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Ken Olmstead
Mar-17-2009, 11:24am
It is interesting to me that the music I listen to the most is music that is difficult to categorize. Of course in the mandolin world, Grisman’s Quintet tops my list of favorite genre busters! Jazz, blues, folk, bluegrass, world…it all somehow equals Dawg music! Most of Chris Thile’s projects are hard to pigeon hole into a certain bucket. Sam Bush rides the line between bluegrass, blues and rock.

Outside of the mandolin world, one of my favorite genre buster’s is the album Stardust by Willie Nelson. Country, jazz, pop…that music just seems comfortable no matter where you are!

What got me to thinking about this is I just picked up Jeff Beck’s new album, “Live at Ronnie Scotts.” Beck is an incredible talent and I don’t know what he is playing but I love it!! :)

What are some of your favorite Genre Busters / Crossover Kings?

mandopete
Mar-17-2009, 11:28am
Current favorite? That's easy, Mike Marshall's Big Trio

5 Stars!

mandozilla
Mar-17-2009, 11:29am
I gotto go with the Dawg...he can do it all. :))

:mandosmiley:

mandolooter
Mar-17-2009, 11:34am
That new Beck CD kicks butt! Variety is the spice of life and pinning it down to even a few would be hard for me.

John Flynn
Mar-17-2009, 11:38am
When you're talking about mandolin players, I think historically Monroe was the ultimate genre buster. At the time, bluegrass was a new, unique creation. It didn't fit in any of the boxes that were out there.

Today, my favorite genre-buster is Radim Zenkel. His stuff has elements of bluegrass, classical, choro, jazz, Eastern European folk music and stuff that is all his own and just not classifiable. He is an amazing musician.

Steve Ostrander
Mar-17-2009, 11:55am
Guitarist, mandolinist, slide guitar etc etc David Lindley plays rock, blues, reggae, folk, Tex-Mex, etc etc. He turned me on to world music.

P.S: I heard that Beck and Clapton were playing together in Japan and could bring the tour to the U.S.

Hans
Mar-17-2009, 12:14pm
Hard to put into a category, but jazzy as can be and totally inventive...Creaking Tree String Quartet.
Andrew Collins is a whiz.

AlanN
Mar-17-2009, 12:15pm
In our little 8 string world?

I'd call Buck White a genre buster, also Frank W., Dempsey Young, John Duffey, yes to Radim, Evan Marshall.

djweiss
Mar-17-2009, 12:39pm
Joe Craven!

Bill Auld
Mar-17-2009, 12:50pm
Hendrix - Are You Experienced ... Just think if he played mandolin ...:grin:

Stephen Lind
Mar-17-2009, 1:04pm
Miles
Beatles
Oregon
kd lang
Bill Frisell
Chris Thile
Jerry Douglas
Michael Hedges
THe Dawg and all his pack

Ken_P
Mar-17-2009, 1:10pm
Right now Chris Thile (with and without Punch Brothers), Edgar Meyer, and Bela Fleck.

Beethoven was a complete revolutionary in his time, as was Stravinsky a little over a century later.

clem
Mar-17-2009, 1:59pm
Bill Frisell (just saw him with Greg Leisz as a duo!)
Kelly Joe Phelps
Radiohead

To name but a few current genre busters/twisters/morphers

Phillip Tigue
Mar-17-2009, 2:44pm
I agree with Ken re: the Bela Fleck nod. I think he's the king of the old genre buster...

Frank Zappa follows a close second. Real close.

allenhopkins
Mar-17-2009, 3:11pm
Charles River Valley Boys, Beatle Country, 1967 I think.

Jordan Young
Mar-17-2009, 6:00pm
In my personal opinion I would have to say Mr. Monroe lol...I know he aint the fanciest picker but you gotta remember that before Monroe there wasnt this thing we call bluegrass....

jeff mercer
Mar-17-2009, 7:09pm
Ry Cooders' album "Paradise & Lunch" was a pivotal discovery for me..Gospel, Reggae, Ragtime, blues,Tex Mex, and all of it incredibly funky, too !

"Chicken Skin Music" was a good one as well. After hearing the two tracks he did with Gabby Pahinui, I've been a Hawaiian music nut ever since :)

He's a real stylist on mandolin, too ! I read somewhere that Grisman once interviewed Ry about his approach to playing mando..anyone know anything about that interview, or where it was published ?

Daniel Nestlerode
Mar-17-2009, 7:23pm
Since genres are a marketing categorizations, the question is usually answered better in the breach:
Who doesn't bend & blend genres when given the chance?

Daniel

JEStanek
Mar-17-2009, 8:01pm
Andy Statman,
Dawg,
Thile too.

