Béla Bartók on the Banjo

I just realized that though I don't have the bandwidth to upload anything currently, or the time to write reviews, every once in a while I come across something that would be easy to share with you all. This is one such instance.

Enjoy this and grab it quick! It's free only this weekend. And the music is very very fine as well. Jake Schepps is a really skilled and exploratory banjo player, and the album also features the absolutely incredible young guitarist Grant Gordy (perhaps my favorite living guitarist, and a really nice guy too), and a crop of talented Colorado-based acoustic musicians. I saw them play these tunes live last summer, in an old schoolhouse in the mountains… maybe 30 people in the audience. Just incredible music.

John Fahey attempted to fuse the ideas of Béla Bartók with the "primitive" music of the United States. Jake Schepps' project is another take on the same. Except instead of using American melodies and Bartókian harmonies, he uses Bartók's melodies and an American string band arrangement. And I think you'll find, that like most classical music that was inspired by folk music, it sounds better on folk instruments than on grand pianos.

Enjoy!

Hello Friends,

A short reminder that right now you can download the critically acclaimed album "An Evening in the Village: the Music of Bela Bartok" for FREE.  Please spread the word and let any and all know that for the next two days (March 24, & 25) you can download the entire album with bonus tracks for the big fat price of $0.00.  Bandcamp does offer the option to pay something if you are so inclined, and you can buy a physical copy for only $10.  And as always, if you buy two Bartok CD's you get a free Ten Thousand Leaves.
Facebook info here. Tweet this to your followers by clicking here, and then head straight to Bandcamp to get your copy.

Thanks!

Jake and all the Expedition Quartet
Website | Facebook |Twitter | YouTube

Peter Ostroushko - Slüz Düz Music

I have already talked about Peter Ostroushko (here), so I'll keep it brief this time. This is, simply put, a totally fantastic album. One of the best I have heard in a long time. If you had to label it, you could call it 'Acoustic World Fusion' or 'Newgrass' or 'Exploratory String Band' music. Peter calls it Slüz Düz music. He plays some 'ukerish' (a combination of Irish rhythms and Ukranian melodies) tunes, some polkas, a waltz, a breakdown, a rag, and a last stand. His 'Sluz Duz orchestra' is a cast of some of the greatest pickers ever assembled: Norman & Nancy Blake, Mick Moloney, Daithi Sproule, Bruce Allard, Butch Thompson, and the entire band of Hot Rize, to name just a few.

Every note on this album sings. Every single melody line shines with the relaxed precision and care for details that comes from a lifetime of playing music. The theme is old-world meets new-world, but it isn't spelled out for you. It's just a natural fusion that occurs in Peter, being a man born of two worlds. In other words, there's nothing exotic here. Nothing sounds out-of-place. It all sounds as though it was meant to be this way. And with our cities becoming increasingly multicultural, with the emergence of the internet as a meeting ground and melting pot of divergent ideas, who's to say it's not meant to be this way?

Listen to this album, and have all doubts stricken from you. This is original music that claims its own place at the crossroads of many traditions. It is as fresh-sounding today as it was 25 years ago when it was recorded.

Peter Ostroushko - Slüz Düz Music
Original American Dance Tunes with an Old World Flavor

Year: 1985
Label: Flying Fish

Tracks:
1. The Last Stand - Ostroushko - 3:45
2. Friedrich Polka - Ostroushko - 3:23
3. Marjorie's Waltz - Ostroushko - 4:55
4. Fiddle Tune Medley: My Love,I Miss Her So/Farewell to Calgary - Ostroushko - 4:19
5. Burnt Biscuit Breakdown - Ostroushko - 4:55
6. Sleepy Jesus Rag - Ostroushko - 3:44
7. Slüz-Düz Polka - Ostroushko - 3:45
8. Katerina's Waltz - Ostroushko - 4:28
9. Christian Creek - Ostroushko - 4:00
10. Co. Kerry to Kiev Medley: Mcintyres Hornpipe/The Mist on the Lake/Mci - Ostroushko - 7:01

hop to the hopaks.
vinyl | mp3 >256kbps vbr | w/ scans
or for those of you who are audiophiles:
Now, in FLAC!

And I'm still looking for the following albums by him:

Peter Ostroushko - Down the Streets of My Old Neighborhood

Peter Ostroushko - Postcards

Peter Ostroushko - Bluegrass (or other albums from Lifescapes, if they're any good)

Peter Ostroushko - Coming Down from Red Lodge

Peter Ostroushko - When the Last Morning Glory Blooms

Peter Ostroushko - Peter Joins the Circus

Peter Ostroushko presents the Mando Boys

The Mando Boys Live - Holstein Lust

Richard Greene - Duets

I've already introduced Richard Greene here. So I really don't need to say much. You should already be drooling...

This is his first solo album. Each track is just him and one other instrumentalist. Despite that, the sound is amazingly full because Richard's fiddle is able to occupy two octaves at the same time. His playing is so intense!!! Just look at those photos of him. He's lookin' at YOU and his music cuts through whatever ideas you may have had - it's got so much PRESENCE, like a Coltrane wail or a Fahey slide. He honors the beauty of the music, but he never plays it straight. He is a trickster, a maniacal fiddler who knows that the Devil's true gift to humanity is a raised eyebrow and a wicked grin. This is music that takes no prisoners, and leaves an imprint wherever it goes. The best tracks, surprisingly, are the two with Dave Frishberg on organ.

Richard Greene - Duets

Year: 1977
Label: Rounder

Duets, originally released in 1977, is innovative fiddler Richard Greene's first album as a leader, after lending his considerable talents to Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys, Jim Kweskin and the Jug Band, and the acoustic fusion ensemble Seatrain. On Duets Greene is backed by a who's who of '70s players including bluegrass virtuosos Tony Rice, David Grisman, Tony Trischka and J.D. Crowe and jazz pianist Dave Frishberg, and his playing ranges from beautifully sublime to jaw-droppingly complex, often on the same arrangement.

Tracks:
1 Alabama Jubilee 02:26
2 Methodist Preacher 02:47
3 Danny Boy 02:54
4 The Young Man Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn 02:21
5 Twinkle Little Star 02:26
6 Fish Scale 03:56
7 Little Rabbit 03:42
8 The Tennessee Waltz 03:14
9 Nick's Noodle 04:07
10 Colored Aristocracy 02:27
11 Anouman 04:19

just duet.
vinyl | mp3 >192kbps vbr | w/ cover | 52mb

There are a few items in the Richard Greene discography which I have yet to lay my hands upon. I'd be eternally grateful to anyone who could contribute any of the following albums:
Richard Greene - The Blue Fiddler
The Greene String Quartet - Bluegreene
Richard Greene & the Red Hot Pickers

Thanks in advance!

Darol Anger & Mike Marshall

Yeah, you probably saw this post coming. It was only a matter of time before I posted these two alumns of the David Grisman Quintet.

If there were ever two musicians destined to play together, it is Darol Anger and Mike Marshall. Having collaborated for over 30 years, they have something of a psychic connection when it comes to music. They share an aesthetic approach to music, drawing upon a myriad of styles from classical to jazz to rock to bluegrass to world music, and a similar sense of humor and dawged punstery. They anticipate each others' moves. In their hands, mandolin and fiddle become two voices engaged in a dialogue. Though not as deep as Statman, as spacious as Phillips or Wasserman, or as bouncy as Barenberg, they have a grace and comprehensive vision that unites the rests and notes of a hundred different musical whims, drawing them together into a playful and surprising presence. More than anyone besides perhaps David Grisman (and perhaps more than him), they have defined the sound of New Acoustic music. I saw the duo perform with Väsen last summer. Every single person in the audience was a musician. Need I say more?


