David Grisman
Mandolinist/composer David Grisman has created a musical style so unique that he has given it its own name – “Dawg” music. Dubbed "The Paganini of the Mandolin" by the New York Times, David has inspired a whole new genre of acoustic string instrumental music. His discography includes recordings with Bela Fleck, the Grateful Dead, Stephane Grappelli, Emmylou Harris, Chris Isaak, Dolly Parton, Bonnie Raitt, Linda Ronstadt , Earl Scruggs and James Taylor, among many others.
In his long and multi-faceted career, David has played bluegrass with many of the pioneers as well as with other urban bluegrass contemporaries like Peter Rowan and Jerry Garcia, with whom he formed the now-classic band Old & In the Way. He has also released several duet CDs with Garcia. David's interests spread to jazz in the sixties while playing in the folk-rock ensemble, Earth Opera, and he later formed the Great American Music Band with fiddler Richard Greene.
David's unique instrumental style coalesced in 1974 with the formation of the David Grisman Quintet, which won numerous polls and awards and headlined at major jazz, folk and bluegrass festivals around the world. DGQ alumni include Tony Rice, Todd Phillips, Mark O'Connor, Mike Marshall, Rob Wasserman and Darol Anger. Current DGQ members include bassist Jim Kerwin, multi-instrumentalist Joe Craven, flutist Matt Eakle, and Argentine guitarist Enrique Coria.
In 1990, Grisman founded his own company, Acoustic Disc, for which he has produced nearly fifty critically acclaimed, high quality recordings of acoustic music, several of which have been nominated for Grammy Awards.
