Note: This article came in too late for the hard copy version.

The Bluegrass Sessions show last night (2nd Sept) at Villa Montalvo in Saratoga, CA was pretty standard fare for Sam, Bela and Jerry. I'm not sure any of 'em were all that challenged by the material but the spirit of the performance was strong, the sound was utterly fantastic and the venue was very pleasant. Themajority of the material covered was from the Tales from the Acoustic Planet - Bluegrass Sessions CD.

The show started in the same style as a DGQ performance with Sam hitting the stage solo and kicking out a fiddle tune chord / melody thing. Then in order of appearance came Brian Sutton, Mark Schatz, Gabe Witcher, Jerry and finally Bela. I'm unsure of the set list or even the first tune they played but after the rousing opening they pulled into Ginseng Sullivan.

It was immediately obvious that Brian Sutton was no slouch on Guitar. He pulled several eye-popping breaks out of his Rosewood Collings and very red back-and-sides Bourgois. Brian seemed to be capable of very Rice inspired jazzy riffs and rhythms and in my opinion was the biggest surprise of the evening. He was featured on a rousing "Pike County Breakdown". This guy has a bright future to say the least.

One of the better tunes in the first set which showcased harmony by the vocal quartet of Sam, Jerry Bela and Gabe was Lester Flatt's "Polka on the Banjo". An excellent choice of tune with a lot of good humored vocals and lead exchanges.

Gabe Witcher was a good choice in a fiddle player but lacked the mmmph of say....Mark O'Connor. His playing was smooth and inventive with good use of double stops but in the long run it didn't reach out and grab me. It would have been nice to see Sam play a bit of Fiddle as well.

Mark Schatz took a few good bass solos and what really comes through when he plays them is his essential joy of life. It's easy to tell from 20 rows out that this guy is "livin' la vida loca".

Mark and Sam spent a good portion of one tune engaging in a humorous site gag where they dance around and goof on Bela. Every timeBela would stop and look back at them they'd pretend to look like nothing was going down. I'm guessing they play these same tricks at every show on the tour.

Bela, Jerry and Sam were all as consistent as Peanut Butter. There's not much to say about their respective skills. If you've had the opportunity to see them you already know what they are capable of. Each of them are as interesting and inventive as you could ask for on their respective instruments in terms of playing "progressive" bluegrass music.

Bela did his wonderful Bass and Banjo duet wherein he never touches the frets with his left hand, he just fiddles with his Scruggs tuners.

Sam and Jerry did the Crossroads blues duet and in general, Jerry dominated the melodic structure of the majority of the nights tunes.

Sam and Bela do a marvelous job of engaging the audiences rapt attention through a combination of good natured humor, inside BG oriented jokes and quips at each other's expense.

In the long run I recommend attending one of these shows but don't go expecting anything all that new or different.

(A recent post to the Newgrass list suggests that some of the shows on this tour will be in support of Santana. That could add an interesting element into the mixture.)

Ted Silverman, San Francisco. Write to Ted
Ted is Mandolinist with The Chazz Cats

6th Sept 1999