Andy Statman Trio
Part of: Migrations: The Making of America
Performers
Andy Statman Trio
·· Andy Statman, Clarinet and Mandolin
·· Jim Whitney, Bass
·· Larry Eagle, Drums and Percussion
Event Duration
The concert will last approximately two hours, including one 20-minute intermission.
Introduction
Two closely related musical traditions were brought to America by Eastern European Jewish immigrants: Chasidic vocal music and its instrumental counterpart, which became known as “klezmer” in the 1970s.
Chasidism was a populist, mystical movement begun by the legendary Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer—better known as the Baal Shem Tov—in the mid-1700s, and has continued through today. One of the Baal Shem Tov’s deep convictions was that every individual, even the most humble, could develop an intimate relationship with God and experience closeness to God. God was understood as not just the Supreme Being, in an abstract sense, but as a living reality that one could experience in one’s heart and in the world—if that was a person’s sincere intention.
Music played an important role in this spiritual quest. To be sure, Chasidic melodies were rooted in earlier Eastern European Jewish musical styles, but they developed in a variety of original directions—some of them startlingly so—to serve as a vehicle for cleaving to God. This spiritual use of song was a characteristic of Chasidic life, whether during the prayer service in the synagogue, at informal Chasidic gatherings—often presided over by a Chasidic mystical teacher, known in Yiddish as a rebbe—or in private, during the individual Chasid’s meditations and religious contemplation.
Chasidic melodies (niggunim) were usually sung without instrumental accompaniment except at weddings or special celebrations. On those occasions, the instrumental styles echoed the way the songs were sung. Beyond this, however, the musicians would perform the melodies in ways that allowed them to demonstrate their own skills; improvisation also played its part in making the instrumental interpretations creative and expressive. The more gifted of these musicians would compose original instrumentals for the same purposes. Yet the heart of the music remained true to the feelings expressed by Chasidic vocal music, and the instrumental flourishes and ornamentation were reflective of that spirit.
It has been noted that Jewish music, as it evolved, absorbed Gypsy and regional musical influences—but these influences and amalgamations, too, were transformed by the style and spirit of the Jewish way of playing. With the arrival of Eastern European Jewish immigrants to America in the late 19th to early 20th centuries, this style expanded even further.
Many of the great klezmer instrumentalists and composers came from Chasidic families, such as clarinetists Naftule Brandwein and Dave Tarras. Their repertoire reflected the influence of the music’s religious roots. Klezmer recordings of the early 20th century not infrequently had titles that mentioned various Chasidic rebbes (Naftule shpielt far der Rebbe and Der Manestricher Rebbe’s Chusidl) or cited phrases from Jewish liturgy. While the immigrants were assimilating American secular culture, the core of their music still reflected the deep emotions of Chasidic melodies—just as early African American soul music reflected its roots in gospel music.
While klezmer music—played by mainly secular musicians—gradually departed from its Chasidic roots and was influenced by other popular styles, the vocal music of the Chasidim continued to develop independently, according to its own subculture. Several great Chasidic composers came to America and continued to expand their music here; among them were the Modzitzer Rebbe, known as the Imrei Shaul, and his protégé, the late Rabbi Ben Zion Shenker. Another was the Bostoner Rebbe and his sons and grandsons, most of whom were born in America. Popular 20th-century Chasidic singers Rabbi Yankel Melamed and Rabbi David Werdyger were Gerer Chasidim.
Beginning in the 1950s, secular pop music began to make its way into the Orthodox Jewish world through backup bands on Jewish recordings and also through wedding bands. However, in recent years, there has been a renewal of klezmer instrumental music in the Chasidic communities of New York, and in the secular Jewish world, there has been a thriving klezmer scene for many decades. Unexpectedly, the almost-forgotten music of the Eastern European Jewish tradition has received a new lease on life.
—David Sears