The Making of a Reform Jewish Cantor: Musical Authority, Cultural Investment. By Judah M. Cohen. pp. xii + 299; CD. (Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis, 2010, $39.95. ISBN 978-0-253-35365-8)

The present volume forms part of growing literature on contemporary American Jewish musical life. In recent years, scholars have increasingly turned to documenting lived contemporary practices rather than focusing on essentialized notions of ‘tradition’. Cohen's study stands out, however, in its focus on the sources and processes of musical authority. As he rightly notes,ethnomusicologists have long looked to musical authorities as crucial sources for understanding musical cultures: they have studied with them, marking musical growth under their tutelage as key parts of the participant observation process; and they have often used the knowledge and opinions obtained from these authorities as lenses for evaluating broader questions of musical style, structure, and social activity (p. 5; emphasis in original).
Nevertheless, the ethnomusicological literature has less frequently probed the processes by which these figures come to serve as gatekeepers of musical knowledge. How is one transformed in becoming a musical authority?