Here is what several other notable newgrass musicians had to say when asked about the influence of David Grisman on bluegrass music and their style of playing. They also took the time to mention their favorite Grisman recordings. Check them out to experience some “Dawg” music.
BELA FLECK
banjo player formerly with the New Grass Revival,
currently with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
I am a big Dawg fan. His music inspired me in many ways as he found a way to make a place in jazz for a bluegrass instrumentalist. David is one of the bright lights of the bluegrass music world in that he knows and loves the traditional styles, but has built on them, expanding the stylist range and introducing the music to many new fans. He also has nurtured so many young musicians, including myself, and so becomes a musical father figure, setting a great example.
Favorite recordings- The David Grisman Rounder Compact Disc (Rounder, 1976), The David Grisman Quintet (Kaleidoscope, 1977), Hot Dawg (A&M, 1977/1987) I loved the David Grisman Rounder Album for its modern bluegrass stylings, Tony Rice, Bill Keith and Vassar Clements all knocked me out at the time on that album. Later the first DGQ album changed the way I looked at a lot of things, and gave me a vision of things I might try and even expand on. Hot Dawg is pretty special too.
DAROL ANGER
violinist/fiddle player currently playing with
Psychograss and Newgrange
David was really my graduate school for music. He has that enormous record collection, and is interested in every kind of music, and we would listen to everything. He steered me into Indian music [among other kinds] which has such an emphasis on intonation. It was good for me to hear that stuff. And we listened to jazz, and tried to play jazz. We were all kind of at sea with that, you know, just puzzling it out. We would go through a fake book or a chart of a jazz tune and we’d just go chord by chord, “Okay that’s a D demolished 13th, what is that? How would you voice that? What is a thirteenth? Okay, one, two…” We’d just count up the scale to a 13th. It was great, because we were learning together, and everybody had certain skills to bring in. David really was my higher musical education, and advocate, in much the same way as Ralph Rinzler was a mentor to him. I’ll be forever grateful. Favorite recordings- The David Grisman Quintet (Kaleidoscope, 1977), Dawg Jazz/Dawg Grass (1982) I would say that my favorite record was that first one, with the close runner-up being Dawg Jazz/Grass.
TONY FURTADO
banjo player/guitarist with the Tony Furtado band,
National Banjo Champion
When I first heard David Grisman I was a very impressionable teenage banjo player who loved bluegrass, jazz, Celtic music etc. Anyway, after hearing the David Grisman Quintet, I realized it was possible to play an instrument normally associated with bluegrass and branch off. In David’s music I heard a melding of influences done so well as to create his own style of music…and he did a very smart thing, he gave it a name: “dawg” music. This has had a lasting impact on me, especially now that I have my own band that tries to meld its influences.
Favorite recording- The David Grisman Quintet (Kaleidoscope, 1977) It has the first recording of “EMD.” It’s just the classic, quintessential Dawg album. I kinda grew up hearing that album. It’s Grisman and ‘those guys’[Darol Anger, Tony Rice, Todd Phillips] when they were just really getting going in their careers and their styles, exploring and experimenting.
JEFF AUSTIN
mandolin player with the Yonder Mountain String Band
I must say that now, more than any other time in my playing mandolin, I’ve been turning more and more to Grisman for lessons about music. The biggest part of my playing I’m trying to work on right now is the melodic aspect, and I really don’t think there’s anybody right now that is a better melodic mandolin player than Grisman. His touch, his sense of tone, and as I said, close attention to the melody, are all great influences on me. But I think more so than any of that, his pure love for playing the instrument is the biggest influence he’s had on my playing. Just watching him on stage is watching someone who is in a pure moment of bliss in life. When the crowd really gets going, the band is cooking, when his eyes close and that head starts to wobble, one of the true great inspirational musical moments out there.
Grisman’s playing technique, songwriting style, and approach to traditional style bluegrass definitely influenced bluegrass. His playing, his drive and attack of the music was something that had not been heard before, especially his playing style….driving, melodic, full of attack. As far as his role in the creation of newgrass, Grisman was one of the first, someone driven by tradition, but having a clear vision of the future…letting all of the other musical influences in his life become part of his music, instead of ignoring it.
Favorite recordings: DGQ-20 (Acoustic Disc, 1996), Songs of Our Fathers (Acoustic Disc, 1995), Not For Kids Only (Acoustic Disc, 1993) DGQ-20 – Amazing live recordings from way way early in the Quintets history…shows that basically, his band was the greatest thing on earth in the seventies… and the eighties… and the nineties. Songs of Our Fathers – Traditional jewish music recorded with Andy Statman (another mandolin player everybody should know about). Amazing tone to the whole album…you put it on and are transported… to a different time and space. Amazing material. Not For Kids Only – If you have to chose just one for my choice, this is it… probably my favorite album ever. When I first got it, it never left my CD player, ever, for about a year. The music is so true, so heartfelt… it’s almost hard to describe. You can feel what Garcia and Grisman had between each other on this recording so well… two men together, making this music for the pure love of it, straight from the heart to the tape… from laughter to tears in one recording… hat to me makes it the best.
Oh, and to give you my reaction to my first time seeing David Grisman and his quintet, I was blown away. The band took the stage one by one, producing some of the liveliest, technically precise, and experimental music I’ve yet to witness. While drenched in traditional bluegrass, the music took me on a journey around the world with its variety of musical influences. The setlist included old favorites such as Grisman’s first composition “Cedar Hill,” “Dawg Nation,” a new arrangement for twin mandolins of the old American fiddle tune “The 8th of January,” and one that went way off the boards to no man’s land, kind of in the vein of GD’s “Space.” Man, that was a freaky sound Matt Eakle got on his flute. And I will never forget the crazy looks Grisman gave the crowd front start to finish—turning his head back and forth, eyes wide—allowing all of these wonderful ideas that have developed over the years to escape through his fingers on the mandolin.
No Comments comments associated with this post