Darol Anger - Biography by Steve Huey

Violinist Darol Anger has made his mark on new acoustic music with a number of different groups.

From 1975-84, Anger was a key member of new-acoustic pioneers the David Grisman Quintet, whose blend of folk, bluegrass, and jazz virtually defined the new acoustic genre, as well as advancing the harmonic and instrumental frontiers of traditional musics; as a member of the Turtle Island String Quartet in the late '80s and early '90s, Anger also helped bring virtuosic improvisation and boundless eclecticism to what had been an essentially classical, strictly composed musical format. Additionally, Anger co-founded the Montreux Band, a folk- and jazz-influenced group which recorded for Windham Hill in the mid- to late '80s and had an impact on the formation of so-called New Adult Contemporary radio, and with Grisman alumnus Mike Marshall founded the progressive bluegrass outfit Psychograss, which carried on the eclectic Grisman tradition in the 1990s. Again teaming up with Marshall in the late '90s, Anger co-founded the Anger/Marshall Band, which kept him busy into the 2000s alongside his work on the Heritage Folk Music project, his continued appearances with his previous groups, his founding of the American Fiddle Ensemble, and his work as a producer and arranger for other artists.


Mike Marshall - Biography by Craig Harris

Mike Marshall is one of the most innovative players of new instrumental music. Initially rooted in bluegrass, Marshall has consistently explored all the possibilities of his stringed instruments. During the five years (1985-1990) that he was a member of David Grisman's influential Quintet, Marshall toured with Stephane Grappelli, Mark O'Connor, Tony Rice, Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas and fellow Grisman band member Darol Anger. Following his departure from Grisman's group, Marshall continued to work with fiddler Anger as a duo and, along with pianist Barbara Higbie and bassist Michael Manring, in a folk/chamber music group, Montreux. Marshall and Anger also collaborated, along with bassist Todd Phillips, banjo player Tony Trischka and guitarist David Grier, in a bluegrass/jazz/classical/folk group, Psychograss. Marshall currently leads the Modern Mandolin Quartet and plays Brazilian music with Choro Famoso. Marshall also periodically collaborates with Edgar Meyer, Jerry Douglas, Mark O'Connor and Sam Bush in a bluegrass superband, Strength By Numbers. Marshall has produced numerous albums including recordings by Laurie Lewis, Alison Brown, Jennifer Berezan and Tony Furtado.

A native of Pennsylvania, Marshall grew up in Lakeland, Florida. At the age of 18, he won the Florida state fiddle and mandolin championships. After performing with the Sunshine Bluegrass Boys, Marshall relocated to the West Coast. Soon after working with Grisman on the film score of The King of the Gypsies in 1985, Marshall was invited to join Grisman's Quintet.

Marshall has recorded two solo albums -- 1989's Gator Strut, which spotlighted his jazz-meets-bluegrass approach, and 1997's Brasil: Duets, which focused on the Brazilian influences on his music and featured duets with Edgar Meyer, Michael Manring and Bela Fleck. In 2003, Marshall teamed up with mandolinist Chris Thile to release Into the Cauldron, a fine record of duets between the two exploring everything from classical and traditional music to conteporary numbers written with each other.


Darol Anger - Fiddlistics

Year: 1979
Label: Kaleidoscope F8

Review by Wilson McCloy

Fiddlistics includes an all-star cast of new-grass musicians, and in many ways it is a continuation of the excellent David Grisman Quintet album. In fact, there is a slowed-down version of the composition "Blue Midnight" which first appeared on the innovative Grisman album, and the new-grass suite "Megatones" could easily have been from that session. However, the uniqueness of this album stems from its eclecticism. Anger and mandolin legend Tiny Moore joyfully swing through Charlie Parker's "Moose the Mooche," and Anger takes two duets: one quiet and meditative with pianist Barbara Higbie, and the other a traditional bluegrass romp, at first, which slowly becomes more progressive with George Stavis on banjo. Fans of the David Grisman Quintet, Mike Marshall, Tony Rice, or any of the other participating musicians will not be disappointed because this album is well-worth searching for.

Musicians:
Darol Anger
Tony Rice
David Grisman
Todd Phillips
Mike Marshall
Tiny Moore
Barbara Higbie

Tracks
1 Key Signator
2 Blue Midnight
3 Old Grey Coat
4 Moose the Mooche
5 Ride the Wild Turkey
6 Dysentery Stomp
7 Brann St. Sonata
8 Old Folkies
9 Megatones

pickup sticks.
vinyl, cleaned | mp3 ~224kbps vbr | w/o cover



Mike Marshall - Gator Strut
Year: 1984
Label: Rounder

Review by Ken Dryden

Mike Marshall is much like Mark O'Connor, a virtuoso on several string instruments, an innovative composer and arranger who refuses to be pigeonholed stylistically, and also an alum of David Grisman's band. Numerous Grisman alumni turn up on this 1984 release, including violinist Darol Anger, bassists Todd Phillips and Rob Wasserman, guitarist Tony Rice, and even Grisman himself, along with dobro player Jerry Douglas, Béla Fleck on banjo, violinist David Balikrishan (who would later co-found the Turtle Island String Quartet with Anger), and pianist Barbara Higbie. Marshall sticks primarily to mandolin on this mostly progressive bluegrass date, though he's also heard on mandola, mandocello, violin, and guitar. Highlights include the funky original "Gator Strut," "Ravel" (a solo effort featuring the leader overdubbed on several instruments while adapting a theme by the French Impressionist composer), a joint arrangement with Anger of John Coltrane's infrequently performed "Giant Hornpipe," and a brilliant interpretation of Thelonious Monk's "'Round Midnight."

Another Review:
In the mood for something a bit unique, random, diverse, spontaneous, and interesting? If so, then check out Mike Marshall’s Gator Strut with Darol Anger and featuring artists like David Grisman on mandolin, Bela Fleck on banjo, and Tony Rice on guitar.

The all-star group travels around music history ranging from classical composers like Ravel and Bach to Jazz masters like Coltrane and Thelonious Monk. They even stop in pop land on one of my all-time favorite Beatles numbers like Because. There are other songs here specifically written by Marshall, who plays mandolin, mandocello, guitar and sometimes violin, while in most cases Darol Anger is on violin or low violin. There are some other talented artists involved as well such as Rob Wasserman on bass, Mike Wollenberg on guitar, Barbara Higbie on synthesizer, Jerry Douglas on dobro, and Todd Philips on bass. With a stack of individuals like this, a vast accompaniment of instruments, and a unique selects of material, this particular recording is unlike any other out there.

