Jazz Articles about Andy Biskin

Andy Biskin Quartet: Early American: The Melodies of Stephen Foster

by Troy Collins
September 26, 2006

On Early American, clarinetist Andy Biskin sets off for a good-natured romp through the Stephen Foster songbook. Tackling such distinctive material, associated with the countrified jazz crossover typically favored by iconic guitarist Bill Frisell, risks unfair comparison. But while Frisell has a quirky bent to his voicings and arrangements, Biskin is far more mischievous. He never transforms these chestnuts into clownish throwaways, yet his interpretations are anything but slavishly traditional.

The bulk of the program consists of classic ...

Andy Biskin: Dogmental

by Mark Corroto
September 1, 2000

Jazz history is chock full of stories of popular jazzmen who began on clarinet, later shedding the black stick for the much cooler, chick-magnet saxophone. But times change, and just as America’s richest man, a pocket-protector wearing nerd is somehow admired, the clarinet has shed its stigma. Like Don Byron, Marty Ehrlich, and Chris Speed, Andy Biskin’s clarinet explores a thoroughly modern music. Like Byron’s Bug Music Biskin’s original music explores the territory once tread upon by John Kirby and ...