Andy Statman performed at B'nai Zion Synagogue in El Paso on May 8 - what a treat!!
Ruth Taber normally writes about food and travel for the El Paso Times. But she's also a former musician who performed and taught in New York. She attended the May 8 free concert by New Yort'sAndy Statman Trio, which fuses jazz, klezmer, bluegrass and folk music. Here's her review: (from Doug Pullen Blog, El Paso Times)
By Ruth Taber
Beaming on the bima!
A bima, for those of you who don't know, is a platform in synagogues and temples.
About 600 lucky concertgoers were treated to an extraordinary display of musical creativity by the visiting Andy Statman Trio on May 8 on the bima of El Paso’s B’nai Zion Synagogue.
Statman, one of nine winners of a 2012 National Heritage Fellowship, showed off his virtuosity on an unlikely pair of instruments, clarinet and mandolin, as he performed with bass playerJim Whitney and percussionist Larry Eagle.
Taking improvisation to dizzying heights, he easily segued – on both instruments — from the traditional, improvised Jewish music of Eastern Europe, known as klezmer, to bluegrass and jazz, with an occasional bit of American folk music for seasoning.
There was no fixed program or sheet music. On one number, Statman started a “conversation” with a plaintive tune on clarinet. Whitney answered on the bass. Several “paragraphs” later, the trio improvised to the delight of the foot-tapping, hand-clapping audience. At one point, percussionist Eagle walked over to Whitney and began using drumsticks on the bass strings while Whitney fingered the notes. The audience went wild.
When switching from clarinet to mandolin, Statman asked the audience’s indulgence: his finger, recently caught in a slammed car door, was painful and slow in healing. Not sure how long he could play with the injured finger. He said he’d give it a try. Oy! Such phenomenal playing with an injured finger.
Statman has performed with classical, jazz and rock greats, including Itzhak Perlman, Jerry Garciaand Bela Fleck. His latest album, 2012's "Old Brooklyn," features collaborations with a number of outstanding musicians including bluegrass star Ricky Skaggs.
The singer-mandolinist is an evangelical Christian. Statman's an orthodox Jew. They make beautiful music together on a track titled "The Lord Will Provide," an 18th-century hymn. When Skaggs introduced Statman at a concert several years ago, he said, “deep down, we both pray to the same Daddy,” referring to the “Holy Father of Bluegrass,” mandolin player and singer Bill Monroe.
UTEP professor Ezra Cappell lured Statman to town. Students in his summer class, "New York Through Literary Imagination," experience a week of Big Apple culture, including Statman's trio in Greenwich Village. Cappell has consistently invited Statman to perform in El Paso. With the help of some generous benefactors in this city he was able to pull it off this year.
The National Heritage Fellowships, which have gone to people like B.B. King, is considered the nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. They're presented annually by theNational Endowment for the Arts. Their description of Statman: “The culmination of decades of creative development, his music expands the boundaries of traditional and improvisational forms.
Amen to that.