Tracks
1 Dance of the Planktons - Marshall - 3:32
2 We Three - Marshall - 4:43
3 Gator Strut - Marshall - 6:07
4 Chief Sitting in the Rain - Traditional - 3:23
5 Assez Vif-Tres Rythme -1:50
6 Giant Hornpipe - Coltrane - 2:41
7 Because - Lennon, McCartney - 2:55
8 Scotch & Swing - Marshall - 3:42
9 Bach Partita No. 3 in E Major for Solo Violin - Public Domain - 4:08
10 Ybor City - Marshall - 3:52
11 'Round Midnight - Hanighen, Monk, Williams - 5:02
12 Gator's Dream - Marshall - 7:37
13 Wake Up - Marshall - 4:01
14 We Three (Reprise) - Marshall - 1:03

gatorgrin.
mp3 320kbps | w/ small cover




Darol Anger & Mike Marshall - The Duo

Year: 1983
Label: Rounder

Review by Linda Kohanov

Violinist Darol Anger and mandolinist Mike Marshall were pioneers of the New Acoustic Music movement, which brought folk, jazz, bluegrass and world music influences together in an instrumental acoustic setting. Here is their groundbreaking 1983 album The Duo, which highlights their virtuosity, creativity and humor in a wide-ranging selection of breathtaking duets. Darol Anger and Mike Marshall were snatched up by Windham Hill soon after this early Rounder release.

Tracks
1 Rotagilla - Anger, Marshall - 3:52
2 Lime Rock - Traditional - 2:20
3 Children's Song #6 - Corea - 2:53
4 Golden Slippers - Traditional - 3:35
5 N.K.F. - Marshall - 4:01
6 Wall of Mando Madness - Marshall - 3:47
7 Donna Lee - Parker - 2:24
8 Free D - Marshall - 4:08
9 Bach Partita #3 in E Major for Solo Violin - Bach - 4:07
10 It's Dark - Anger, Marshall - 5:25
11 Gator's Dream - Marshall - 7:37

the duo duel.
mp3 ~224kbps vbr | w/ cover?

if anybody wants to help a pirate out and has any of these albums, do let him know:
Mike Marshall & Jovino Santos Neto - Serenata: The Music of Hermeto Pascoal
Modern Mandolin Quartet - Interplay
Darol Anger/David Balakrishnan/Matt Glaser - Jazz Violin Celebration
Montreaux - Sign Language
Montreaux - Let them Say
Turtle Island String Quartet - Metropolis
Turtle Island String Quartet - A Shock to the System
Turtle Island String Quartet - By the Fireside
Turtle Island String Quartet - Caito Marcondes
Turtle Island String Quartet - Art of the Groove
Turtle Island String Quartet - Danzon

thanks!

Kenny Kosek and Matt Glaser - Hasty Lonesome

Boy, once I get started on a theme I can't stop! Especially when it involves newgrass players, because every time I look at one it leads me to another. These guys have been in the scene since the Country Cooking days, and show up on all the other guys' projects (Statman, Trischka, Barenberg, etc.) This next album is on some people's top-10 New Acoustic albums of all time. Very original, very sparkling, very out-of-print. All the names which should be familiar to you by now stop in to lend their wildly imaginative hands to the task of making original acoustic music.

The name Kenny Kosek may seem unfamiliar to you. His is a case of someone whose fiddling has been heard by nearly everyone but his name by only a precious few. But those who've heard his playing beyond his relatively anonymous work for advertising jingles and Broadway musicals know Kosek as one of the core members of a group of New York-based innovators in the area of progressive bluegrass music since the 1970s. Up until now, most of his more prominent recorded legacy has been with the trailblazing bands Breakfast Special and Country Cooking, as well as his out-of-print Rounder LP collaboration with swing fiddler Matt Glaser, Hasty Lonesome.

Kenny Kosek is one of the most recorded fiddlers in America today, having been the feature soloist on hundreds of albums, soundtracks, and jingles. He can be heard on recordings by James Taylor, Jerry Garcia, David Byrne, Chaka Kahn, Willie Nelson, and John Denver. He has been a frequent guest player with the Late Night Band on Late Night with David Letterman. Kenny's distinctive roots music-inspired compositions have been used in the documentaries The Way West, The Donner Party, Harlan County, U.S.A., The High Lonesome Sound, and the Broadway musicals Big River and Foxfire, NBC's Another World, CBS's Guiding Light, and Fox's Kirby Kids. His most recent CD, Angelwood on Rounder Records was called "a lovely piece of work with a strong hint of the spiritual" (David Hinkley, Daily News); "an album that will surprise and delight fans of fiddle music in all its many forms" (Bluegrass Unlimited); and "Kosek's signature sound—a swinging, smooth, and creamy hot rise that is as hard as it rocks, has exponentially enhanced every project he's lent it to" (Village Voice).


Matt Glaser is the only tenured professor of violin in the United States who specializes in jazz, folk and swing instead of classical music. Matt has appeared on over thirty recordings, is the head of the string department at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, and co-authored the book "Jazz Violin" with legendary jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli.

Violinist Matt Glaser tells a Groucho Marx joke one minute and quotes mystic Sufi poet Rumi the next. He’s a dedicated jazz educator and musician, who believes music is capable of expressing every shade of human experience. As the chairman of the string department of Berklee for the last 20 years, Glaser tries to break down musical barriers with the zeal of a missionary every chance he gets. His new album, Shifting Sands of Time (Rounder), with the Wayfaring Strangers, does just that, organically bringing together bluegrass, jazz and klezmer with a surprising combination of musicians and material.

As an educator, Glaser often lectures on seemingly disparate connections between jazz luminaries and visual and literary artists such as Lester Young/Paul Klee/Emily Dickinson or Sonny Rollins/Jackson Pollack/Walt Whitman, exploring similar bents across artistic styles. Glaser is interested in grand themes, something he shares with his friend, film director Ken Burns.

“Jazz by Ken Burns is horribly flawed and great and beautiful at the same time,” says Glaser, who is a featured talking head in the film. During the making of Jazz, Glaser suggested, to no avail, that Burns include 50 additional musicians such as Chick Corea, Cannonball Adderley, Stan Getz, Albert Ayler, Pat Metheny and Freddie Hubbard. “We discussed it, but Ken wanted a narrative thrust telling a few stories. It was not meant to be inclusive, but as an introduction for 37 million Americans to jazz. I’m proud it doubled jazz record sales,” Glaser says, in spite of residual frustration.

As a violinist, Glaser has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the White House, but he is most comfortable playing swing tunes with an existential viewpoint.

“Music for the ultimate situation is no longer so abstract. Music has to increase its power to heal; it’s needed now,” says Glaser. He’s drawn to the chanting of the Koran and the Vedas as well as Bach and the traditional “The Wayfaring Stranger.” At home in Cambridge, Mass., he’s listening to Marty Ehrlich’s Soujourn (Tzadik), George Jones’ Cold Hard Truth (Elektra/Asylum) and Joe Lovano’s Trio Fascination (Blue Note). This mix is par for the course for someone who grew up with an opera singer mother (who’s recently enjoying hip-hop) and listened to his father’s extensive jazz collection, and later studied ethnomusicology.

Glaser is a passionate educator. He’s written four books, including Jazz Violin (Oak) with Stephane Grappelli and Jazz Chord Studies for Violin (Berklee Press) with Joe Viola. But he’s more drawn to ideas rather than information. “I don’t have an anti-fact approach, but there are other ways of grasping things—metaphors, analogies and intuition. Ideas can be transformative and toxic.” Paraphrasing Theodore Roszak’s book Cult of Information (University of California Press), Glaser says we live in a world saturated with information, but not ideas. He’s fond of speaking about Louis Armstrong in the same breath as Albert Einstein and quick to find common ground and parallels between artists, eschewing divisiveness, especially in the jazz world. “In light of recent events [just after the terrorist attacks on America] all jazz musicians should feel connected to each other, rather than divided,“ he pleads.

