Emerging from New York’s folk and string-band circles in the mid-1970s, Andy Statman first built his name as a mandolin virtuoso before turning to the clarinet and helping launch a neo-klezmer resurgence. Across subsequent decades he maintained an intrepid course, continually crossing stylistic boundaries, fronting his own ensembles, and alternating between his two chief instruments on such notable releases as the 1986 album Nashville Mornings, New York Nights, the 1997 set Between Heaven and Earth, and the 2006 recording New Shabbos Waltz. Whether performing alongside Itzhak Perlman across Europe or with Ricky Skaggs at Ryman Auditorium, Statman’s extensive and eclectic credits underscore his exploratory spirit.
A lifelong resident of New York City, Statman spent his formative years in Queens, where household klezmer discs mingled with rock & roll, jazz, Tin Pan Alley, and classical music in his listening. His older brother Jimmy led him to bluegrass; Statman took up guitar and banjo before settling on mandolin as his main voice. He studied for a period with mandolin master David Grisman, who remained a lifelong friend, and by his teens was performing in local string bands. He also briefly played saxophone and gained experience in free-jazz, funk, and blues groups while continuing to push the mandolin in fresh directions. Leaving college in New Hampshire to devote himself fully to music, he spent the first half of the 1970s strengthening his standing through sideman work with singer-songwriter David Bromberg and membership in the experimental bluegrass group Country Cookin’. A few years later the similarly inclined ensemble Breakfast Special appeared; by then the ever-curious Statman had added clarinet to his arsenal and begun a parallel path studying klezmer under the revered Dave Tarras. As a clarinetist he joined tsimbl player Zev Feldman for the influential 1979 duo album Jewish Klezmer Music, which helped ignite the klezmer revival.
Returning to mandolin, Statman opened the 1980s with his ambitious solo debut Flatbush Waltz. The 1980 recording’s freewheeling blend of improvisatory jazz, folk, and varied ethnic traditions announced the daring sensibility that would mark his entire output. From the refined 1983 collaboration with Grisman titled Mandolin Abstractions and the expansive 1984 Klezmer Suite, led by the Andy Statman Klezmer Orchestra, to the virtuosic 1986 romp Nashville Mornings, New York Nights, Statman sustained a creative surge that extended into the following decade. A further partnership with Grisman, 1995’s Songs of Our Fathers, reinterpreted ancient Jewish instrumental melodies and stands as one of his career highlights. He remained active through the rest of the decade, recording and touring with Itzhak Perlman while reshaping Chassidic repertoire through the avant-garde jazz of his Andy Statman Quartet on the acclaimed 1997 release Between Heaven and Earth: Music of the Jewish Mystics.
By the mid-2000s Statman had issued several albums with his trio and maintained a steady touring schedule across the United States, Europe, and Israel. He and Grisman renewed their partnership on 2006’s New Shabbos Waltz, and he later received a Grammy nomination for his dynamic solo effort East Flatbush Blues. He appeared with Béla Fleck & the Flecktones and shared stages with Ricky Skaggs at such landmark venues as Carnegie Hall, Ryman Auditorium, and Lincoln Center. Statman resurfaced in 2011 with the typically wide-ranging double album Old Brooklyn, followed two years later by the quintet project Superstring Theory. After two collaborative klezmer-focused outings—one with Yaakov Klein and another with Ben Zion Shenker—he revisited his playful fusion of bluegrass and jazz on 2019’s Monroe Bus.
