September 09, 2005
Jerry Garcia
in rememberance of a great musician. Robert Hunter's elegy. David Gans' tribute.
Garcia, the late guitarist/singer, was an American musical icon in his own right, as well as a good interpreter of the wealth of material in the archives of American music. Garcia had the ability to play two entirely different styles of music without a hint of musical overlap (rock 'n' roll/blues and country/bluegrass).This capacity opened up a number of side projects.
One of Garcia's side projects was the collaborative the work with David Grisman, with his quintet and other bluegrass pursuits. This began with the old bluegrass tunes of Old and In The Way in 1973, and was rekindled in the 1990s.
Some audio streaming can be found Dawgnet and Acoustic Disc. The improvised interpretations of the old timey music can be found on Shady Groove. This is the musical roots of the Grateful Dead, and it is interesting to hear Garcia revisit, and explore, this music with David Grisman. It lead to the Garcia/Grisman Band playing traditional acoustic music in the 90s. Apparently, Garcia's happiest times in the latter part of his life, were those that he shared with David Grisman, playing and singing this music.
I find the jazzy improvisations of bluegrass on So What to be far more interesting piece of music Listen to the extended bluegrass interpretation involved in the Grisman composition 16/16. What we have is jazz music with bluegrass influences and overtone in the form of a jam session.