Between Heaven & Earth

I think the reviews by Jason Verlinde and Rabbi Yonassan Gershom are accurate as to the feel and value of this music. I mostly want to add some technical stuff that may be of interest. The quartet is Statman on the clarinet (he has a beautiful yearning tone) and mandolin, Kenny Werner on the piano, Harvie Swartz on the acoustic bass and Bob Weiner on the drums. Bola Fleck (banjo), David Grisman (mandolin) and Scott Lee (bass) put in guest appearances.When I first heard the first song on this record it reminded me a lot of the first song on Moodiology by George Garzone. Werner also plays on that excellent album and on both albums he is in fine McCoy Tyner form- playing piano of great spiritual power and beauty. Other than Statman, Werner is the main instrumental presence on this disc.Statman on clarinet is wonderful. He doesn't so much tear up the changes as work with the melodies. When you have melodies of this beauty it is a wonderful approach.One reviewer found this music to be too new ageish. Maybe but I think in that case he has heard a lot better new age music than I have. I find this album to hold its own against anything I put it up against on my CD changer. Right now I am playing it with masses by Palestrina. I have played it up against Leila Josefowicz, Anouar Braham and George Garzone (it is apparent that Statman is not the player that Garzone is but then how many are?). Each time I play this CD I find new things to hear, new beauty to enjoy. These guys play this music because they love it, they feel it to the bone, it cuts to the heart of how they see the world and, I suspect in Statman's case as well as Palestrina, it is part of an ongoing conversation with God. How often do you get to hear music played with that much heart? It may not speak to you but it is definitely worth a listen to find out.

In search of the true feeling within a nigun, Jewish vocalise sung as an outpouring of spiritual depth, I have been largely disappointed. Some albums of Shlomo Carlebach, Mike Tabor, and Joel Rubin only approach that heart, though they offer fine music and some worthy and interesting innovations. When I heard again my copy of this purely instrumetal Andy Statman album, I was stunned. Here it was! Through jazz! Statman captures and blends Chabad Chassidism, klezmer joy, and spiritual jazz (with its roots of blues and religion). He even throws in some bluegrass via guest Jewish musicians Bela Fleck, banjo, and David Grisman, mandolin. Here is an album to place along those of Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, and Charles Lloyd. Between Heaven and Earth is a milestone, unique among klezmer, and as the title indicates, the listener is drawn away from mundane affairs toward the essence of our existence. Here is beauty. Here is wrapped the history of Jewish exile. This is quite an accomplishment for a small klezmer band.

Most albums of Hasidic music tend to focus on the rapidly-paced "table bangers" designed to get your adrenaline going. Not so with this album. Statman and crew have chosen some of the slower, more contemplative Hasidic tunes, and rendered them in a soul-filled cross between klezmer and modern jazz. The result is meditative Jewish music that is definitely not the usual "new age" pablum. In their original cultural context, these tunes are sung orally, usually without instrumental accompaniment, because the use of instruments is forbidden on the Sabbath and festivals. Instead, the singers sit around the table, using their voices to improvise complex harmonies and variations on the basic tunes. Sometimes the tunes have words, but more often, they are made up of meaningless sounds such as "ai-ai-ai!" that, precisely because they are wordless, can contain all possible meanings of the heart. The result is a sort of verbal jazz that reaches deep levels of the soul. Such music is known in Hebrew as a "devekus niggun" (D'VAY-kuss-NEE-gun), which means, loosely translated, "A sacred tune for connecting with God." What Statman has done here is to translate that oral devekus experience into instrumental music. And it really works! As I listened to this album, I was carried back to my own deepest experiences around the Shabbos table. There are only nine pieces on this CD, but each is long enough to really get into the music, the same as when we sing them around the table. This album truly conveys the inner spirit of Hasidism.

This CD is by far the most emotional CD I have ever heard (in fact, apparently Kenny Werner, the pianist, burst into tears during one of his solos). Close listening to "Maggid" can bring a guy to tears. Statman and the crew play their improvisational adaptations of ancient Hasidic tunes in a way that literally no one else can. Truly a remarkable CD.

Andy does a tremendous job of taking nigunim (songs) of the holy hasidic masters of long a go. he puts it in a format which people can appreciate today. However, he does not sell out. Meaning, is he does not "water down" . Andy perserves the holiness and sacred nature of each tune so that even the tradional are able to enjoy this. Andy bridge the tradition with modern times and does so in a magnificent fashion

This album is really a favourite of mine. No easy listening, no swinging. It's full of subtle and spectacular ensemble music. Statman's clarinet reaches out to unknown heights and the combination of styles is really moving. Improvising on well-known Hassidic themes, Statman and his musical friends create a new genre: mystical music with body and Soul! Unlike so-called 'New Age-music', that usually lacks any depth, this album combines the old with the new.

La musica della seconda metà del Novecento (ma anche dopo) - la musica popolare intendo - non è in fondo che mescolanza di generi, creazioni di sintassi nuove partendo dall'incrocio di stilemi codificati, evocazioni di suggestioni nuove prodotte dalla fusione, dalla contaminazione, talvolta dallo scontro, di effetti e richiami ben noti. I campi dell'esplorazione musicale sono stati battuti tutti, dai tempi dispari alle scale modali, alla poliritmia e via allargando. Di fatto, la musica etnica è stato l'ultimo (sterminato) ambito aggredito dagli anni '60 in poi dalla musica di consumo: Ray Charles, Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, i Beatles hanno aperto la strada, e sino alla world music degli anni '80 (poi sfociata nella new age) si è sperimentato ogni ambito etnico e popolare, dalle isole britanniche alla Grecia, dall'India al Marocco, dai Balcani all'Africa, dall'America Latina al Sudafrica (Paul Simon docet)...Le diverse sensibilità - rock, jazz, colta, minimalista... - hanno poi pensato ad arricchire i vari risultati di nuances, di ulteriori suggestioni ed atteggiamenti.La klezmer music, la musica ebraica centroeuropea non ha fatto eccezione e Andy Statman è uno dei suoi massimi rappresentanti, interpreti e creatori, seguendo un percorso musicale comune, in senso generale, a pressoché tutti gli altri musicisti: partendo dal bluegrass, si è dapprima interessato (tra la fine degli anni '70 e gli anni '80) al recupero del patrimonio culturale ebraico, per allargare negli anni '90 la sua ricerca ad altre modalità espressive, e questo disco è probabilmente il suo capolavoro: un disco di fusion klezmer jazz, se posso chiamarlo così, imbevuto di misticismo, sospeso e quasi notturno; la scena è quella jazz di New York, così le analogie e i richiami sono subito evidenti: echeggiano infatti il Miles Davis degli anni '60-'70 più intimista e meno furioso, o John McLaughlin e la sua Mahavishnu Orchestra nei momenti più intimi e sospesi; un jazz comunque molto moderno, attuale, aperto, che per molti aspetti ricorda i migliori lavori di Mark Isham.Un lavoro forse non facilissimo, introspettivo e magari un po' ostico specie alla distanza per orecchie meno attente e più frettolose, ma di enorme suggestione. Una esperienza musicale che merita un ascolto, al termine del quale è molto facile restare ammaliati e sospesi. La dimensione tutta acustica del quartetto (clarinetto, piano, contrabbasso e batteria, talvolta un banjo) rende poi il suono molto materico, diretto, immediato, caldo, in una parola bello (e che incisione ragazzi!).Da provare, specie per gli appassionati della Mahavishnu Orchestra...