Jamie

mandocrucian
Mar-17-2009, 8:14pm
#1 pick.......Ry Cooder (absolutely correct Mr. Mercer!)

David Lindley (& don't forget his early band Kaleidoscope!)
Taj Mahal
Shoukichi Kina
Henry Kaiser Band
Tom Waits

Groupa (Sweden)
Den Fule (Sweden)
Ale Möller Band (truly international lineup: Sweden, Greece, Senegal, India... )
Annbjorg Lein Band (Norway)
Afro-Celt Sound System
Pentangle
East Wind (Andy Irvine, Marta Sebestyen, Davey Spillane, Nicola Parov)

Ray Charles
Harry Partch

Tony Trischka & Breakfast Special

mandopete
Mar-17-2009, 9:06pm
Harry Partch

Wow, that's really funny as that was one of the names that came to my mind when this thread started.

man dough nollij
Mar-17-2009, 10:02pm
The three that popped into my head are the Wailin' Jennys (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00dWtcTds24), Uncle Earl (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkTVwwbyKwc), and The Be Good Tanyas (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd1Ie370rHk&feature=related).

Not really genre busters, but trans-genre acts I suppose. I must be in "folksy chick band" mode today...

mandopete
Mar-17-2009, 10:04pm
Beatles


They definately broke the Skiffle genre for true!

:)

Patrick Gunning
Mar-17-2009, 10:59pm
One some of you might not have heard of - The Deadly Gentlemen (http://www.myspace.com/deadlygentlemen). Greg Liszt (banjo, of Crooked Still fame), Mike Barnett (5-string fiddle), Josh Pinkham (mando), and Sam Grisman (bass). Their record "The B*stard Masterpiece" is a genre-busting flurry of more rock-based groove combined with hyper-literate spoken word lyrics (more like talking blues than rap, really). One of my favorite recent records.

woodwizard
Mar-17-2009, 11:11pm
Sam Bush can bust some genre's as well as Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Mike Marshall, Edgar Meyer, Dawg, Andy Statman and Thile.

mandolirius
Mar-17-2009, 11:48pm
Hendrix - Are You Experienced ... Just think if he played mandolin ...:grin:


Yeah, he'd sound like Jim Richter :))

tango_grass
Mar-18-2009, 12:15am
Dawg!


myself..... ;)

adgefan
Mar-18-2009, 5:26am
I've been listening to an awful lot of Beck recently (that's Beck Hansen, not Jeff Beck).

As for mandolin related genre busters, it's Punch Brothers all the way...

Ted Eschliman
Mar-18-2009, 5:38am
Jethro.

Man of Wax
Mar-18-2009, 7:24am
Kruger Brothers

Ken Olmstead
Mar-18-2009, 10:04am
Yeah Monroe was about as close to a genre "maker" as you can be. Pretty rare in the music world.

Interesting how some can conviningly play multiple genres and some just sit in there own space. Frissle definately sits in his own space. I would put Jeff Beck in that category, but just.

The Beatles, Hendrix, and Miles davis were more like Genre "expanders" to me. This is all impossible to nail down obviously as we are affected differently by what we hear. Amazing thing is that I listen to and enjoy most of those mentioned here! I will have to check out the ones I have not "experienced" yet!

Ted turned me on to "Fernwood" which is an acoustic band that definately has there own sound and are not going to be the bell of the ball at the record stores, but they sound terrific!

Mandolooter - you are not kidding about the Jeff Beck album! I would have loved to see that show live! It is amazing what he does live. Most of his sounds seems like they would have needed to be created in a studio! His take in "A Day in the Life" had my jaw on the floor!

Don Stiernberg
Mar-18-2009, 10:56am
I think Daniel raises a valid question, but identifying an artist who works primarily in one genre may make that artist appear limited, which may or may not be the case. And yes, those genres and labels are often for marketing purposes.

These quotes are usually attributed to Duke Ellington or Louis Armstrong...you know the one about how there are only two types of music, good and the other kind. I also like the line about describing a particularly transcendant artist as "beyond category".

Was Segovia a "genre buster"? After all, he found music written for other instruments in other eras and brought them all to life on his instrument. But wait, that was all classical music, right? Perhaps he was "beyond category"...?

Having said all that, I like how Allison Krauss has carved out her own territory, and how George Benson fits his completely realized jazz vocabulary tastefully into whatever he's playing. Pat Metheny seems open to all elements in his blend also. Tony Rice expanded the bluegrass guitar language by incorporating jazz harmonic and linear language into his soloing.

Hamilton de Holanda anyone?

fwoompf
Mar-18-2009, 11:48am
I've been trying to develop the song 'Harder Better Faster Stronger" by Daft Punk for mandolin & double bass...it's actually really really fun to play.

The lyrics are strange though. It will be worth it.

