Chasing The Fat Man
by Mark Rubin
Wolf Krakowski, along with his fine guitar slinger Jim Armenti, put in a solid set with me on the electric bass Read full review....

Yiddish Life Is A Carnival
Wolf Krakowski and Fraidy Katz sang a kind of gritty, rocking Yiddish art music.
Read full review...

Celebrate Brooklyn Concert Photos
by Betty Blade

Wolf Krakowski in New York
by Itzik Gottesman
Yiddish Forverts (Forward), July 18, 2003

On June nineteenth, Yiddish rock and roll singer Wolf Krakowski and his band stopped by the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Manhattan.  As the sun was setting on the banks of the Hudson River, the singer performed a number of Yiddish songs, many unknown to the audience.  One of the merits of Krakowski's recordings and performances is the fact that  one doesn't hear the same old retread songs; he has sought out and acquired an interesting repertoire. The musicians, including guitarist Jim Armenti  masterfully combined the Yiddish melodies with American rhythms.  A female vocal trio backed up Krakowski's singing.

Not only were the songs new, but so were Krakowski's interpretations.  For example, the thief's song "Khvel Shoyn Mer Nisht Ganvenen" ("I'll Never Steal Again"), which is usually sung cheerfully upbeat, was transformed by the singer into an American slow blues that depicted the melancholy of the Jewish thief.  In Krakowski's singing we hear an attempt to join the African-American blues tradition with that of Jewish folksong.

After the performance we noticed that not  everyone in the audience understood Krakowski¹s approach to Yiddish song.  Does he contribute anything Jewish to the songs or do they become transformed into American songs?  As Krakowski¹s first CD is aptly titled "Gilgul" ("Transmigrations"), I  would think he would have enjoyed the discussion.
--Translated from the Yiddish by A.N.

"Electric shtetl-rock"
von Kristina Maroldt
Aufbau ,New York - Berlin, July 10, 2003

"Der Sanger und Gitarrist Wolf Krakowski verbindet traditionelle
jiddische Lider mit Elementen moderner amerikanischer Musik."

Wolf Krakowski: Yidishe Neshome (Jewish Soul)
By Mae Rockland Tupa
University of Connecticut, March 26, 2003
 
I wish I could have brought my =tate= to the UConn campus at
Storrs last week to hear Wolf Krakowski and his band.  Daddy would have
loved it. He came to America from the Ukraine at 14 and became a glazier,
but his heart was always in the theatre. He met my Mama at the Yiddish
Theatre on Second Avenue, and as soon as I was old enough, he took me to as many performances as he could afford. That was a while ago. My sons also
love to make music, they are fluent in Spanish rather than Yiddish, and play
blues, jazz, and rock rather then klezmer or Yiddish show tunes. When Wolf
and The Lonesome Brothers made music at UConn, time telescoped and all of the generations were there.  Read full review.....

Wolf Krakowski at the National Yiddish Book Center
by Seth Rogovoy
Amherst, Mass., December 20, 1999

My family and I, as well as more than a hundred other concertgoers packed into a standing-room-only theater at National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Mass., Sunday afternoon, enjoyed a remarkable performance by Wolf Krakowski and his band. 
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