small:Jason Rosenblatt

Jason Rosenblatt

Montreal-based composer, pianist and vocalist, Jason Rosenblatt is one of the world’s foremost harmonica innovators. His performance on the unassuming instrument has helped to open new musical ground for the instrument long associated with “the blues,” into art forms as diverse as jazz, bluegrass, klezmer and Turkish music.

Rosenblatt is perhaps best known for his work with high-octane Jewish and Turkish music specialists Shtreiml, with whom he has recorded four albums and toured internationally. On his latest album “Wiseman’s Rag,” Rosenblatt eschews his group’s Eastern-European inflections and instead turns to the sounds of the Mighty Mississippi for inspiration.

Featuring genre-busting, lip-splitting harmonica, the new record delivers a slightly twisted take on early jazz, roots and blues. With hues of his childhood heroes Jelly Roll Morton, Professor Longhair, Sonny Boy Williamson and Paul Butterfield, Rosenblatt’s all original repertoire is gritty but performed with good humour.

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