March 23: David Grisman’s Newgrass Music

David Grisman, who has brought the mandolin into the realms of Django jazz, jazz fusion, rock and roll and blended Old World folk music — a combination that Grisman has called “Dawg Music” ever since his friend and collaborator Jerry Garcia nicknamed him Dawg — was born in Hackensack, New Jersey on this date in 1945. Grisman’s many bands have included the Even Dozen Jug Band, Earth Opera, The Great American Music Band, the David Grisman Quintet, and (with Garcia) Grateful Dawg, and he has also partnered with mandolinist and clarinetist Andy Statman, with whom he has extended klezmer and traditional Jewish music in new creative directions. To see Grateful Dawg playing Miles Davis’s “So What?” look below.

“This music is very eclectic . . . It’s tough to find musicians who are expert in fifteen different styles.” —David Grisman