Though Vulfpeck concerts remain elusive—with the band’s one and only appearance this summer set for Levitate Music & Arts Festival on July 8th—drummer and bandleader Jack Stratton is getting back on the stage. On June 26th, Stratton will perform a free concert at Cain Park in his hometown of Cleveland Heights, OH, alongside Josh “So-Called” Dolgin (piano, accordion, vocals) and Michael Winograd, (clarinet). Together, they will stage an evening of traditional Yiddish klezmer music and record it for a live album.
The trio will perform under the name Yiddishe Pirat, roughly translating to “Jewish Pirate.” Stratton and Winograd previously shared the stage in 2019 when Vulfpeck sold out New York’s Madison Square Garden, recording it for a live album released that same year. The musicians also share a background in klezmer, the traditional instrumental music of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. In 2014, the trio headlined the Workmen’s Circle Yiddish Concert in the Park, while Jack Stratton performed with Yiddishe Cup Klezmer Band during several of its concerts at Cain Park over the past 20 years.
“Ever since Vulfpeck played Madison Square Garden we’ve been receiving the same question over and over again,” Stratton said in an Instagram post. “Every time I post, 50 comments: ‘when is Vulf Records making a full-length klezmer album?’ I have caved under the pressure.”
Stratton, Dolgin, and Winograd first played together at KlezKanada, a Canadian klezmer conference, in 2007. Tickets for the Yiddishe Pirat show at Cain Park in Cleveland Heights on June 26th at 7 p.m. are free. Click here for more information.
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