It isn't a stretch to imagine that had Andy Statman met John Coltrane, they would have collaborated on something incredibly special.

David Sears Clarinetist and mandolin player Andy Statman's acclaimed recordings include "Klezmer Suite" and "Between Heaven and Earth: Music of the Jewish Mystics." Andy Statman Trio Where: Carnegie Lecture Hall, Oakland. Sponsor, Calliope House When: 8 p.m. Saturday Tickets: $25, $27 at the door and $12 for students;412-394-3353

Statman's music, like that of the late Coltrane, is about the art of spiritual expression -- how one's music can achieve a closeness with God.

Over his career, Statman has had the opportunity to study a number of traditional musical styles from some of the great musical masters.

Now, he's just happy that he's reached a point, both musically and intellectually, where he can finally play the music his way.

"My music comes out of certain traditions, but it's really my own way of interpreting the music," said the 55-year-old mandolinist/clarinetist recently by phone from his home in Brooklyn, N.Y. "There's a lot of improvisation in the music. We try to go on a journey with the music. We want to have a real experience with the music."

Statman's music is a mixture of bluegrass, jazz and klezmer, which he describes as the "instrumental child of Hasidic vocal music."

"Historically, most of the people who played klezmer music were Hasidic," said Statman. "Almost all of the earlier recordings were either actual Hasidic melodies played instrumentally, or they were melodies that demonstrated the virtuosity or inventiveness of the musician. But the feelings they invoked were feelings of a Hasidic melody.

"What I found when you're dealing with roots music is, once you start messing around with the harmony of it, the music, while it is very powerful, it is also very fragile. It can quickly become something else. Instead of being an exploration of a Hasidic melody, if the piano player doesn't really understand what the emotion of the tune is, it can become jazz with a Hasidic flavor. It looses its focus. And the same applies with the rhythm underneath. It can become bluegrass rock or Hebraic rock."

All of those forms will be on display Saturday when he performs with his trio at the Carnegie Lecture Hall. The band also features bassist Jim Whitney and drummer Larry Eagle.

Statman, who grew up in Brooklyn, has an unusual musical background. Before playing clarinet and jump-starting the neo-klezmer movement in the early 1980s, he was a formidable bluegrass mandolinist.

At 12, he was introduced to bluegrass music by his older brother, who had plenty of old records. From time to time, he would also listen to a bluegrass radio broadcast piped in from Wheeling, W.Va.

Eventually, he started studying with Dave Grisman, mandolin phenom and creator of "dawg" music.

"I was a bluegrass nut from the age of 13 to about 17," said Statman. "Dave had all these old rare bluegrass records and live recordings, and he taught me how to slow down the records to learn a solo. I spent eight hours day slowing down solos and getting them exact."

During this time, he was introduced to the music of guitarists Django Reinhardt and Eddie Lang and violinist Stephane Grappelli .

"I was starting to develop my own voice. But I realized that the deepest feelings in bluegrass music were being expressed in vocal music, and I certainly wasn't a singer."

At that point, Statman started exploring jazz. One of the first records he bought was Albert Ayler's "Live in Greenwich Village."

"I said, wow. This is it. This is what I want to do."

Statman began taking lessons from saxophonist Richard Grando, who had worked with Art Blakey and learned to play from Sonny Stitt. Grando was involved in the East Village avant-garde movement.

"We really hit it off," said Statman. "I continue to play mandolin but not really bluegrass. I was playing free jazz on the saxophone and also became interested in James Brown, Otis Redding. The Rolling Stones and the Beatles were really happening then. So I started playing in a lot of funk bands, doing cover songs, and doing the Albert Ayler free-style type thing."

During this period, Statman said two important things happened. He was introduced to the music of John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, and he began exploring Judaism.

"People like 'Trane' and Pharoah Sanders and Ayler were exploring music as a means of spiritual expression and they were all into studying religion. For me, I had heard traditional Jewish instrumental music -- now we call it klezmer. I had heard the music growing up and had danced to it. I started studying various religions and realized that I was Jewish."

After spending a semester at a small college in New Hampshire where he said he took a course in "homesteading" and a "Thelonious Monk tutorial," he returned to New York and decided to become a full-time musician.

"While I was there all I did was study music," said Statman. "I couldn't rationalize spending my parents' money."

Back in New York, Statman spent his days working in a sandwich shop and his nights performing whatever gigs he could find, mostly in bluegrass and avant-garde type bands.

Eventually he received a call to play saxophone with David Bromberg, a guitarist who has worked with everyone from Bob Dylan to Chubby Checker.

"All of sudden I was out on the road with Bromberg, and we did sessions with the Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, David 'Fathead' Newman and Dr. John," said Statman. "I had gone from working small jobs at night and making tuna fish sandwiches in the daytime to becoming a solid reed musician."

During the mid 1970s, Statman began studying ethnic music on the mandolin and clarinet. During this time, he performed in a band with the late Brazilian drummer/percussionist Dom Um Romao, faounding member of Weather Report, a seminal jazz-fusion group.

He also started taking lessons from the great clarinetist Dave Tarras, one of the most respected klezmer artists. Tarras was so taken by Statman that he regarded him as his protege, and left him his old Albert System clarinets.

These models were favored through the 1920s, and were the choice for former Duke Ellington band members Barney Bigard and Russell Procope.

"All of the old-timers played this system," said Statman. "All the traditional Greek, Albanian and Turkish musicians played on that type of instrument. It has a different tone and sound. The tone really lends itself to certain types of feelings and musics. So while I am rooted in that, I am also rooted in Coltrane, Albert Ayler, Junior Walker and Charlie Parker. I've studied all this stuff. What I try to do is keep an emotional fidelity to the melodies that I am playing. But if we feel like it we go on improvisations with it."

A string of critically received jazz and klezmer recordings, including "Klezmer Suite" and "Between Heaven and Earth: Music of the Jewish Mystics," have helped to catapult Statman into the ranks of the most formidable instrumentalists.

Still, Statman says he's always studying and refining his music.

"I've done a number of records in the Coltrane style," he said. "I've found that you need very special musicians who work with you that are good improvisors that understand jazz but also understand folk music. Working with the right musicians makes things much easier. Both of the musicians have played all sorts of music. They really understand what I am trying to do."