Veteran klezmer musician
Andy Statman, who inherited a clarinet from klezmer legend
Dave Tarras, leaves the past behind on a series of
John Coltrane-inflected voyages to the dark, mystical heart of Yiddish music. Featured are cosmic jazz interpretations of devotional music (deveykus niggum), table-songs (tisch niggunim), and traditional dances (rikkudim). While most of the material unfurls slowly, a pair of cuts with guesting newgrass banjo player
Béla Fleck absolutely sparkle. On "Purim Niggun,"
Statman and
Fleck even abandon the reverential tone of the rest of the disc to kick their heels at a dance tune
Statman originally learned from an old
Naftule Brandwein 78 rpm recording. Most of the pieces were recorded live in the studio with lots of improvising by
Statman and quartet members
Kenny Werner,
Harvie Swartz, and Bob Weiner, and the lack of overdub diddling results in a terrific immediacy. ~ Bob Tarte