassion. For more info about the project, visit: https://www.movingvoicesnyc.com.

The U.S. tour of Moving Voices was made possible through FACE America/French Cultural grant for touring and the Brooklyn Music School, whose executive director, Brian Adamczyk, is a co-producer of this project. Following the U.S. tour, the ensemble will make its way to Paris in mid-November. For more info about FACE grants, visit: https://face-foundation.org/artistic-funds/jazz-new-music/current-grantees/.

Tour Schedule

Wednesday, November 8, 2023 at 8pm

Brooklyn Music School, 126 St Felix St, Brooklyn, NY 11217

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/moving-voices-voix-emouvantes-new-york-city-premiere-tickets-705546808497?aff=oddtdtcreator

Thursday, November 9, 2023 at 10pm

Lilypad Boston, 1353 Cambridge St, Cambridge, MA 02139

https://www.lilypadinman.com/home/2023/11/9/alon-nechushtan-quartet-moving-voices-with-sara-serpa-and-moutin-brothers

Saturday, November 11, 2023 at 10pm

Jersey City Theater Center, 165 Newark Avenue (enter from Barrow St), Jersey City, NJ 07302

https://wl.seetickets.us/event/Global-MusicAlonNechushtanQuartetUS-Portugal-Israel-France/568852?afflky=JerseyCityTheaterCenter

Sunday, November 12, 2023 at 5pm

Charlottesville Jazz Society, 2027 Woodbrook Ct, Charlottesville, VA 22901

Welcome

Monday, November 13, 2023 at 7pm

Blues Alley, 1073 Wisconsin Ave NW, Washington, DC 20007

https://www.instantseats.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.artist&VenueID=3&artistid=25566

Wednesday, November 15, 2023 at 9pm

Baiser Salé, 58 Rue des Lombards, 75001 Paris, France

https://www.parisjazzclub.net/en/85128/concert/2023/11/15/alon-nechushtan-quartet-

About the Artists

François Moutin was born in Paris. At age 5, François began studying guitar, then piano by age 11. The acoustic bass became his most lasting passion as a teenager. Also studying mathematics and physics, François received a college degree in engineering and earned a doctorate in physics at the age of 24. Then he elected to become a professional musician.

Three years later, as a member of the legendary Martial Solal’s Trio, François was recognized as one of the finest young bass players in Europe. At 29, he began co-leading the Quintet Moutin with his twin brother Louis, a top echelon Jazz drummer. This project has evolved into the Moutin Reunion Quartet.

With this band, the brothers have toured extensively around Europe and the United States, working with the greatest musicians of this age: Martial Solal, Michel Portal, Antoine Herve, Daniel Humair, André Ceccarelli, Eric Lelann, Jean-Michel Pilc, Christian Escoude.

He has also performed with Peter Erskine, Randy Brecker, Niels Lan Doky, Mino Cinelu, Dave Liebman, John Abercrombie, Toots Thielemans, Didier Lockwood, Larry Schneider, Aldo Romano, James Moody, Terry Lyne Carrington, Richard Galliano, Bernard Lubat, Aaron Scott, George Brown, Sunny Murray, Michel Legrand, Archie Shepp, Claude Nougaro, Trilok Gurtu, Bob Berg, Birelli Lagrene, Wladimir Kosma, Marius Constant, Markus Stockhausen, L’ensemble Inter Contemporain. François has performed in every important European Jazz Festival, and he has toured in over 30 countries around the world.

In November 1997, François moved his base to New York where he has found steady work in live performance and studio sessions with the premier artists on the New York Jazz Scene. A partial list of their names reads like the yellow pages of Jazz: Franck Wess, Jimmy Heath, Monty Alexander, Benny Powell, Don Alias, Mike Stern, Lew Soloff, Steve Kuhn, Joe Locke, Billy Hart, Jeff Tain Watts, Victor Lewis, Billy Drummond, Richie Beirach, Dave Liebman, Oliver Lake, Harry Belafonte, Odean Pope, James Hurt, Ari Hoenig, Jean-Michel Pilc, Rick Margitza, Franck Kimbrough, Joel Frahm, Greg Tardy, Gene Jackson, Dave Binney, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Vijay Iyer, Adam Rogers, David Gilmore, Ben Monder, John Hart, Billy Drews, Jamie Haddad, Steve Hass, and Bob James.

He is a familiar presence on the stages of such establishments as Sweet Rhythm, Jazz Standard, Birdland, Village Vanguard, Blue Note, Knitting Factory, Zinc Bar, Jazz Gallery, Tonic, Smoke, Lincoln Center, Town Hall, New York Symphony Space, Museum of Modern Art. François has also appeared in some major Jazz Festivals around the country like Newport JVC Jazz Festival, Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival in New York, Freihoffer Jazz Festival in Saratoga Spring, Detroit Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, San Francisco Jazz Series, or Kansas City Jazz Festival. https://moutin.com/

Born in Paris on Christmas Eve 1961, Louis Moutin developed an early passion for music, particularly jazz, in which he became immersed thanks to the family’s record collection. When he was seven years old, Louis began teaching himself to play piano. At age 20, he chose to become a jazz drummer.

At 24, after completing training as an engineer at the prestigious Ecole Centrale de Lyon and receiving a Masters Degree in Mathematics, Louis decided to abandon a career in technology and to pursue his musical interests. Within three years, he was a member of the very successful Machado Trio, and was already regarded as one of the best European Jazz drummers, performing frequently in the international Jazz Festival network.