Asked about future plans and dreams, there is no mention of new albums or gigs. Instead he speaks about practicing, learning and growing as a musician. His mission is to glorify musicians of all sorts.

“Music is not about facts; it’s about life, death, human transcendence and beauty.”




Kenny Kosek and Matt Glaser - Hasty Lonesome

Year: 1980
Label: Rounder Records [0127]

Recorded and mixed at Skyline Studios, NYC

Side A:
01 - Hasty Lonesome
02 - Le Chamoix Cornu
03 - K-Town Fling
Side B:
04 - Lonesome Fiddle Blues
05 - Deep Elum Blues
06 - B-Fiddle Medley (The Fiddler, Flies in The Whiskey, Bing Bong The Sailor)
07 - Marx Brothers Medley

Credits:
Bass - Roger Mason (A1,A3,B1, B3) Marty Confurius (A2,B4) Nick Forster (B2)
Guitar - Russ Barenberg (A1,A3,B1,B3) Richard Lieberson (A2,B4) Bill Bachman (A2,B4) Charles Sawtelle (B2)
Mandolin - Andy Statman (A1,A2,A3,B1,B3) Tim O'Brien (B2)
Banjo - Marty Cutler (A1,A2,A3,B1) Tony Trischka (A1,A3,B3) Peter Wernick (B2) Alan Feldman (B3)
Drums - richard Crooks (A2,B1,B4)
Clarinet - Andy Statman (A1)
Electric Guitar - Jon Scholle (B2)
Bodhran - Alice Olwell (B3)

a quick goodbye.
vinyl | mp3 320kbps | w/o cover

and of course if you want to help this pirate along in his quest for musical goodies, he's looking for the following Kosek/Glaser-related albums:
Breakfast Special - Breakfast Special
Kenny Kosek - Angelwood
Matt Glaser - Play Fiddle Play: Jazz Violin Classics
Fiddle Fever - anything except Best Of
Stacy Phillips - anything

Rob Wasserman - Solo

And another Grisman bass player's album from 1983!

There is just something so incredible about a good bass player. They root the music, giving it a foundation in the pulsating rhythms of the Earth, and if they're good they can let it fly too, painting pictures with the dark patches between the stars. There is something so primal about the way the bass ebbs and flows, the way it pulls up the animal energy from down below, gets you drunk on pure sound. This album is all about pure sound. And if you drink it up, you will go dancing between the stars. There is really no way to describe it in ordinary words. Did you ever listen to Tom Cora? This has the same adventurous beauty, but lacks the harshness. Come on. Drink! It's like technicolor chocolate dripping down your throat, like musical honey from seaworthy bees. It's like having sex in slow motion. Molasses in excstasy. Go on. You love it. Drink it up!

Biography by Scott Yanow

A very versatile bassist, Rob Wasserman has gained fame for his trilogy of recording projects accurately titled Solo, Duets, and Trios. Wasserman began playing the violin when he was 12, not switching to bass until he was already 20. Within a year he was studying at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and playing with drummer Charles Moffett. The classical training he had received on violin, plus owning a very open mind have both frequently come in handy throughout his career. Wasserman picked up early experience working with Dan Hicks, Maria Muldaur, Van Morrison, and Oingo Boingo. In 1983, he recorded Solo for Rounder which received very strong reviews. Soon afterward, Wasserman became a longtime member of David Grisman's group and has also had lengthy stints with Lou Reed, Elvis Costello, and the Grateful Dead's Bob Weir. Duets in 1988 matched Wasserman with seven very diverse singers (including Bobby McFerrin, Rickie Lee Jones, Cheryl Benyne, and Lou Reed) and violinist Stéphane Grappelli. 1993's Trios has appearances by such performers as Jerry Garcia, Brian and Carnie Wilson, Willie Dixon, Branford Marsalis, and Elvis Costello among others. Although he has worked throughout much of his career as a featured sideman, Rob Wasserman's three recordings as a leader are his most notable musical accomplishments thus far. The space rock influenced Space Island blasted off in late 2000, exploring new textures and incorporating hip-hop and electronic elements. He spent the next several years playing with Ratdog and appearing with Gov't Mule and Rickie Lee Jones before returning to solo work and releasing Cosmic Farm, a fusion date featuring guitarist Craig Erickson, T. Lavitz on keys, and Jeff Sipe on drums.

