JERRY GARCIA AND DAVID GRISMAN
This is by far the best of the Garcia/Grisman studio collaborations and goes down in history as one of the few studio recordings that actually captures how truly great a guitar player Jerry Garcia was. It is difficult to choose a definitive highlight from this album, but the reworking of "Friend of the Devil" is certainly one of them. One could call this "Friend of the Devil Revisited." After all, David was on hand for the original Grateful Dead recording on American Beauty. This version, however, allows Grisman, who only added a few fills to the original release, to take control and really dig deep into the melody. The results are simply sublime. Be sure and also listen to Hoagy Charmichael's "Rocking Chair," interpreted by Jerry's soothing, sleepy-time voice-- with David adding some beautiufl tremelo and arpeggios to the mix. "Walkin' Boss" is another highlight. Upon final consideration, their cover of the blues classic "The Thrill is Gone" (made famous by B B King) likely wins best tune of the album.
Simply put, this album is just too fucking cool for words! Your life will be forever incomplete until you have this recording in your music collection.
THE MUSIC ARCHIVE'S RATING: *****
Not For Kids Only
For their second outing, Jerry and David arranged some folk tunes-- with a bent towards the kids-- but the arrangements are not in the least bit childish. The highlight is a great version of "Teddy Bear's Picnic." As enjoyable as this particular release is-- it does not have the same oomph as the other releases. Still-- it's great fun to hear Jerry and David singing on "There Ain't No Bugs On Me!"
THE MUSIC ARCHIVE'S RATING: ***
Shady Grove Shady Grove was the first CD David released of this material after Jerry died. When the two had been playing and recording together at David's home studio, a lot of discussion about releasing material in the form of musical genres had been talked over. David decided to follow this format and came up with a full cd of "Old Timey" music-- folk music before folk was folk. And what a nice collection it is! To top it off, Grisman includeS a very informative booklet that tells the history of each song. And while the mood and tone of this release is quiet and folky, the playing often runs hot. Check out "Shady Grove," "Stealin'," and "Jackaroo." Garcia lends his fragile voice to two great tunes by Mississippi John Hurt-- "Casey Jones" and "Louis Collins." The "great banjo duel" on "Sweet Sunny South" that thrilled audiences at the Warfield is given the studio treatment-- along with "I Truly Understand," which features Jerry on banjo and David on acoustic guitar. Make sure when the cd gets to the end that you don't shut it off-- a hidden bonus track waits in the shadows for your listening pleasure!
Andy Lemieux (one of the many contributers to the Deadhead Taping Compendium series, avid live music collector, and fellow Garcia/Grisman enthusiast) insisted that I mention a few of the other songs from this fine release. I include his comments here:
"I can't urge you enough to include the
two sea songs, "Off to Sea Once More" and "The Handsome Cabin Boy" in the
highlights of "Shady Grove" on the Garcia site under Garcia & Grisman! These
two songs are truly exceptional versions of the genre and I am so thankful
David included them. Jerry's voice on "Off to Sea Once More" is world weary
and perfectly matches the plea of the sailor in the song, and "The Handsome
Cabin Boy," much like "Jack-A-Roe"(or "Jack-A-Roo" here), is a wonderful
tale that captures the sense of adventure and the spirit of hi-jinks that
sailors have."
THE MUSIC ARCHIVE'S RATING: ****
Grateful Dawg The Movie (DVD)
Gillian Grisman has put together a wonderful montage of music and interviews that truly captures a friendship. The music is, naturally, wonderful, but the scenes of Garcia and Grisman hanging out together are what makes this gilm so intriguing-- and at times sad. Especially a particularly poignant scene where Jerry is sitting by a sliding glass door at Grisman's Marin County home and staring outside as Grisman suggests all of these great musical ideas and projects they could work on together. Garcia responds with lots of "yeahs," but ultimately he reveals that he just needs to get the time to do these projects and that hopefully he soon will have some. It saddens me because you see that his life as the unwilling leader and figure head of the Grateful Dead has taken a toll on his life. And I, as a great admirer of all that he did outside of the Grateful Dead, am left to wonder what could have been if only there were more time. But these thoughts aside, the film is a celebration of a great friendship and the wonderful music it produced. I heartily recommend that everyone see this film. Be sure and get the DVD becuase it has some extra tracks not on the VHS version-- including the wonderfully delicious "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman" jam from the December 1991 run at the Warfield.