Don Stiernberg
Mar-18-2009, 4:08pm
And what of the cats who are conversant in several genres?

Butch Baldassarri(classical, bluegrass, and so on)
Pat Cloud(bebop and bluegrass on five-string banjo.Two seperate techniques)
Wynton Marsalis (gigantic careers in both jazz and classical)
John Carlini(jazz, bluegrass, classical and John Carlini music)
Edgar Meyer(classical, bluegrass," new acoustic"and Edgar Meyer music)
Don Byron(jazz, film score, klezmer)

jeff mercer
Mar-18-2009, 6:58pm
Don,
I know he's already been mentioned, but I reckon David Lindley certainly belongs on your list..

The incredible thing about Lindley is he could turn up at a bluegrass festival & play every instrument on the stage, travel through the Middle-east playing all the traditional stringed instruments ( Saz, Oud, Cumbus etc. ), play screaming slide guitar solos with a rock & roll band..and that really only scratches the surface..amazing musician, that fella :) !

kmiller1610
Mar-22-2009, 5:07am
Having said all that, I like how Allison Krauss has carved out her own territory

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammy_Award_records#Most_Grammy_Awards_as_a_femal e_solo_artist

No kidding.....

Patrick Gunning
Mar-22-2009, 5:25am
Hamilton de Holanda anyone?

Playing solo, Hamilton is his own genre. Tear-inducing, consciousness-raising, just plain intense. None of the recordings I've gotten have ever captured that same level of emotional intensity that he brings to it live, though. I don't know if anybody has a live recording of the solo set he played at the '06 Symposium, but I really wish I had a copy.

Good lord, that must have been something to get to play with him, Don.

Ken Olmstead
Mar-22-2009, 11:02am
Playing solo, Hamilton is his own genre. Tear-inducing, consciousness-raising, just plain intense. None of the recordings I've gotten have ever captured that same level of emotional intensity that he brings to it live, though. I don't know if anybody has a live recording of the solo set he played at the '06 Symposium, but I really wish I had a copy.

Good lord, that must have been something to get to play with him, Don.


Of couse Hamilton was thinking, "Man this is amazing, I am playing with Don!"

I am probably the only guy on the planet that does not get Hamilton. When I saw him and Marshall together at Wintergrass, I left after 3 tunes. I think it was a case of "too many notes" for me. I would love to tell you the analogy my dearly departed friend used to describe their show but it is not for "mixed company!" :)) Obviously amazing talent but not my thing I guess.

MandoSquirrel
Mar-22-2009, 1:02pm
It is interesting to me that the music I listen to the most is music that is difficult to categorize. ...

Outside of the mandolin world, one of my favorite genre buster’s is the album Stardust by Willie Nelson. Country, jazz, pop…that music just seems comfortable no matter where you are!

...

What are some of your favorite Genre Busters / Crossover Kings?

I wonder at you saying of this "Outside of the mandolin world". I haven't listened to this in some time or read the liner, but, as I recall, Paul Buskirk plays on it, at least his tenor resonator, which is basically a single string version of a mandola.

MandoSquirrel
Mar-22-2009, 1:13pm
Ry Cooders' album "Paradise & Lunch" was a pivotal discovery for me..Gospel, Reggae, Ragtime, blues,Tex Mex, and all of it incredibly funky, too !

"Chicken Skin Music" was a good one as well. After hearing the two tracks he did with Gabby Pahinui, I've been a Hawaiian music nut ever since :)

He's a real stylist on mandolin, too ! I read somewhere that Grisman once interviewed Ry about his approach to playing mando..anyone know anything about that interview, or where it was published ?

I think the album "Ry Cooder" has some appropriate material, as do ,I think, all the recordings prior to ,maybe up to, "Bop Til You Drop". "Into The Purple Valley" has his classic mando versions of "Billy The Kid" & Denomination Blues" and "Hey Porter".
As to "I read somewhere that Grisman once interviewed Ry about his approach to playing mando..anyone know anything about that interview, or where it was published ?", Mandolin World News,Vol.IV,No.IV; winter 1979-1980. Includes Mike Marshall's transcription of "Billy The Kid".

I agree about Buck White, also.

Marcus CA
Mar-22-2009, 10:13pm
You could even take this further into specificity by looking at specific albums, like the first DGQ album, the first BF and the F's album, Miles Davis's Kind of Blue and Bitch's Brew (nice rhyme there), Bernstein's West Side Story, for starters --- albums that made the jaws drop and the spirits soar, and remain magnificent despite all that has come since their creation.

onassis
Mar-23-2009, 1:57pm
Jim's citing of the Gourds brought to mind their version of the Snoop Dogg song "Gin & Juice". What a riot! Nuthin' but mando, bass and drums. Pure, raucous party music.