Durham Morning Herald

Posted on Nov 16, 2009 in Reviews | Comments Off on Durham Morning Herald

Gordon Lewis

To kick off its ’88-’89 season, Pinecone presented mandolinist David Grisman and his quartet. Grisman has been largely responsible for carving out a place for mandolin in jazz (along with such other talented musicians as Jethro Burns and Tiny Moore), legitimizing complex improvisation on the small stringed Instrument. He created “Dawg Music,” initially a hybrid of bluegrass (his original Inspiration) and jazz.

Nowadays he has distanced himself from his bluegrass roots to a great degree, leaning much more toward the Jazz side.  The band he had with him included Dimitri Vandellos on guitar, James Kerwin on acoustic bass (not a stand-up; It had the appearance of a large acoustic guitar) and George Marsh on drums/percussion.

They are all exceptional players; Vandellos soared (at times with a rock fervor), Kerwin’s fingers were all over the frets, Marsh did much more than keep time (his use of the kalimba, an African finger plano, was a nice addition) and Grisman was his usual whiz on the mandolin.