I've always loved that solo.
I've always loved that solo.
Ron Pennington
Of course the merits of the solo are a matter of taste.
But to suggest the Dawg was struggling with the timing or chords to Nine Pound Hammer? Lol!
Ok, maybe I'm missing the point. So...what is spacegrass? At the time all this was going on, I was more interested in T.V. dinners and big wheels than mind altering substances. In fact, I missed the boat on the whole hippie thing. Is playing around the beat part of it, or is it that your so stoned that that your trying to create some kind of tension in the music that fills the itsy bitsy teeny weenie gaps?
And now for today's weather....sunny, with a chance of legs
"Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe." - Abraham Lincoln
The term 'spacegrass' is new to me too. I think it's just a tongue-in-cheek label for the whole 'new acoustic' thing. I really like some of that stuff and I'm not a 'smoker'
My point was merely that Grisman can play fabulous, authentic, Monroe-style BG when he so chooses. Here he clearly didn't and many people don't like the solo. But I really don't think he was 'lost' on Nine Pound Hammer.
maybe they were all tired of hearing the same break on nine pound hammer over and over. To me it sounds like a lot of dawg's other solos. Listen to his playing on Bill Keiths record he does some similar interpetations of traditional melodies. I don't understand your connection to them being hippies or being stoned. I think it's they were being adventurous more than anything.
p.s. if you want hear dawg intepret this traditionally listen to his home is where the heart is cd recording where he plays it with doc and jack lawrence. Dawg is the coolest.
To me its typical of what Dawg was doing at that time. He stays pretty much to the tune on Blackberry Blossom.
Fretbear.....Tony wasn't quite done with Dawg music at this point, check out Hot Dawg from a year later, there were two great T. Rice tunes on that one, Devlin' and Neon Tetra, and for you youngsters Hot Dawg was available on 8 track, as well as LP, and cassette, I know some of those formats even predate TV dinners & Big Wheels.....Hot Dawg has Stephane Grappelli on a few cuts, as well as Buell Neidlinger & Eddie Gomez each on bass on a few cuts. Indeed in Spacegrass, or what really started in the band Ook 'n M, which was Tony, Todd, Mike & Darol, as a Quartet...the other guys in the DGQ formed a band to experiment & play at small clubs between the DGQ dates, to work on their own material & just cut loose from more arranged parts of Dawg Music, going into a looser jazz inspired format...the experimenting with playing ahead or behind the beat, or pushing & pulling as a technique, became part of the program, where the beat would go in and out of focus intentionally.....but they all knew where the "one" was & could bring it home whenever they wanted, it created a tension and release effect, along with a more syncopated rhythm which was common in how they played Dawg music. And Jonathan, this comes from the late 50's, early 60's jazz that these guys were ALL listening to, check out the great Bill Evans Trio recordings,or the classic Miles Davis band's recordings etc....... and had nothing to do with anyone being hippies or with mind altering substances. These guys were BIG into jazz, we would regularly go out together to hear the likes of Oscar Peterson with Joe Pass on guitar & Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen on bass, or someone like Dexter Gordon, or Stephane Grapelli with Diz Dizley et al....we'd go see gigs at the Keystone Korner jazz club, or GAMH. Grisman has a huge jazz collection on vinyl & would loan out his records if someone was interested in learning more about jazz.....trust me, these guys weren't listening to Jimmy Martin, Flatt & Scruggs or Bill Monroe anymore for inspiration. More like Dizzy, Bird, Cannonball & Coltrane.
Back in the late sixties, there was a fellow in L.A. named Deenie Clark who used to pull me around in a milk crate with a rope tied to it. Some twenty years later, I looked him up, and he invited me to come and stay at his house until I found a place of my own. In the evenings he would take me out to these small rooms to see some of the names in jazz, and in the morning, I never knew who was going to be in the den taking a voice lesson.
It was a great musical experience, but it was long ago and just a fond memory now. That pretty much is the extent of my exploration into jazz. Thanks' for the explanation Art. It's long overdue that I explore the artists that you mention.
And now for today's weather....sunny, with a chance of legs
"Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe." - Abraham Lincoln
Jonathan..try something like Waltz for Debbie, by the Bill Evans Trio......or maybe Kind of Blue by Miles Davis.
I think this one is the biggest selling jazz recording of all time. Shouldn't be too hard to find a used copy.
Or you could add the Acoustic Disc companion route to Kinda Blue......get the Garcia-Grisman jazz CD titled So What,
which is the title cut on Kind of Blue....so you could see how an acoustic band with mandolin might play the tune.
In fact they have a coupla versions of it on there, so you can see how Grisman varies his improvisations by comparing the
different versions. They also play a Cannonball Adderly tune Bag's Groove (a blues), and Milestones, another Davis composition
on there too, but I'd start with the real deal.....then add the mando version to help you "get it". Look into the next few Tony
Rice CD's and you'll find him recording jazz classics like Nardis by Miles Davis, which Tony recorded on his CD titled Devlin.....
or Four on Six, by the great jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery that Tony recorded on his CD titled Acoustics, or on his CD Backwaters,
you find the tune My Favorite Things,by Rogers & Hammerstein, and On Green Dolphin Street, by Washington & Kaper. These popular
tunes became jazz standards & can be found on many jazz recordings, including those by Miles Davis and Bill Evans with his piano trio.
Usually these classic jazz tunes have a great head, and interesting chords to improvise over. I think it is cool to search out other
versions of tunes, especially if one if my musical heros recorded it, try to find what inspired them. Jazz is full of cool musical ideas.
and the DGQ 20 set has Spain, where T quotes the Sonny Rollins tune St. Thomas.
I like the Kitchen Tapes Nine Pound Hammer break by Frank Wakefield. I also like that this Grisman break inspired a thread on this board a few decades later.
Go Long, Mule
I searched for any previous threads and didn't see anything. Could I be looking in the wrong place? Can you post the link?Originally Posted by
Spain is there, but the quote is in Waiting on Vassar.
minor correction: Bags' Groove is by Bags himself, i.e., Milt Jackson.
Whoops....Thanks Peter
Whoops....Thanks PeterSpain is there, but the quote is in Waiting on Vassar.
Heeeyyyyy man......stealin' my licks!
I guess that could be taken as a compliment......
Grisman is one of my favorites. Amazing right hand. Grisman's break are full of pentatonics -No magic here. -Especially back in the "Old and In The Way" years.
Even with dawg music. Just pick a break like "Hobo Song" to see.
Hey, gotta keep us lil Dawgies honest!
tkdboyd, you were looking to far away when it was right under your nose. This thread was inspired by the Grisman break in question!
Go Long, Mule
Just in case you haven't seen it, (speaking of the Dawg), here's a video that starts out with Frank Wakefield and his band; the second half is a "jam" between Frank and Dawg (offstage) that will show off Davids' abilities, if there was any doubt..(and Franks' too, for that matter)..After all, if I'm not mistaken, David was a student of Franks! Note the point at which David gets serious, and throws the strap on.
frannkandDawg
-Soupy1957
Breedlove Crossover FF SB
“The weather was so bad even my iPhone was shaking!”
-SDC
Art, that post brought back a lot of memories. Caught Grisman twice in Charlotte (once with T. Rice) in 1980-81. Amazing shows. Hard to believe it was that long ago.
-Jonathan
Then there's the Hot Dawg out takes (if you can find them!)
MMhmmmm, Hot Dawg Outtakes... wish I could
Who am I and if yes, how many?
Got 'em
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks