Composer, producer, pianist and harmonica player Jason Rosenblatt is one of the world’s foremost innovators in diatonic harmonica technique. His performances have 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. Since 2002 he and his group Shtreiml, for which he serves as musical director, have performed internationally at notable festivals and venues in Canada, the U.S. and Europe. His music has been heard on radio and in films, including the 2017 CBC documentary "Kosher Love" and the Bravo production, “Last of the Wild Jews.”

Work with Jason's started from the very beginning, when he was forming Shtreimel and preparing to publish his first feature album, Harmonica Galitzianer. This album would mark the beginning of our 15 year working relationship spanning 7 albums and numerous side projects. Jason Rosenblatt and Shtreimel have become an ongoing project which reflects the changes in international and world
music markets.

In 2002 world music and DYI publishing were coming into focus and Jason wanted to capture this with his debut album. Although recording and design came together quickly over 3 days,  Harmonica Galitzianer worked incredibly well as a demo-kit. It was an unprecedented success as the band was able to springboard into many international world music festivals. Festivals of note include; Crakow Jewish Culture Festival (Poland), Vienna Klezmore Festival (Austria) and the Montreal International Jazz Festival (QC). In 2004, Spicy Paprikash was produced as a follow up album allowing further shows in the international music festival market. 

The world music market was rapidly changing, bands were offering similar experiences while festivals were looking for more varied performances. Jason and Shtreimel were also looking to add value and improve visibility and branched into Turkish music by adding guest artist Ismail Fencioglu. For the following album, 2006's Fenci's Blues, I approached Shtreimel as a master brand with Ishmail as a sub-brand. We also focused on improving overall production value, using high quality images and premium packaging. We brought in 3x the sales of previous albums. 

As Fenci's Blues sales greatly surpassed previous albums, the band saw the opportunity and decided to tour through Canada and the US for the end of 2007. We chose to print a second run of albums and focused on sales during the tour. As a result, over $30,000 in incremental sales was earned  and a new revenue stream was created.

Solder Woman, produced in 2012, was the most complicated album to date. With the incorporation of roots, rock and a full brass ensemble and 11 original scores by Jason, Solder Woman was an attempt to step into extended world touring. I focused on press kits and art direction with commissioned artwork by illustrator Janny Lumelsky. Solder Woman would never sell sufficiently to justify its higher production cost propelling us to change strategies the following year.  

Eastern Hora immediately followed in 2013, a continuation of Fenci's Blues, and production was focused on margins and volume. I was back on as illustrator and created a design for multiple use - album covers, posters, t-shirts and other merchandising. With my cost effective sleeve package design and their expanded 3 leg, 30-day tour in Canada, US and the UK, profits were doubled.

The most recent albums, Wisemans Rag and Brass Fabulous are ongoing projects exploring bluegrass and Eastern European brass. Here, my artwork was designed in close collaboration with Jason. We approached these projects as independent artists putting forward our best collective work to date. Today, Jason’s band focuses on booking private events so these albums need to showcase the band, and effectivly communicate their world music styles to perspective clients.