My introduction to Andy Statman is intimately associated with my introduction to Brooklyn. On the first night of my first visit to New York, visiting a friend who was living in Brooklyn in 2002, I attended a jazz clarinet performance by Statman and bassist Jim Whitney at the Charles Street Synagogue in Manhattan’s West Village, during a stupendous early-summer thunderstorm. At the intermission, Statman brought out a bottle of bourbon and served shots of it on a tray to the 20 or so people in attendance.
The next morning, we rose to a beautiful sunny day in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn. On the walk from our hotel to the house where our friend was renting a room, we were immediately struck by the incredible diversity of life on the streets.
It’s that very same spirit of diversity that Statman showcases on his latest album, titled appropriately Old Brooklyn.
Statman is a virtuoso jazz clarinetist and a Grammy-nominated bluegrass mandolinist, as well as a key figure in the 20th century revival of klezmer music. On the two discs of Old Brooklyn he and a top-notch band with numerous guests from the worlds of country and jazz play a heady blend of all of these music styles on songs that range from rootsy to ethereal.
For the core band, he is joined by the regular members of his trio, bassist Whitney and drummer Larry Eagle, plus guitarist Jon Sholle and fiddler Byron Berline, one of the best and best-known fiddlers in the U.S. Guests include Ricky Skaggs, Bela Fleck, Paul Shaffer, Bruce Molsky and other roots and jazz musicians. (One who caught my eye was Lew Soloff, who played horns with Blood, Sweat & Tears in the 1960s.)
This may be the first time Statman has combined his clarinet and mandolin music on one album. He wrote several new pieces for Old Brooklyn, and collected a bunch of songs in various genres that he felt would fit the theme. For the most part, I think it works quite well, demonstrating how a few of the many threads in the tapestry of American music can complement one another.
At the opposite poles of Statman’s repertoire are bluegrass and klezmer. Tunes in the former style include the traditional “Pretty Little Gal,” “Sally Ann,” “Y’all Come,” and “Long Journey Home,” as well as Statman-penned tunes in the same vein such as “”Waltz For Mom” and “Uncle Mo” (both delightful duets with Bruce Molsky). The klezmer end is represented by the traditional “Shabbos Nigun” (Sabbath song) and “Mah Yedidus,” although both have non-traditional arrangements. The former is a clarinet-banjo duet with Statman and Fleck, the latter a romping jazzy workout with Statman leading on mandolin, accompanied by bass, drums plus Shaffer on B3 organ and Soloff on piccolo trumpet. And there are a handful of klezmer-like tunes written by Statman, including the clarinet workout “On the King’s Highway,” which starts out sounding like a Renaissance dance before slipping into jazz mode; and the klezmer-jazz trio pieces “Zhok Mahoney” and “The One in Nine.”
Riding the line between jazz and Americana are three deep blues tracks: Ivory Joe Hunter’s “Since I Met You Baby” with Statman on mandolin and some stellar contributions from Art Baron on trombone and tuba, and Sholle wailing on a steel-bodied guitar; Statman’s “Blues in 3,” which adds Rifkin’s pedal steel to the core band; and Statman’s arrangement of a traditional blues, “21st Century Chicken Shack Back Blues,” on which Shaffer’s B3 backs Statman’s melodic line on the mandolin.
Beyond bluegrass, there are several variations on the Americana theme, including the sweet waltz “Bourbon in Jackson Hole,” the rocking “A Boppin Crib,” with Sholle’s electric guitar highlighted; Statman’s Appalachian-style gospel “A Brighter Day;” and my favorite track, Statman’s wonderfully melodic “Anthem.” Another standout is the only vocal track, the traditional “The Lord Will Provide,” with Ricky Skaggs delivering a hair-raising performance that would make Dr. Ralph Stanley proud, backed by Statman on clarinet where one would expect to hear a fiddle. I called this one traditional, but it’s actually written by John Newton, who also wrote “Amazing Grace.”
Statman’s impressive clarinet chops show up on “Totally Steaming,” an avant-garde improvisation accompanied by a whistling teakettle; and the beautiful solo “Life Cycles,” a soulful tune that could belong in many genres, played with klezmer-style grace notes and bent notes. With this kind of technique and tone, it’s not hyperbole to mention Statman in the same breath as greats like Goodman and Shaw.
And then there are a big handful of numbers that jump all the walls of genre. Chief among them is the title track which opens the first disc. At its baseline it’s progressive bluegrass, showcasing Statman’s lightning-fast but warm mandolin and Berline’s expressive fiddling; it’s offset by interludes of soloing that verge on free jazz, some way-out flights of mandolin fancy, and a Captain Beefheart-like section of mixed tempos, with all the instruments going off on all kinds of tangents before finally coming together just when you’re sure it’s all going to fall apart. “My Hollywood Girls” is an exhuberant melody in progressive bluegrass mode, with some elements of klezmer and some of jugband, with trombone and pedal steel juxtaposed – another example of unique instrumental pairing.
“Eitan and Zaidy” is a funky jazz/roots workout featuring wild mandolin work and Shaffer playing the Hammond B3 like a space-age synthesizer. Berline’s fiddle matches Statman’s mandolin flights and Sholle rocks on electric guitar. And the band pulls out all the stops on “Ocean Parkway After Dark,” an electrifying and amusing bit of Yiddish surf rock. Statman plays both mandolin and clarinet, Sholle picks a mean electric guitar, Baron blasts trombone, euphonium and tuba, and Shaffer rattles the rafters with an old-school Oberheim synthesizer.
This kind of genre-bending may upset some purists and puzzle the less-adventurous, but I find it a highly entertaining reflection of the human and artistic melting pot that exists in Brooklyn and probably any major American city.
Learn more at Statman’s website, and you can order the set there, too.
(Shefa, 2011)