At 29, Louis teamed with his twin brother François, a highly regarded upright bass player, to form their first group. This collaboration by the Moutin brothers drew praise from Jazz audiences and music professionals alike. In 1998, the Moutin brothers have created the Moutin Reunion Quartet. This quartet has released 5 albums and performed more than 450 concerts. In 2013 they come with a new band, the Moutin Factory Quintet, that gives its first concert at Jazz in Marciac and release a new album “Lucky People”.

Meanwhile Louis has pursued a steady career as sideman with such renowned artists as: Martial Solal, Jean Michel Pilc, Michel Legrand, Antoine Herve, Tigran Hamasyan, Michel Portal, Giovanni Mirabassi, François Jeanneau, Manuel Rocheman, Christian Escoude, Albert Mangelsdorff, Andy Emler, N’guyen Le, Eric Lelann, Laurent Dehors, Simon-Spang-Hanssen.

On various occasions, he has also performed with : Danilo Perez, Lew Soloff, John Abercrombie, Joe Locke, Lee Konitz, Flavio Boltro, Larry Schneider, Toots Thielemans, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Didier Lockwood, Markus Stockhausen, l’Ensemble Inter Contemporain, and Johnny Griffin. https://moutin.com/

A native from Lisboa, Portuguese Sara Serpa is a singer, composer, improviser, who through her practice and performance, explores the use of the voice as an instrument. Serpa has been working in the field of jazz, improvised and experimental music, since moving to New York in 2008. Literature, film, visual arts, nature and history inspire Serpa in the creative process and development of her music.

Described by the New York Times as “a singer of silvery poise and cosmopolitan outlook,” and by the JazzTimes magazine as “a master of wordless landscapes,” Serpa started her recording and performing career with jazz luminaries such as Grammy-nominated pianist, Danilo Perez, Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellow pianist, Ran Blake, and Greg Osby.

Serpa was voted 2020 NPR Jazz Vocalist, Rising Star-Female Vocalist 2019 by the Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll, and teaches at The New School and New Jersey City University. Currently Serpa is Artist-In-Residence at Park Avenue Armory, in New York and a recipient of New York City Women’s Fund 2020, Chamber Music America New Jazz Works Grant 2019, New Music USA 2019 Grant, 2021 USArtists Grant from Mid-Atlantic Foundation for the Arts, and 2021 Herb Alpert/Ragdale Prize in Composition.

Serpa has been active in gender equity in music and is the co-founder (along with fellow musician Jen Shyu) of Mutual Mentorship for Musicians (M³), an organization created to empower and elevate women and non-binary musicians.

Serpa has collaborated with an extensive array of musicians including Ingrid Laubrock, Erik Friedlander, John Zorn, Nicole Mitchell, André Matos, Okkyung Lee, Guillermo Klein, Linda May Han Oh, Kris Davis, Okkyung Lee, Sofía Rei, Chris Tordini, Caroline Davis, Angelica Sanchez, Thomas Morgan, Dan Weiss, Jacob Sacks, Malika Zarra, Erica Lindsay, Matt Mitchell, Zeena Parkins, Mark Turner, David Virelles, Tyshawn Sorey, Leo Genovese, Ben Street, Adam Cruz, Demian Cabaud, Fabian Almazan, Aya Nishina, Ashley Fure, Andreia Pinto Correia, Derek Bermel, Joseph C. Phillips Jr., among many others.

She has performed her own music in Europe, Australia, North and South America, singing at international festivals such as Bergamo Jazz Festival, Festa do Jazz, the Panama Jazz Festival, Festival de Jazz de Montevideo, Wangaratta Jazz Festival, Adelaide Festival, Sopot Jazz Festival or venues like Bimhuis, Casa da Música, Village Vanguard, Jazz Standard, The Stone, Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lincoln Center, the Met Breuer, and the Kennedy Center for the Arts, among others. https://www.saraserpa.com/

About Alon Nechushtan

Described by DownBeat Magazine as “a talent to watch, with a surfeit of ideas, an unbridled spirit and bold, two-fisted sense of architecture,” composer and jazz pianist Alon Nechushtan’s musical adventures have brought him all over the world. Over the course of career, Nechushtan’s contemporary compositions have brought him to far corners such as the Yokohama Festival Japan, The Sao-Paolo Brazil Jewish Music Festival with his quintet, Talat, Toronto, Manila with his concerto for the Philippine Symphony Orchestra, and the Tel Aviv New Music Biennale. The Tel Aviv-born musician is a proud resident of New York City, and has performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Central Park Summer Stage, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, The Blue Note Jazz Club and Joe’s Pub.

All About Jazz Magazine has called him “a fantastic pianist-composer with abundant chemistry and boundless eclecticism.” He has released solo recordings on various leading recording labels, including Enja (Germany), MGN (Netherlands), Tzadik (USA), BuckyBall (USA), Creative Sources (Portugal), Between the Lines (Netherland), and Ayler (Sweden). www.musicalon.com

About the Brooklyn Music School

The Brooklyn Music School (BMS) is a community school for the performing arts, founded in 1909 as the Brooklyn Music School Settlement. As a part of the Downtown Brooklyn Cultural District, BMS is a long- standing member of the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts. Today, BMS is committed to serving the community by providing high quality music and dance instruction without regard to income, age, previous experience or professional aspirations. Learn more at brooklynmusicschool.org.

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