ANDY STATMAN
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2004 8:30 PM
Jack H. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts @ NYU
566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square South, NYC
$30; students $15
Box office (212) 992-8484
Online tickets: skirballcenter.nyu.edu
Info/charge (212) 545-7536 worldmusicinstitute.org
…”a master of two idioms linked by their demands for virtuosity and
their down-home origins” –THE NEW YORK TIMES
A formidable and consummate musician, Andy Statman is known for his
musical wizardry on the mandolin, as well as his innovative
interpretations of Jewish music on the clarinet. This program covers
the genius of Statman from his distinctive improvisational renditions
of klezmer, music of the Chassidic masters, and American roots
(bluegrass and blues) to original works drawing upon jazz and other
traditions. He is joined by Jim Guttmann (bass) and Larry Eagle
(percussion, drums) in a program that will include selections from
Statman’s two new recordings.
Andy Statman, who defies musical categorization, is accomplished in
many styles and traditions, including klezmer, music of the Chassidic
masters, bluegrass, jazz, rock, Middle Eastern and Western classical
music. He has performed in major concert halls throughout the US,
Canada, Europe, Israel and Japan, and appeared on more than one
hundred recordings. An original voice on the mandolin, he has
collaborated with David Grisman, Bela Fleck, David Bromberg, Stephane
Grappelli, and Vassar Clements, among others. On the clarinet, he is
known for his brilliant work in Jewish instrumental music – klezmer
and the devotional and celebratory music of Chassidic Judaism. A
mentor of Dave Tarras, he was one of the last generation of musicians
to learn directly from the great European klezmorim of the 20th
century. In the ’70s and ’80s, he was a pioneer of the klezmer revival
and at the forefront of experimentation with the klezmer idiom. In
addition to his own acclaimed klezmer recordings, he worked with
violinist Itzhak Perlman on In the Fiddler’s House. In the past decade
Statman has become immersed in the music of the Chassidic masters
(soulful melodies that lay at the root of klezmer), bringing them to
the attention of a wider audience.
This program is made possible in part with public support from the New
York State Council on the Arts, a State agency, and the New York City
Department of Cultural Affairs. Additional funding is provided by the
Concordia Foundation.