DGQ PDQ

  They were variously called “one of the best bands in the country” (by Savannah Music Festival director Rob Gibson) and “the best band in the world” (by guest mandolinist Tony Williamson), but in any case the David Grisman Quintet displayed one freakin’ amazing amount of musical talent this past Saturday night at the Trustees Theatre — almost too much talent to digest in one sitting.

I’ve never seen a single conglomeration of almost freakish musical talent in one room to compare with the DGQ. That’s not to say that it’s necessarily my kind of music, or to say that I rushed to my computer to order all their CDs. It’s not and I didn’t. Their sheer virtuosic force was so overwhelming it kind of left me numb.

Which is not to say they played without feeling — far from it. They had Feeling O’Plenty, taking an almost childlike visceral joy in playing their instruments. That’s saying a lot considering most of the core members of the DGQ have been together for most of the band’s thirty-year existence.

They opened with a long, snaky and inventive solo by standup bassist Jim Kerwin. Multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire Joe Craven — the single most talented all-around musician I’ve ever heard or seen — came out and began a “Stomp”-lite percussion improv with a Dixie cup, including a very good human beat-box thing.

(Indeed, Craven cracked me up all night with his persistent, over-the-top vocal percussion. He has no cymbals, so he even does that vocally, going “pssshhhhh” every time he needs a cymbal crash.)

But fiddle is Craven’s thing, and he is a true master, with a firm grasp of both bluegrass style and Grappelli-style jazz violin. The dude even mimes electric guitar feedback on a violin. Stopping with the Dixie cup and picking up his fiddle, he signalled the metamorphosis of Kerwin’s initial improvisation into a full-blown funky jazz version of Mancini’s Pink Panther theme.

Genius woodwind guy Matt Eakle and the sadly miscast guitarist Enrique Corria entered the stage one-by-one, followed of course by the triumphant entry of the leonine Grisman himself.

While three hours of mandolin playing is just too much mandolin playing, Grisman brings a joy to the instrument that makes it not as overbearing as it would be in lesser hands. As if his own mandolin weren’t more than enough mandolin, Grisman brought out two guest mandolinists from the previous night’s “Mando Madness” performance to sit in.

Tony Williamson can flat-out shred on a mandolin, folks. He plays the thing like Angus Young plays a guitar. It was fun. Even Grisman enjoyed getting completely blown away by the guy.

I felt bad for guitarist Enrique Corria, who completely wastes his time fingerpicking a nylon-string Spanish guitar amidst his much louder and more aggressive colleagues. If you’re going to play rhythm guitar, man, play some rhythm. If you’re going to go Latin, amigo, go Latin. But I couldn’t hear his accompaniment, and when he took a solo it was so whitebread and lame that I was embarrassed for the guy. Oh, well, I guess we all have to have a steady paycheck. I do look forward to hearing one of Corria’s solo CDs to get a feel for the Latin style he is known for.

Another highlight of the evening was the second-set performance of “Man of Constant Sorrow.” While Grisman on vocals is nowhere near as poignant and inspiring as Garcia himself, it was nice to hear a human voice amidst the wail and scream of the flute, violin and mandolin assault.

It’s ironic that despite the almost unbelievable level of musical talent on display Saturday night, it took a poor singer like Grisman to elevate the entire performance to a more enjoyable level. I guess it’s true what they say about the power of the human voice.

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