About Rob Wasserman

Precious few musicians demonstrate the scope to be dubbed renaissance men, but Rob Wasserman has more than earned the title. His daunting versatility has made him one of the last two decade's most in-demand bassists -- as demonstrated by recording and touring stints with Lou Reed, Van Morrison, and Elvis Costello. His longtime creative partnership with Grateful Dead members Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir have yielded a trove of fertile sounds. And, last but far from least, the albums issued under his own name have won awards from sources in the jazz, pop and rock fields. That acclaim has much to do with Wasserman's unflagging devotion to artistic purity and the value of real musicianship. Trained at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, he developed a style of upright bass playing that he likens to cello, more than standard bass methodology. He's put that ability to the test in a variety of contexts over the years, most notably on a series of three albums -- SOLO, DUETS, and TRIOS -- that demonstrate his unparalleled knack for making his voice heard without shouting, for allowing the collaborative process to flower to its fullest That trilogy began with the release of SOLO, an album completed with the support of an NEA Composer's Fellowship. Although already widely respected as a player -- collaborating with artists as varied as Stephane Grappelli and Rickie Lee Jones -- Wasserman far exceeded expectations of what a solo bass album could deliver, garnering acclaim in a number of venues, including Downbeat, which voted his debut Jazz Album of the Year and voted him Bassist and Composer of the Year. On the Grammy-winning DUETS (named Vocal Album of the Year by Billboard) Wasserman's collaborators included Aaron Neville, Lou Reed, Bobby McFerrin, and others. While that album put the bassist's interpretive skills to work on standards spanning a full half century of American music, it merely set the stage for Wasserman's release, TRIOS, an album dubbed "dazzling" by Rolling Stone and granted a rare five-star rating by Downbeat. TRIOS brought together artists like Jerry Garcia & Edie Brickell, Bruce Hornsby & Branford Marsalis, Neil Young and Bob Weir, Elvis Costello and Marc Ribot, Brian & Carnie Wilson (produced by Don Was), and the late Willie Dixon (in his last recorded appearance), to perform a set of original material. "I never considered myself a sideman, since I was always involved in the creative process says Wasserman, "My nature is that I love to play this instrument but I won't be limited by it. I don't sing much, can't play drums, can't play guitar, so I have to say everything I would say with those instruments through the bass. Another addition to the Rob Wasserman catalog, “Space Island” (Atlantic Records) broke new barriers for him as he teamed up with master mixer/producer Dave Aron (Snoop Dogg, Prince) to create a bass groove record with a hip hop rhythm. The record features drummer Stephen Perkins (Jane’s Addiction), scratcher DJ Jam (Dr. Dre) and other special guests. Billboard called it “Exhilarating...one of the most kinetically fun albums of the year.” Wasserman has consistently proven he isn't shy about stretching the limits of his chosen instrument. Having worked on the designs for a number of new basses including, with guitar wizard Ned Steinberger, a revolutionary six-string electric upright bass, he's turned his attentions of late to creating new sounds on his basses with the help of the latest effects technology. Not that such endeavors have taken Wasserman's attention from his myriad of other projects. He served as a collaborator with and as a member of Lou Reed’s band from 1988 to 1995, and re-joined Lou’s band in 2006. Another creative partner is dance choreographer Mark Morris, who Wasserman collaborated with to develop and present “Dances to American Music” which world-premiered at Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York, and then toured the U.S. and Europe. Wasserman has balanced such rather high-toned pursuits with projects like RatDog, the band he and longtime partner Bob Weir assembled after touring as a successful duo for ten years. Arista Records released Weir/Wasserman Live, a collection of the duo’s hottest live performances and followed that with RatDog’s debut studio recording, “Evening Moods.” In tandem with Grateful Dead Merchandise, Rob formed his own label, Rare Wasserman Records. Released were DUA, an album of original improvisations with world master sarengi player Ustad Sultan Khan, and BASSICALLY ME, a new collection of solo bass compositions. As a featured part of all Weir/Wasserman and RatDog concerts for fifteen years, Rob presented solo bass to enthusiastic acclaim. He has since begun an expanded performance schedule that features solo bass on tour with Lou Reed, DJ Spooky, Particle, John Popper, and DJ Logic, among others. Rounder Records has released “TRILOGY” – SOLO, DUETS, and TRIOS brought together for the first time as a three cd boxed set. The package features new notes and commentary by Rob and several of his collaborators, as well as 24 bit re-mastering by Joe Gastwirt. Rob is presently recording and producing his next cd, “My Name Is New York” to be released in 2009. A collaborative project with The Woody Guthrie Foundation and Archive, it features Rob in duet with an incredible cast of singers interpreting unreleased Woody Guthrie lyrics. Recorded so far are Ani di Franco, Lou Reed, Chris Whitley, Michael Franti, Pete Seeger, Nellie McKay, Studs Terkel, Keren Anne and Kevin Hearn-- More unique collaborations will complete the project. Some of Rob's recorded work with other artists: David Grisman Quintet - "Quintet '80" (Warner Bros.) David Grisman/Stephane Grappelli - "Live" (Elektra) David Grisman Quintet - "Acousticity" (MCA) Van Morrison - "Beautiful Visions" (Warner Brothers) Rickie Lee Jones - "Flying Cowboys" (Geffen) Lou Reed - "New York" (Sire/Reprise) Elvis Costello - "Mighty Like A Rose" (Warner Bros.) Lou Reed - "Magic & Loss" (Sire/Reprise) Rickie Lee Jones - "Naked Songs " (Geffen) Bruce Cockburn - "The Charity Of Night" (Ryko) Banyan - (CyberOctave) Ratdog - "Evening Moods" (BMG/Arista) Ratdog - "Live at Roseland" (BMG/Arista) Ustad Sultan Khan - "Dua" (Rare Wasserman Records) Les Claypool - "5 Gallons of Diesel" (Prawn Song Records) Hal Willner - "Sea Shanteys" (Anti-) Lou Reed - "Berlin" (The Weinstein Company)


Rob Wasserman - Solo

Year: 1983
Label: Rounder
Genre: New Acoustic; Jazz; Experimental

Review by Ron Wynn

Since bassist Rob Wasserman recently had a much-discussed session on the market, it's not surprising Rounder would rush this 13-cut collection recorded in 1982 from the vaults. This one is a superior work in terms of showcasing Wasserman's attributes, which include a huge tone, excellent compatibility and versatility, and tremendous overall skills. His talents were well displayed; he covers all the bases from bop to light fusion. He wrote every piece except "Lady Be Good," and while they're all short (none four minutes long and several less than three), he always manages to play a nifty phrase, elegant line or intricate passage. If you'd prefer a less bombastic, hyped example of Rob Wasserman's music, here's the ideal ticket.

Tracks
1 Thirteen - Wasserman - 2:50
2 Lima Twist - Wasserman - 3:46
3 Sunway - Wasserman - 2:17
4 Punk Sizzle - Wasserman - 1:46
5 Clare - Wasserman - :54
6 Oh, Lady Be Good - Gershwin, Gershwin - 2:05
7 Strumming - Wasserman - 1:50
8 Bass Blue - Wasserman - 2:22
9 Bass Space - Wasserman - 3:11
10 April Aire - Wasserman - 2:19
11 Freedom Bass Dance - Wasserman - 1:37
12 Ode to Casals - Wasserman - 3:57
13 Sara's Rainbow Dong - Wasserman - 1:56

blue space.
vinyl, cleaned | mp3 >192kbps vbr | small cover | 51mb

as as per usual, I'm looking for a couple: Basically Me and his duet with Ustad Sultan Khan, 'Dua'

Todd Phillips - Released

Another spotlight on a pioneer of Newgrass / New Acoustic music. We've left Country Cooking now and are working back throught the members of the David Grisman Quintet.

This is a very OPEN record. What does that mean? It means that there's no hole in which to pidgeon it, no box to hold it, no label to bear it. Definitely not bluegrass, though there's hints of that in the stellar dobro of Jerry Douglas arcing across 'Nardis'. And it's not quite jazz either, as Tony Rice's guitar will let you know as he burns through the same. But though there's no handle to hang it by, the album is immediatly accessible, warm and beautiful. It is open because it doesn't take you to any foregone conclusions. You may be able to figure out where it came from (i.e. roots), but damned if you can tell where it's going. It's open because you can walk in and out of the music and still be a part of it. The train does not leave at 3:18, and it doesn't travel on a straight line. This music is a river, and it splits and comes back together, just as it caresses the boundaries and slowly erodes them. And it's never the same, even though it follows a pattern - new and renewed sounds bubble forth and linger for a moment before disolving into the ear. It will take your troubles, this river. Take your thoughts and worries. You cannot fight this river. Bathe in it, naked. Immerse yourself in the sweet fresh watery grip of this music and lay down, naked, released.

Bassist Todd Phillips’ musical pedigree is unbeatable. He staked his claim in musical history in 1975 as a member of the original Dave Grisman Quintet. He has performed and recorded with some of acoustic music’s most influential artists, including John Gorka, Montreux and Psychograss. On his latest solo album Timeframe, Phillips establishes himself as a multi-instrumentalist and composer capable of blending diverse influences into a seamless musical statement.

Phillips was born in San Jose, California in 1953. He began playing electric bass at age 11 and had his first professional studio recording experience when he was 15. Around the time that he graduated from high school he began playing the acoustic bass and developed an interest in bluegrass and jazz.

Soon afterwards, Phillips began studying with mandolinist David Grisman. This relationship quickly led to his involvement in the development of the original David Grisman Quintet. During his tenure with the group, Phillips had the opportunity to work with many well-known acoustic instrumentalists including Stephane Grappelli,Darol Anger, Mike Marshall, Tony Rice and Richard Greene. He credits the experience as having had tremendous influence on his musical growth. In particular, he says: "Spending so much time with Grisman when I was young both twisted and widened my perspectives (in a creative way) about all music."

In 1984, Phillips recorded his first solo album Released which received critical acclaim. Billboard Magazine wrote: "Todd Phillips makes a winning new acoustic frontman." The San Francisco Bay Guardian heralded Phillips as "one of the most meticulous and musically focused artists of the new acoustic musicmovement." Phillips was also the 5-time recipient of the Frets Magazine readers’ poll award for Best Jazz and Bluegrass Bassist Grammy Award for his work with JD Crowe and the New South.

