Yoshie Fruchter

Fruchter's debut solo album as composer and guitarist, Pitom, was released in 2008.[6] The Wall Street Journal called it "a dazzling debut"[6] and JazzTimes called the debut "audacious," describing it as klezmer music with a punk sensibility.[7] "Pitom" is Hebrew for "Suddenly,"[8] and the album was named after his band,[3] which, along with Fruchter on guitar, includes Jeremy Brown (violin), Shanir Blumenkranz (bass) and Kevin Zubek (drums).[7]

Pitom's second album, Blasphemy and Other Serious Crimes, was released in 2011. Fruchter again composed and played guitar, with the album further exploring Jewish music along with surf and sludge metal influences.[2] The album was chosen by The Forward as one of the newspaper's 2011 Forward Fives, an annual list honoring five of the most important Jewish music releases of the year.[9]

Fruchter's music combines elements of jazz, klezmer, rock, surf and heavy metal, while exploring themes of God, religion, repentance and redemption.[2][3][10] Both Pitom albums have been released on John Zorn's Tzadik Records label.[10] Fruchter has been described as a member of the "Radical Jewish Culture" scene, a term coined by Zorn.[2][3]

In December 2014, Fruchter released Cantorial Recordings Reimagined, an album with a new band called Schizophonia, in which he arranged Jewish cantorial recordings for a progressive rock quintet, with world music influences.[11] Also in the band are Shanir Blumenkranz (bass), Brian Marsella (keyboards), Yonadav Halevy (drums) and Rich Stein (percussion).[12]

In 2006, Fruchter collaborated with his father, Chaim (Harold) Fruchter on Beyond the Book, an album of songs they co-wrote and produced that explore critical moments in the lives of various Biblical personalities.[13]

Fruchter is a member of Jon Madof's 13-piece afrobeat group Zion80, playing guitar on the group's self-titled 2013 debut. In April 2014, Zion80 released its second album, Adramelech, an interpretation of John Zorn's Masada Book 2: The Book of Angels, on which Fruchter again played guitar.[14]

Fruchter is also a frequent substitute with the instrumental rock quartet Abraxas, which also performs the music of Zorn's Masada;[15] a member of Pakistani/American collaboration Sandaraa;[16] doom metal band Deveykus;[1] and Frank London's Shekhina Big Band,[17] among other projects, many of which explore the relationship of Jewish culture, identity and music.[1]