What do Billie Holiday, Cab Calloway, Johnny Mathis and Nina Simone all have in common? Besides stellar voices, they were among many black American artists who sang Jewish songs. This rarely told American story is chronicled on a new compilation called Black Sabbath: The Secret Musical History of Black-Jewish Relations, which uses music to connect these two seemingly disparate groups. NPR higlights all of them here.
Also check out Nina Simone's version of the biblically based “Eretz Zavat Chalav” and right in time for Yom Kippur – Johnny Mathis's KOL NIDRE
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129779902