Throughout the 80’s and into the 90’s, Phillips continued to be involved in a variety of projects. Together with musical associates Mike Marshall and Darol Anger from the David Grisman Quintet, Phillips formed the eclectic jazzgrass group Psychograss. Theband recorded one album for Windham Hill which furthered their individual reputations as leading innovators in new acoustic music. Phillips also continued to build a successful career as a sessionmusician and appeared on dozens of recording projects including records by Alex de Grassi, Tony Rice, Jerry Douglas and Tony Trischka.

In 1991, Phillips began composing and arranging music for Timeframe.His goal was to write, arrange and record in a way that incorporated as much of what he loves about music as possible. The end result is what Phillips labels a "musical hybrid" - a sound that is at once reminiscent of the west coast "cool jazz"scene, the bachelor pad sound, and the new acoustic movement, and draws inspiration from sources as unlikely as Bill Evans, John Coltrane, Steely Dan, Joseph Haydn and Bill Monroe. Together with reed master Paul McCandless (Oregon), violinist Darol Anger (Turtle Island String Quartet), Joe Caploe on vibes and drummer Paul van Wageningen, Phillips delivers a focused and assured take on acoustic jazz which the Nashville Scene described as "music that’s both accessible and beautiful while remaining constantly surprising and fresh."

Biography by Craig Harris

Todd Phillips has revolutionized the role of the bass in bluegrass music. A founding member, along with Tony Rice, Darol Anger and Joe Carroll, of the innovative David Grisman Quintet, Phillips has gone on to play with such progressive bands as J.D. Crowe & The New South, Psychograss, Montreaux, The Bluegrass Album Band and Kathy Kallick's Little Big Band. A five time winner of the readers' poll conducted by Frets magazine and a two-time Grammy winner, Phillips has been as effective a jazz bassist as he is playing bluegrass. Phillips' three solo albums

In The Pines, Released and Time Frame -- have blended influences ranging from Bill Monroe to Miles Davis and John Coltrane.

Phillips' first instrument was the electric bass, which he began playing at the age of eleven. By the age of fifteen, Phillips was proficient enough on the instrument to make his recording debut. During his senior year of high school, Phillips became enchanted by bluegrass and jazz and switched to the acoustic, stand-up, bass.

Soon after meeting mandolinist David Grisman, Phillips began taking lessons on the mandolin. Jam sessions on Grisman's back porch soon evolved into the Grisman Quintet. Phillips remained with the group for five years.

Together with Tony Rice, Bobby Hicks, Doyle Lawson and J.D. Crowe, Phillips launched The Bluegrass Album Band in 1980. Phillips was also a founding member of Montreaux and Psychograss. In addition to playing bass on more than fifty recordings, Phillips produced two albums by Kathy Kallick. Since 1995, Phillips has worked, along with guitarist John Reissman, in Kallick's Little Big Band; in 1999, he teamed with guitarist David Grier and mandolininst Matt Flinner for Phillips, Grier & Flinner.

Interview by Richard Johnston

“My all-time favorite is Todd Phillips,” proclaimed Union Station bassist Barry Bales in April ’05. “He brought a completely different way of thinking about and playing bluegrass—a really sustained kind of sound, great chops.”

Born in 1953, Todd grew up in San Jose, California, and picked up electric bass around age ten. He and his drumming brother Todd formed a band that started with basic rock & roll and went on to tackle tunes by Crosby, Stills & Nash and the Byrds, “taking me into more advanced harmonies, closer to bluegrass,” Phillips notes. Later in high school he gained his first exposure to jazz and bluegrass, leading him to switch to upright bass. After a few years’ experience playing bluegrass, he fell in with mandolin maven Grisman. “His record collection was phenomenal,” Phillips recalls. “Inside of a year I got a complete education on John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, all this stuff, and I was listening to [Bill Evans bassist] Scott LaFaro. I was also learning to play mandolin.”

The late LaFaro’s freewheeling accompaniment style continues to echo in Phillips’s work with Psychograss, whose all-star roster includes violinist Darol Anger, mandolinist Mike Marshall, guitarist David Grier, and banjoist Tony Trischka. On the band’s recent Now Hear This, Phillips peppers the raggy “Stroll of the Mudbug” with double-stop accents and raked/pull-off fills, and he gives “Road to Hope” a jazz-ballad treatment with well-placed pickup notes and passing tones. “One Foot in the Gutter” finds Phillips laying down a percolating pedal-tone funk groove, and amid the shifting time signatures and angular chord changes of “High Ham,” he maintains a solid bluegrass-bass feel adorned with upper-register flourishes and sliding fills. Throughout, Phillips’s German upright yields a big bluegrass-approved bottom end balanced by a singing upper register. “Because I played Precision Bass for ten years as a kid, when I first picked up an acoustic I had a tone reference in my head,” notes Phillips. “I wanted a full, little bit percussive sound.”

In addition to his current touring schedule with Psychograss, Laurie Lewis, and Phillips, Grier & Flinner, Phillips maintains a studio at his Northern California home, where he has been working on the latest in his substantial list of production credits: a Rounder Records tribute to folk singer Hazel Dickens. Phillips produced his three solo albums—the jazz-influenced Timeframe and Released [out of print] and the tradition-steeped In the Pines—as well as the Grammy-winning True Life Blues: The Songs of Bill Monroe. He has shared his instrumental insights in the two-volume video Essential Techniques for Acoustic Bass.

When you were getting solid footing as a bluegrass player, you were also listening to Scott LaFaro. Did that mess you up?

If you asked some real strict bluegrass players, it probably did. [Guitarist] Tony Rice loved Oscar Peterson, and I was listening to Bill Evans and John Coltrane, and we were playing with David Grisman, which was real energetic rhythmically. So, we had to tame ourselves down when we played straight bluegrass, but occasionally we would encourage each other to do some crazier things. I can hear the struggle sometimes in that music. “Blue Ridge Cabin Home” and “I Believe in You Darling” [from The Bluegrass Album Band Vol. 1] are good examples of how we played it very straight but also let the impulse of the moment enter into the music.

How did LaFaro’s playing influence yours?

I picked up syncopation—he wove this beautiful thing through the music—and I play syncopations in bluegrass that other people don’t.

What other different approaches do you take to bluegrass?

Using a few more notes—in regular bluegrass the bass player doesn’t use that many leading tones to the next chord. And I like to play with space, leaving notes hanging or skipping a beat. But there’s a misconception about how simple bluegrass bass is. To have that momentum without the drummer and get that feel is not as simple as it looks on paper. I think of it as a kind of Zen thing, a real meditation and a high focus on the rhythm. There’s no place to hide.

How do you develop the kind of time you need to carry a group without a drummer?

It’s something you’re born with, but it’s also something you can develop by listening. I remember always being drawn to the rhythmic element—I think that’s why I switched to mandolin for a while. I wanted to play on the other side of the beat.

Did that help your rhythm in general?

It helped it a lot—I got to know what it was like to be on that side of the band, and I understood chords better, which helped my bass playing. When I was playing mandolin, I would wish the bass player was playing more like this or that, so when I switched back, I knew better how to support the guitar and the mandolin.

Switching between bass and mandolin is pretty extreme.

