Andrew Bird makes the kind of music that leaves critics groping for labels. A classically trained violinist, former swing jazz musician and now art rock virtuoso, Bird is one of the most imaginative and distinctive voices making music today. Andrew learned violin from a young age using the traditional Suzuki method. He gives incredible live performances as essentially a one-man band. Bird plays lines on violin or guitar or whistles a theme, records and loops the sounds, and plays new layers over them. His music is an eclectic mix of gypsy ballads, jazz, folk and rock.