Andy Statman is an American original. A virtuoso on both mandolin and clarinet, he plays his own unique brand of bluegrass, klezmer, and jazz – playful, prayerful, and powerful in a way that you just have to hear. The Chicago Tribune calls him “one of the greatest mandolinists of this – or any – era.” The Jerusalem Post calls him “one of the most important Jewish creative artists of the post-war era.” And Ricky Skaggs calls him “Bill Monroe and John Coltrane poured into one person.” He’s played with everyone from Bob Dylan to Itzhak Perlman, and released more than 30 albums, including his latest, Superstring Theory, recorded with Jim Whitney, Larry Eagle, Michael Cleveland, and Tim O’Brien, and featuring Andy’s awe-inspiring mandolin work. “On Superstring Theory, Andy Statman proves that even virtuosos can have fun,” says the website TheAlternateRoot.

Andy was born in New York City in 1950, grew up in Queens, and at 15, inspired by the bluegrass of Flatt & Scruggs, began studying mandolin in Greenwich Village with David Grisman, who became a lifelong friend and collaborator. “I always tell people,” David says, “that if the only thing I ever did was give Andy his first mandolin lesson, it would have been a life well spent.” Andy found work as a studio musician, playing with David Bromberg, Vassar Clements, and Jerry Garcia, and went on to study saxophone with Earth Opera’s Richard Grando and clarinet with David Tarras, who led him deep into the world of klezmer. “I'm very lucky,” Andy says. “The guys I've studied with have treated me as an apprentice in the Old World sense. I'm probably from the last generation that had a chance to learn from the greats.” The National Endowment for the Arts awarded him a National Heritage Fellowship, the nation’s highest honor in folk and traditional arts.

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