Andy Statman (born 1950) is a mandolin player, clarinetist, and composer from New York City. He learned mandolin from David Grisman, played in the experimental bluegrass bands Country Cooking and Breakfast Special, and then became a leading klezmer clarinetist. His trio mixes bluegrass, klezmer, Hasidic melodies, and jazz. He has appeared on more than 100 recordings and received a National Heritage Fellowship in 2012.
Why Statman matters
Statman shows how far a bluegrass mandolin can travel without losing its roots. His 1980 album Flatbush Waltz paired post-bebop jazz improvisation with original tunes drawn from Eastern European music. He still plays Bill Monroe with fire, and his version of Monroe’s Rawhide earned a Grammy nomination in 2007. For a picker, he is proof that you can study the tradition in depth and still sound like yourself.
Life and career
Statman was born in 1950 and grew up in Queens, New York, in a family of cantors and musicians. He heard klezmer at family gatherings, show tunes, rock and roll, and jazz. When his older brother brought home bluegrass records, Andy took up guitar and banjo at 12, then switched to mandolin with lessons from his lifelong friend David Grisman. As a teen he played in Washington Square Park and with local string bands.
At 17 he heard saxophonist Albert Ayler and started playing sax in jazz, funk, and blues bands. In 1970 he joined Country Cooking, then worked with David Bromberg and with the experimental band Breakfast Special. In 1975 he became the student of klezmer clarinet master Dave Tarras, who left him four of his clarinets. In the late 1970s Statman recorded Jewish Klezmer Music, a touchstone of the klezmer revival, and Flatbush Waltz on mandolin.
He has recorded or toured with the Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Ricky Skaggs, Béla Fleck, Vassar Clements, Stéphane Grappelli, and Itzhak Perlman. He made Mandolin Abstractions and later duet records with Grisman. His trio, with bassist Jim Whitney and percussionist Larry Eagle, plays often in New York. Old Brooklyn (2011) featured Byron Berline, Ricky Skaggs, and Béla Fleck, and Superstring Theory (2013) featured Michael Cleveland and Tim O’Brien. He wrote Teach Yourself Bluegrass Mandolin in 1978.
Playing style
Statman plays Monroe-rooted mandolin with a jazz improviser’s freedom. On a bluegrass tune he can start with the melody and then stretch it into long, searching lines, with bluesy bends and sudden bursts of speed. His klezmer and Hasidic work adds modes and ornaments seldom heard on a mandolin.
He played an early 1920s Gibson A2Z for more than 35 years, and in later years has played F-5 style mandolins by Aleyas and Will Kimble.
Influences and legacy
Statman learned mandolin from David Grisman, clarinet from Dave Tarras, and jazz from John Coltrane and Albert Ayler records. He played beside Russ Barenberg and David Bromberg, and later with Ricky Skaggs, Byron Berline, Michael Cleveland, and Tim O’Brien.
His blend of bluegrass and other traditions runs parallel to Frank Wakefield’s classical experiments and Mike Marshall’s Brazilian work.
Signature tunes and songs
Flatbush Waltz Rawhide Kentucky Mandolin.
Essential recordings
Flatbush Waltz (1980) Mandolin Abstractions, with David Grisman (1983) East Flatbush Blues (Shefa, 2006) Old Brooklyn (Shefa, 2011) Superstring Theory (2013)
Awards and honors
Grammy nomination, Best Country Instrumental Performance, Rawhide (2007) National Heritage Fellowship, National Endowment for the Arts (2012)
Watch and listen
Statman and singer Michael Daves play Monroe’s Kentucky Mandolin. Listen to how Statman stretches the melody.
What to learn from Statman
Learn Monroe’s Rawhide or Kentucky Mandolin straight. Then play it again and change one phrase per pass, keeping the rest. After four or five passes you are improvising on a bluegrass tune without losing it. That is the core of Statman’s approach, and it works for any style.
Sources
Andy Statman, Wikipedia Andy Statman, 2012 NEA National Heritage Fellow, National Endowment for the Arts
Related players
See the mandolin players hub and the mandolin guide. Statman learned from David Grisman. Frank Wakefield and Mike Marshall also stretched bluegrass mandolin toward other traditions.