Jake Shulman-Ment (USA; violin, Feldenkrais Method)
Born in New York City, violinist Jake Shulman-Ment is “considered one of the finest klezmer fiddlers on the planet” (Jon Kalish, NPR). He tours and records internationally as a soloist and with Midwood, Daniel Kahn and the Painted Bird, Frank London, Di Naye Kapelye, The Brothers Nazaroff, Michael Alpert, Joey Weisenberg, and Duncan Sheik.
He was featured in Csaba Bereczki's full-length documentary film Soul Exodus, and performed on screen in HBO's Succession and Martin Scorcese's The Irishman.
A widely sought-out teacher of the klezmer fiddle tradition, Jake has been a faculty member of KlezKamp, KlezKanada, Klezmer Paris, the Krakow Jewish Culture Festival, Yiddish Summer Weimar, Fiddle Tunes, Yiddish New York, and other festivals throughout the globe. He collected, studied, performed, and documented traditional music in Romania as a Fulbright scholar, and has lived and traveled in Hungary and Greece, learning traditional violin styles.
In 2018 he received the prestigious NYSCA/NYFA Fellowship in Folk/Traditional Arts. Jake's debut solo album, A Redele (A Wheel) (Oriente Musik, 2012) was nominated for the German Record Critics' Award. His new group, Midwood, released its first album, Out of the Narrows, (Chant Records) in May 2018. Jake is also a Guild-Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner, having graduated the Boston Feldenkrais Training Program with Aliza Stewart in 2020.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wf422rWJfak
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lt76sOrCVHE
Photo: Lloyd Wolf