It is weird! But I recently met another bass player who has taken up the mandolin—John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin. He’s a bluegrass fan, and it’s even weirder to come from his world to bluegrass mandolin. At least I stayed in the same genre.

What about the physical adjustment going from mandolin to bass?

We did one tour with Grisman where I played bass in the bluegrass band that opened and then mandolin in his quintet. At that time I thought one helped the other, like doing different kinds of exercises. But today when I switch back to mandolin it’s just too small and quick. I have stronger, slower fingers now.

Your bass lines often feature techniques like slides, hammers, pulls, and ghost-notes.

A lot of that is creating my own reference points for the rhythm; instead of going thump thump thump, I might go ka-thump ka-thump ka-thump, with a rhythm built into the line. I think that’s so my right hand has a reference for the time—little mechanical motions that help me define where the next downbeat is going to be. It also helps me create momentum. And sometimes I’m just entertaining myself.

You vary your articulation a lot. Is that also a matter of defining your own rhythmic space?

It’s all part of making it musical. When I solo a bass track I’ve done, I hear all the different shapes of the bass notes—it’s not just thump and there it is. When a singer or guitar player does something, somehow I am shaping the note around that. It’s done with how quick or long the note is, or with a little vibrato or sliding into the pitch, that kind of stuff. But I don’t think about it.

Do you use classical left-hand technique, with the ring finger and pinkie working together?

I almost always skip the ring finger, but sometimes using it is unavoidable. I’m completely self-taught and I don’t read—I am really just a folk musician. I grew up on the Fender bass, and it was so big for me that I began to develop fairly proper left-hand technique on my own—I had to skip my ring finger and use my little finger just to get to the next fret. Somehow that applied when I switched to upright.

Do you do any specific warm-ups or exercises?

Every time I pick up the instrument I just try to get my pitch references back. I’ll locate the octaves, like a D note on the G string, and I’ll play notes closed [fingered] and reference them to open strings. I do that for a few minutes to get my ear and my hand connected. That’s about it.

Do you use a bow for pitch location?

I really don’t bow. I’ll do it on a record now and then, but I’m faking it. I might spend two hours to do one little passage.

As a bass player, what do you bring to the producer’s role?

Bass players have an overview of the whole ensemble, whereas the singer is focusing on the lyrics, the lead player is focused on his role, things like that. Since I’m playing a fretless bass I’m aware of pitch, plus I’m aware of the rhythm and the structure of the music. That serves me well when we’re recording and mixing. I think I have a good perspective on when we have a solid take, when the rhythm section’s good, when the singer’s on pitch—all that kind of stuff.

On the Hazel Dickens project you’re working with a lot of different singers.

It’s a whole different role—I play real minimally. When I got together with Joan Osborne I thought, Man, you’d better be on your best behavior! You want to do the right thing to make it work.


Todd Phillips - Released

Year: 1984
Label: Varrick

Review by Ken Dryden

Bassist Todd Phillips is well known as a first-rate sideman who's worked with David Grisman, Tony Rice, and many other greats of progressive bluegrass, so it isn't at all surprising that he has an equally wide-ranging taste on his own record dates. These sessions, made in 1981 and 1982 for Varrick, feature the leader in a dual role on mandolin and bass (frequently on the same track), joined by Rice on guitar, dobro player Jerry Douglas, Darol Anger (on octave violin), and John Reischman (heard on both octave mandolin and mandolin). Douglas is initially in the lead for the compelling treatment of Miles Davis' landmark modal masterpiece "Nardis," though Phillips (on both mandolin and bass) and Rice add brilliant though brief solos. Phillips' bass chops are best heard on John Coltrane's "Miles' Mode." The leader's originals measure up to anything that's available within progressive bluegrass. Highly recommended.

Tracks
1 Fat Kid - Phillips - 3:46
2 Nardis - Davis - 4:12
3 Daniel's Dream - Phillips - 3:34
4 Redhill - Reischman - 3:12
5 Ants (On the Moon) - Phillips - 1:03
6 Alone - Phillips - 5:46
7 Released - Phillips - 5:15
8 T's Please - Carroll - 1:32
9 Miles' Mode - Coltrane - 4:57

bathe. naked. * new link 5-23-10
mp3 320kbps | w/ covers | 77mb

* out-of-print

and, by any chance, do any of you have his In the Pines or TimeFrame? I'd love to hear 'em!

Tony Trischka

“…the godfather of what’s sometimes called new acoustic music.” - New York Times

“…most influential banjo player of the latter part of the 20th century, certainly in terms of his profound influence on succeeding generations of modern players.” - Banjo Newsletter

“Keep playing them new notes.” - Bill Monroe

Number 4 in the Country Cooking graduate series! I really can't say anything that would top what Bill keith has said:

Mere words hardly suffice to describe this music, which, issuing from my Macintosh (Macintosh out of Macintosh, by Oftofon-Thorens) pervasively and insidiously interfused and permeated my entire being. So if it's mere words you want, better get another record - this one's all instrumental. But if it's poetry you're after, these instrumentals have plenty. Plenty of poetic irony, too, not to mention onomatopoeia. In fact, after listening to both sides, I'm sure you'll agree that Tony's eclecticism borders on iconoclasticism with definite transmigratory tendencies. Ergo, I feel safe to say without fear of contradiction that this record will become, in the months and years ahead, the sine qua non of je ne sais quoi. But since i have known Tony for ten years or more, I cannot hold that against him.

Of particular note is the high level of musicianship with which Tony surrounds himself. These highly skilled accompanists, all richly deserving of high praise, are all highly successful in carrying the music and themselves to dizzying heights.

As for some of the tunes on this album, all too little has been (or should be) said. It is difficult (but not impossible) to overlook the inventiveness in such a composition as "My Birdcage Needs a New Paper." And who could fail to miss the rhythmic subtleties in "The Jig Is Up"? Anyone who can't hear, please raise their hands.

We're all familiar with the mathematician's assertion that if a thousand monkeys were given a thousand typewriters for a thousand years, one of them would probably produce a Shakespearean sonnet. But if they'd been given a thousand banjos instead, one of them would have probably written "The Only Way." But of course, Tony has succeeded in doing this in a fraction of the allotted time, which attests to his creative abilities, although the subject of Tony's creativity is a little too abstruse to be fully discussed at this point in time or this moment in space.

In all seriousness, though, Tony should be commended for his courage in making this record, which is guaranteed to offend a great number of people in spite of what are sure to be limited sales. Of one thing we can easily be certain, however - Tony is not being lured by the fickle forces of crass commercialism or the all-mighty dollar.

Having always felt that it's best to let sleeping dogs light, I invite you without further ado to sit back and enjoy this album.

Sincerely,
Bill Keith a/k/a Brad (1974)


Tony Trischka
Biography by Sandra Brennan

The avant-garde banjo sylings of Tony Trischka inspired a whole generation of progressive bluegrass musicians; he was not only considered among the very best pickers, he was also one of the instrument's top teachers, and created numerous instructional books, teaching video tapes and cassettes.

