David Grisman (born 1945) is a mandolin player, composer, and record producer from New Jersey. He studied with Frank Wakefield, played bluegrass with Red Allen, and picked mandolin in Old and in the Way with Jerry Garcia. In 1975 he founded the David Grisman Quintet and invented what he calls dawg music, a mix of bluegrass and 1930s Paris jazz. He founded the Acoustic Disc label in 1990 and joined the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2023.
Why Grisman matters
Grisman showed that a bluegrass mandolin could swing like Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli. His Quintet, with Tony Rice on guitar, made instrumental string music that sold to jazz fans, rock fans, and pickers alike. He also wrote tunes that other players now treat as standards, and his theme Dawggy Mountain Breakdown opened the NPR show Car Talk for years. As a producer and label owner, he recorded Red Allen, Doc Watson, Tony Rice, and many others, and he kept bluegrass history in print.
Life and career
Grisman was born on March 23, 1945, and grew up in Passaic, New Jersey. His father was a professional trombonist who started him on piano at seven. As a teenager he played piano, mandolin, and saxophone. In the early 1960s he took mandolin lessons from Frank Wakefield and played in the Even Dozen Jug Band with Maria Muldaur and John Sebastian while at New York University. At 17 he sat in with Doc Watson on In the Pines. At 19 he produced the 1964 Folkways album Bluegrass by Red Allen and Frank Wakefield, and he later played in Allen’s Kentuckians.
He then formed the rock band Earth Opera with Peter Rowan and moved to San Francisco. There he met Jerry Garcia and played on the Grateful Dead’s American Beauty. In 1973 he joined Garcia, Rowan, Vassar Clements, and John Kahn in Old and in the Way. The band played about 50 shows, and its 1975 live album became one of the best-selling bluegrass records ever. Garcia gave him the nickname Dawg.
The David Grisman Quintet formed in 1975 with Tony Rice, Darol Anger, Todd Phillips, and Joe Carroll. Their first album came out on Kaleidoscope in 1977. Hot Dawg followed on Horizon, the jazz arm of A&M, in 1979, and Stéphane Grappelli guested with the band in later years. Mike Marshall, Mark O’Connor, and Rob Wasserman played in later lineups. In 1990 Grisman started Acoustic Disc, which released his duets with Garcia and the 1999 album Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza. The 2001 film Grateful Dawg tells the story of his friendship with Garcia.
Playing style
Grisman plays with a big, warm tone and a jazz player’s sense of harmony. He uses chord melodies, where the tune rides on top of full chords, and long single-note lines that swing like a hot jazz violin. His tremolo is smooth and steady on slow tunes.
He still has the bluegrass in him. His rhythm chop is strong, and he can play Monroe licks with full force. What sets him apart is the vocabulary: diminished runs, minor-key melodies, and tunes with odd forms that come from jazz and Mediterranean string music as much as from Kentucky.
Influences and legacy
Grisman learned from Frank Wakefield and loved Bill Monroe. He found his jazz voice in Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli. He played beside Peter Rowan, Jerry Garcia, Vassar Clements, Tony Rice, Darol Anger, and Mark O’Connor.
Later Quintet lineups included Mike Marshall and guitarist Grant Gordy. He recorded with Andy Statman, and his Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza gathered Sam Bush, Ronnie McCoury, Jesse McReynolds, Bobby Osborne, Ricky Skaggs, and Wakefield in one room.
Signature tunes and songs
E.M.D. Dawggy Mountain Breakdown Pig in a Pen.
Essential recordings
Old and in the Way (1975) The David Grisman Quintet (Kaleidoscope, 1977) Hot Dawg (Horizon, 1979) Mondo Mando (1981) Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza (Acoustic Disc, 1999)
Awards and honors
Six Grammy nominations, including Best Bluegrass Album for Bluegrass Reunion and Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame (2023)
Watch and listen
Grisman’s band plays his tune E.M.D. Listen for the jazz chords under a bluegrass drive.
What to learn from Grisman
Learn E.M.D. It is a gateway tune that sounds hard but sits well on the mandolin. Then steal his chord melody idea. Take a slow tune you know and play the melody note on top of a full chord shape, with tremolo, letting the chord ring under it. That one habit gives a mandolin the rich, jazzy sound that made the Quintet famous.
Sources
David Grisman, Wikipedia David Grisman Quintet, Wikipedia Old and in the Way, Wikipedia David Grisman, Grammy Awards RIP: Frank Wakefield, Bluegrass Mandolin Innovator, Fretboard Journal Recipients and inductees by year, IBMA
Related players
See the mandolin players hub and the mandolin guide. Grisman learned from Frank Wakefield. Mike Marshall played in his Quintet, and Andy Statman recorded with him. Sam Bush pushed bluegrass mandolin forward in the same years.