Week of August 31, 1998
Interview with David Grisman recorded live on the air at KPFA July 29, 1998, at the time of the release of the Jerry Garcia-David Grisman CD So What, a collection of jazz instrumentals.
The first song in this broadcast, Take 1 of Miles Davis' "So What," was the first piece of music Jerry and Dawg recorded in David's studio with the David Grisman Quintet's rhythm section, Jim Kerwin (bass) Joe Craven (percussion).
Grisman also tells the story of how he and Jerry met in 1964 when they were young bluegrass freaks, "chasin' the high lonesome sound around with [their] tape recorders"; how he came to play mandolin on "Friend of the Devil" and "Ripple" in the sessions for the Grateful Dead's American Beauty (1970); and how their latter-day collaboration began with a couple of chance meetings in 1990.
We also hear a few selections from the first (and I'm pretty sure only) comedy release on Grisman's Acoustic Disc label: Buh-Doom!, by the legendary session drummer Hal Blaine.
And friends, I swear it was a complete surprise to me when Grisman invited me to play my then-new CD single, "Monica Lewinsky." I had brought a copy to give to him, and the next thing I knew he was asking me to play it on the air.
And as a lagniappe at the end of the broadcast, David tells a sweet story about how his composition "16/16" got its name.
David Grisman interviewed on KPFA's Dead to the World July 29, 1998
Jerry Garcia and David Grisman, So What
SO WHAT (Take 1 12/6/90)
Grateful Dead, American Beauty
FRIEND OF THE DEVIL
Jerry Garcia and David Grisman, So What
BAGS' GROOVE (Take 5 11/24/92)
Hal Blaine, Buh-Doom!
DRUMMERS
RAT IN A PAWN SHOP
ACCORDION PLAYER
OVER THE RAINBOW
David Gans and the Broken Angels
MONICA LEWINSKY
Jerry Garcia and David Grisman, So What
16/16
You can browse and/or search the Grateful Dead Hour program logs on the GD Hour web site. Let me know if there's a particular program you'd like to hear, and feel free to post requests and comments here or by email to gdhour@dead.net
Thanks for listening!
David Gans
gdhour@dead.net