Music » Bluegrass Music

Bluegrass guitar doesn't get any better than Norman Blake and Tony Rice, who, along with Clarence White, remain the greatest of Doc Watson's flat-picking disciples. On this 1987 record of 14 duets, Blake and Rice show themselves to be complete musicians, not merely picking machines. Sure, there are a plethora of mind-blowing licks, but they also add some heartfelt vocals and delicate ballads into the mix. Much of the record consists of traditional fiddle tunes reworked for guitar, but the pair also include three Blake originals plus an eclectic assortment of covers ranging from Bill Monroe to the Delmore Brothers to Gordon Lightfoot. Guitarists will want to take notes, but all listeners will find the record consistently charming. --Marc Greilsamer

Array

Release Date: 1993-04-01, Audio CD, Rounder / Umgd

When B?la Fleck produced this little-known gem in 1988, the New Grass Revival was winding down and the Flecktones had yet to be formed. Fleck's previous solo outings had strayed from his bluegrass roots to varying degrees, but what makes Drive so special is how closely it hews to traditional bluegrass in sound and instrumentation while still allowing for exciting new ideas, crisp ensemble passages, and brilliant improvisation. The musicians who help out are all tops in their field: Dobro player Jerry Douglas, flat-picker Tony Rice, mandolinist Sam Bush, fiddlers Stuart Duncan and Mark O'Connor (who team up for a twin-fiddle sound on two down-home cuts), and bassist Mark Schatz. There's not a missed note (or superfluous one for that matter) anywhere, from the steamrolling opener "Whitewater" to the minor-keyed, jazz-based "Natchez Trace" to the warm ballad "Lights of Home" to the powerful "Crucial County Breakdown." The much heralded, classical-influenced Strength in Numbers record came less than a year later and included Fleck, Bush, O'Connor, and Douglas, but Drive certainly deserves a spot next to it in your newgrass collection. --Marc Greilsamer

When bluegrass banjo whiz Bela Fleck formed the Flecktones in 1990 with jazz pianist Howard Levy, funk bassist Victor Wooten, and electronic-drummer Roy Wooten, it seemed like just one more of those new-acoustic music bands that appear and disappear in Nashville with depressing regularity. There was something special about this quartet, though, for it used its peculiar instrumentation not as an end in itself but as a means to three albums of startling melodicism, improvisation, and feeling. At the end of 1992, Levy amicably departed to spend more time with his family and his own music. Rather than hire a new fourth member, Fleck and the Wootens have tried to compensate for his absence by an increased reliance on synthesizer sounds that they can trigger from their instruments and floor pedals. This has led to less emphasis on melody, harmony, and feeling and an increased emphasis on rhythm and showy virtuosity. --Geoffrey Himes

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: FLECK,BELA & THE FLECKTONES
Title: FLIGHT OF THE COSMIC HIPPO
Street Release Date: 06/11/1991
Domestic
Genre: JAZZ

Release Date: 1993-09-14, Audio CD, Warner Bros / Wea

A string band pilgrim who had already soldiered through bluegrass, folk, and rock, mandolinist David Grisman helped jump start a new chapter in instrumental music with the release of this 1977 album, carving out a jubilant acoustic style borrowing equally from Bill Monroe's bluegrass legacy and Django Reinhardt's '30s swing as immortalized by his Quintet of the Hot Club of France. Grisman's band, including violinist Darol Anger and multi-instrumentalist Mike Marshall, bring jaunty lyricism to a set that introduces this hybrid fully- formed. Grisman would continue to explore its boundaries with various lineups (including collaborations with the peerless Stephane Grappelli, violinist for the original Hot Club), but he would never improve on the music here. --Sam Sutherland

Release Date: 1993-09-21, Audio CD, Rounder / Umgd

No Description Available.
Genre: Country & Western
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 1-MAR-1991