Andy Statman's other life as a bluegrass mandolinist may have something to do with what makes Klezmer Suite so good. Great bluegrass players make the traditional vital, and that's exactly what he does here, blowing klezmer clarinet like nobody's business. Statman finds a way to fit a non-traditional klezmer axe like Bob Jones' guitar seamlessly into the mix and work in some mean mandolin ("Nigun", "Proskurov"). But when the band gets going on an old-school-sounding rave-up like "Tepliker Sher", Statman's a man undeniably in touch with his roots.