Robert Christgau: Dean of American Rock Critics

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David Grisman & Andy Statman [extended]

  • The David Grisman Quintet [Kaleidoscope, 1977] B+
  • The Hidden Light [Sony, 1998] A-
  • New Shabbos Waltz [Acoustic Disc, 2006] **

See Also:

Consumer Guide Reviews:

David Grisman: The David Grisman Quintet [Kaleidoscope, 1977]
Initially, I took this jazzy Western bluegrass concoction for an acoustic variant on one of those session superstar instrumental LPs. But where it's the tendency of a band like the Section, for instance, to sound self-satisfied, as if getting stuck that deep in a groove were a spiritual achievement, this music is always sprightly, inquisitive, and surprising. Lightweight stuff, you say--I say it's airy. B+

The Andy Statman Quartet: The Hidden Light [Sony, 1998]
To devotees of machine-age tempos, old-time klezmer often sounds more devotional than celebratory to those comfortable with machine-age tempos, and rather than being coy about this commercial inconvenience, the mandolin master turned clarinet pro embraces it. The bio's "spiritual jazz" IDs the result aptly enough, except that any Jew who feels like one will recognize its provenance at 50 paces, one way it avoids the New Age vagueness you rightly fear. Those who don't feel like Jews will be impressed enough that something so solemn can be so light--and glad that Statman isn't above reprising traditional tunes or picking up his sharpest axe. A-

New Shabbos Waltz [Acoustic Disc, 2006]
Two bluegrass masters tend their roots in Hasidic melodies old and new, sprightly and melancholy, devout and not so ("Anim Zemiros," "New Shabbos Waltz"). **