New Shabbos Waltz

Album review

David Grisman and Andy Statman have made two previous duet albums: the free form Mandolin Abstractions (1982) and Songs of Our Fathers (1995), a tribute to the two musicians' Jewish heritage. New Shabbos Waltz is a follow-up to the latter, a set of all-instrumental recordings drawn from traditional Jewish repertoire, some quite ancient, some more recent (two compositions come from the late Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach). Considering the piety surrounding this music -- some of the songs are born of the orthodox Chassidic experience, some of war, and at least one, "Ani Ma'amin (I Believe)," was sung in the concentration camps -- much of it is surprisingly joyous in sound. Grisman's mandolin, as always, is exquisite, and Statman contributes both his melodic clarinet melodies and a second mandolin. It's in the additional instrumentation that New Shabbos Waltz becomes truly fascinating, though: who would have ever imagined the renowned Los Angeles studio drummer Hal Blaine, who performed on countless West Coast rock hits during the '60s, laying down the beat for an album of traditional Jewish music? Yet here he is, rockin' out mightily on "Old Klezmer" and several other tracks. Also pitching in is slide guitar whiz Bob Brozman, who contributes subtly to the doleful texture of the ballad "Oifen Pripitchik (On the Heart)."
© Jeff Tamarkin /TiVo