Jews and Jazz - a talk by Yale Strom

Jews and Jazz, a lecture by Yale Strom, explores the fascinating relationship between Jewish and African American musicians, lyricists, composers, and producers during the 1920s–40s. In the world of jazz, these two minority communities found common ground, creating collaborations that helped shape American music and culture.

For many Jews, particularly those from immigrant and working-class backgrounds, and for African Americans confronting systemic poverty and segregation, music offered a rare path to economic mobility, artistic expression, and public recognition. Jazz and blues became especially fertile spaces for cross-cultural collaboration. During the swing era, Jewish bandleaders such as Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw famously integrated their ensembles, performing with African American musicians including Teddy Wilson and Lionel Hampton at a time when racial segregation remained the norm in American public life.

Location: Zoom

Date of event or class: 9/20/2026

Time of event or class: 10:00 am PST, 11:00 pm MST, 12:00 CST, 1:00 pm EST 

Type of event or class: Online

Early bird pricing: $20

Regular pricing: $25

Yale Strom (violin) is one of the world’s leading ethnographer-artists of klezmer and Romani music and history. With a master’s degree in Yiddish Studies, he has conducted extensive ethnographic research across Eastern Europe on Jewish and Romani musical culture.

His fieldwork shaped the repertoire of his klezmer band Hot Pstromi and informed his work directing 10 award-winning documentary films, including The Last Klezmer (Oscar short-list).

Strom has written 15 books and two award-winning audio dramas, recorded 20 CDs, and presented numerous photo exhibitions in North America and Europe. His latest documentary, Recordially Yours: Lou Curtiss (2023), explores the life of San Diego audiophile-ethnomusicologist Lou Curtiss; he is currently developing a musical on Marc and Bella Chagall. Strom was Artist-in-Residence in Jewish Studies at San Diego State University (2006–2020). He now teaches in the Music Department and previously taught at New York University. His first historical novel, The Autobiography of the Offenbacher, will be published in 2026.