A native of Syracuse, New York, Trischka's interest in banjo was sparked by the Kingston Trio's "Charlie and the MTA" in 1963. Two years later, he joined the Down City Ramblers, where he remained through 1971. That year, Trischka made his recording debut on 15 Bluegrass Instrumentals with the band Country Cooking; at the same time, he was also a member of Country Granola. In 1973, he began a two-year stint with Breakfast Special. Between 1974 and 1975, he recorded two solo albums, Bluegrass Light and Heartlands. After one more solo album in 1976, Banjoland, he went on to become musical leader for the Broadway show The Robber Bridegroom. Trischka toured with the show in 1978, the year he also played with the Monroe Doctrine.

Beginning in 1978, he also played with artists such as Peter Rowan, Richard Greene, and Stacy Phillips. In the early 1980s, he began recording with his new group Skyline, which recorded its first album in 1983. Subsequent albums included Robot Plane Flies over Arkansas (solo, 1983), Stranded in the Moonlight (with Skyline, 1984) and Hill Country (solo, 1985). In 1984, he performed in his first feature film, Foxfire. Three years later, he worked on the soundtrack for Driving Miss Daisy. Trischka produced the Belgian group Gold Rush's No More Angels in 1988. The following year, Skyline recorded its final album, Fire of Grace. He also recorded the theme song for Books on the Air, a popular National Public Radio Show, and continued his affiliation with the network by appearing on Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion, Mountain Stage, From Our Front Porch, and other radio shows. Trischka's solo recordings include 1993's World Turning, 1995's Glory Shone Around: A Christmas Collection and 1999's Bend. New Deal followed in 2003. The new studio album was a bluesy adaptation of bluegrass standards that featured, among other things, a vocal cameo by Loudon Wainwright. Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular, featuring an appearance by comedian Steve Martin, came out four years later.

With his fearless musical curiosity as the guiding force, Tony Trischka's latest critically acclaimed release, Territory roams widely through the banjo's creative terrain. Nine selections partner Tony with fellow banjoists Pete Seeger, Mike Seeger, Bill Evans, Bill Keith, Bruce Molsky, and twelve all-Trischka solo tracks explore a panorama of tunings, banjo sounds, and traditions; tapping the creative potential of America's signature musical instrument.


Tony Trischka - The Early Years

Year: 1998
Label: Rounder

The Early Years contains banjo virtuoso Tony Trischka's first two Rounder albums -- Bluegrass Light (1973) and Heartlands (1975) -- in their entirety. "In the ongoing story of American roots music, Tony Trischka's first two Rounder recordings . . . rank among the most important and pivotal works of the late twentieth century." --Bill Evans "Rarely, perhaps three or four times a century, some music will be created that is a pure, explosive expression of life energy and uncontaminated joy. The music on this CD is, in my humble opinion, exactly that. When I listen to the volcanic, insanely creative opening to "Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms" and other cuts like it on this album, I feel like my head is going to explode with happiness. I put Tony's early music in the same category as the best of Charles Mingus, Cecil Taylor, Scotty Stoneman and Wagner: mad and magnificent. Tony's music is the most successful urban embrace of rural sensibilities that I've ever heard. It's the music of trees and vines breaking through the sidewalks of the Bronx, of the irrepressible, implacable energy of the earth pushing through joyfully, at all times, in all places. It's some of the most unjustly neglected of all popular music masterpieces." --Matt Glaser

Tracks:
1 Two If by Night - Trischka - 2:24
2 China Grove - Trischka - 2:39
3 For You - Trischka - 5:15
4 My Birdcage Needs a New Paper (Because My Parakeet's Already Read ...) - Trischka - 2:49
5 Hampton Hope - Trischka - 1:25
6 Higher up the River - Trischka - 2:47
7 Sleepy Hollow Real - Trischka - 2:11
8 Twelve Weeks at Sea - Trischka - 3:35
9 The Jig Is Up - Trischka - 1:46
10 Blue Light - Trischka - 4:00
11 Remington Ride - Remington - 2:12
12 The Only Way - Trischka - 4:18
13 Jerzy the Peddler - Kosek, Statman, Trischka - 2:13
14 Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms - Monroe - 2:32
15 Lilacs Look Like Lakes (In the Sun) - Trischka - 3:44
16 Loch Lomond - Traditional - 1:31
17 Bitter's Wheat - Trischka - 4:48
18 Is This Cloud Valley - Trischka - 3:18
19 Soldier's Joy - Traditional - 3:32
20 Brian and Sarah - Crooks, Dancks - :55
21 Slapback - Trischka - 2:55
22 Sage Age - Trischka - 4:08
23 Pike County Breakdown - Jones - 2:18
24 Jesse's Girl - Trischka - 2:36
25 Serving Mankind - Trischka - 2:01
26 Heartlands - Trischka - 2:57

music
booklet (thanks to 5147hoppe)
mp3 320 kbps | w/ small cover | 150mb




Tony Trischka - Robot Plane Flies Over Arkansas

Year: 1983
Label: Rounder

Trischka's fourth Rounder album, and one of his strongest collections of originals to date, was recorded in 1982. His extraordinary technique, ferocious drive and unique harmonic sense make for exciting and adventurous music for the banjo. His accompanists include Andy Statman on mandolin and Matt Glaser on fiddle.

Review by Eugene Chadbourne
It is funny to listen to Robot Plane Flies Over Arkansas and look back on the reviews that ran in conservative publications such as Old Time Music at the time the album came out. From the comments at the time, one would think this was a recording of the bombing of Dresden or instruments being smashed along the I-40. And 30 years later, the solo banjo piece "Avondale," short as it is, would no doubt start a fistfight were it to be played backstage at a banjo-picking contest. This is one of the most famous albums of what came to be known as progressive bluegrass, and while it is in the nature of many musicians to be progressive in their thinking, they sometimes find themselves caught in styles of music that don't encourage such an attitude. This is the situation Trischka found himself in when he and his cohorts started stretching many of the ideas of what might be appropriate to play in a combo whose instrumentation had been handed down from traditional bluegrass bands (i.e., mandolin, banjo, acoustic guitar, and so forth). Many of the sort of chord progressions and arrangements heard here have been copied shamelessly ad nauseum ever since, sometimes by second-rate hacks and sometimes by the participants themselves. There is an exciting dimension to hearing these ideas being presented for what is often nearly the first time, and anyone familiar with bluegrass and its conventions can feel twinges of panic at some of the choices of notes, similar to how a frightened camper reacts to each successive weird noise from the forest. And many later recordings of this type of music don't quite strike such a perfect balance of the best aspects of the related musics of bebop and bluegrass. One thing is for sure: This is one of the finest recordings of acoustic instruments ever made, and the consistency is amazing considering that the tracks originate from several different sessions on both the East and West Coasts. Pickers heard here at their absolute best include Andy Statman, Matt Glaser, Darol Anger, David Grisman, Tony Rice, and Barry Mitterhoff.

Tracks:
1 Purchase Grover - Trischka - 1:29
2 Roberto's Dream - Trischka - 4:32
3 Blown Down Wall - Trischka - 3:22
4 A Robot Plane Flies Over Arkansas - Trischka - 3:58
5 Pour Brel - Trischka - 3:33
6 Avondale - Trischka - :37
7 Sea Shank - Trischka - 3:10
8 Triceratops - Stover, Trischka - 4:34
9 Fiddle Tune Medley: Doc Wyland's Reel/Dede of the Highlands/Corte Mad - Trischka - 4:05
10 John's Waltz to the Miller - Trischka - 3:52
11 The Navigator - Trischka - 7:56

more music for robots.
mp3 320 kbps | w/ small cover | 86mb