Dave Tarras; Leading Clarinetist

Dave Tarras, 91, one of the most widely recorded musicians in Yiddish theater and a leading clarinet player in the expressive klezmer style of Jewish folk music. Tarras, who left his native Ternovka in the southern Ukraine and emigrated to New York in 1921, appeared on more than 500 recordings as a soloist, bandleader and sideman. He recorded with bands led by Abe Schwartz and Joseph Cherniavsky and worked with many composers and performers in Yiddish theater, including Molly Picon, Aaron Lebedeff and Sholom Secunda, who wrote the song “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen.” His career was revived when klezmer , which means traveling musician in Yiddish, revived in popularity in the mid-1970s and early 1980s. In Oceanside, N.Y., on Sunday.