THE MUSIC ARCHIVE'S RATING **** 1/2
Other Releases w/ Garcia/Grisman
Garcia and Grisman's collaborations appear on a few other releases.
Volume III of the Acoustic Disc Sampler has an alternate take of "Stealin."
DGQ20, the David Grisman Quintet retrospective, has a previously unreleased studio version of "Dawgnation," a rambling little instrumental that was played live at the May 94 shows. (This track can also be found on the Acoustic Disc Sampler Volume III.)
Garcia joins Grisman and friends on Acoustic Disc's release of the Bluegrass Reunion w/ Red Allen, Jim Buchanan, Herb Pederson, & Jim Kerwin. Jerry can be heard on "Fields Have Turned Brown" and "Down Where the River Bends."
The Jimmie Rodgers Tribute, released on Bob Dylan's label, features Garcia, Grisman, and John Kahn performing the Rogers' classic "Blue Yodel #9." You will also find performances by Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Iris Dement and others.
Jerry and David's performance of "Friend of the Devil" on the Late Night show with David Letterman can be found on the Late Night compilation disc.
The Music Archive Rating System
***** essential to your existence-- people from the 23rd Century will be listening to this and wishing they could have been around back when it came out.
**** excellent
*** good
** average
* yikes-- why did they release this one?
So What
Continuing with the musical genre motif, Grisman released a cd's worth of jazz material. In classic-jazz-cd-re-release style-- the disc features several outtakes. All in all, the disc contains only four individual songs, but the release is surrounded by alternate takes of the Miles Davis classics "So What" and "Milestones--" as well as a couple outtakes of the Milt Jackson penned "Bag's Groove--" and finally topped off with a great version of Jerry and David working out Grisman's own composition-- "16-16." The only problem with this cd is that it leaves you wanting more, but unfortunately Garcia passed away before he could work out any other jazz tunes with David. Still, this cd gives one an excellent look at what a dynamic sound three acoustic string players and a guy who beats on a fiddle case can come up with!
THE MUSIC ARCHIVE'S RATING: ****
The Pizza Tapes
These tapes have been circulating amongst tape traders for quite some time. Various stories have been spread around about their origin-- the most famous being that Garcia gave the demo tapes to a pizza delivery boy as a tip. Regardless of the truth of this or any of the other stories, the tapes reveal some wonderful improvising between Grisman, Garcia, and acoustic-guitar vituouso Tony Rice. The tapes in circulation feature a lot of rough cuts and snippets-- but Grisman has cleaned up the tapes and included complete tracks. He has also preserved some of the moments of noodling and snippets of conversation between takes. What can I say about this disc? It is filled with tremendous music. It makes a person cry out loud to hear that these three were considering a possible tour together! "So What" has already been covered on the previous So What release from Acoustic Disc, but this particular version is augmented by the blistering leads that Rice adds to Garcia's furious noodling. A lush cover of Gershwin's "Summertime" from Porgy and Bess is mesmerizing, including a beautful duet of lush acoustic picking bewteen Garcia and Rice. And, as always, there is mandolin maestro David Grisman adding his percussive rhythms and transcendent leads. Even if you have the bootleg tape or CD of this session, you owe it to yourself to get the official release.
THE MUSIC ARCHIVE'S RATING **** 1/2
Been All Around This World
Supposedly this is the last release of this material, but hopefully sometime Grisman might consider releasing some of the concerts they performed together. This disc offers some amazing high points and a a couple of lower points. Jerry's sweet, wavery vocals are perfect for Dylan's "Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest" and Jimmy Cliff's "Sittin' in Limbo." The title song is a signature tune from the days of the seventies and eighties acoustic sets- as well as the Garcia-Kahn configuration and the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band. All in all-- this is not the strongest of the releases-- but it still makes you wish there is more to come.
