Yale Strom & Hot Pstromi

Yale Strom & Hot Pstromi have been performing since 1982. What makes Hot Pstromi different from most other klezmer ensembles is the fact that Strom has done extensive ethnographic field research among the Jews and Roma in Eastern Europe and the Balkans, collecting music, oral histories, and photography of klezmer culture. Strom has written several history books on klezmer (The Book of Klezmer, Shpil: The Art of Playing Klezmer, etc.) and has published a klezmer "fake" book of 313 tunes (The Absolutely Complete Klezmer Songbook), most from out-of-print archival sources and from his field recordings. Strom's virtuosic musicians come from various musical backgrounds: classical, jazz, Roma, English folk, Balkan, Latin, and Arabic. All of these influences are mixed with a heavy dosage of improvisation. Lastly, Strom is composing new Yiddish songs as well as klezmer instrumentals that borrow from many of the aforementioned genres. The vocals (Yiddish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Romanian, Ladino) are deftly interpreted by contralto singer Elizabeth Schwartz. Strom has a West Coast (San Diego) Hot Pstromi band: Fred Benedetti - guitar, Jeff Pekarek - bass, Duncan Moors - percussion, Tripp Sprague - tenor sax/flute, Elizabeth Schwartz - vocals, and Yale Strom - violin. On the East Coast (NYC), Strom and Schwartz join David Licht - percussion, Peter Stan - accordion, Norbert Stachel - reeds, and Sprocket - bass. Hot Pstromi plays traditional and new klezmer mixed with ear-bending improvisation.