The Pizza Tapes
Encyclopedia
The Pizza Tapes is an acoustic album by the American musicians Jerry Garcia
, David Grisman
and Tony Rice
. The album was made over a series of two evenings in 1993 featuring completely unrehearsed songs recorded in Grisman's own recording studio.
album as well as collaborators amongst the likes of Peter Rowan, John Kahn
, and Vassar Clements
, in the bluegrass band Old and in the Way
. Tony Rice's contributions with Grisman's quintet in the early 1980s would earn him a place in these historic recordings.
In February 1993, Grisman was playing with Tony Rice and invited Garcia to his studio. Over the nights of February 4 and February 5, the trio recorded what would be known as The Pizza Tapes.
Garcia's copy was stolen by a pizza delivery boy and, not long after, Grisman heard a song on the radio in New York
. Fans started bringing tapes to Grateful Dead
shows for autographs, and shortly after, the band confiscated a box of bootleg
CDs of the session.
Seven years later, Grisman released the album with the songs in the order recorded, with a few mistakes, false starts, and some talking between musicians.
The Pizza Tapes contains the only known version of Garcia performing "Amazing Grace", which was only played after Pam Rice, Tony Rice's wife, requested it.
Rice gave credit to the late Garcia and wrote:
In 2011, Grisman's online label, Acoustic Oasis released The Pizza Tapes: Extra Large edition offering 170-minute of music, including 16 previously unissued alternate takes in addition to the original master takes in their original sequence. In addition to new music, the expanded edition also features more of the personal repartee that characterized the initial release.
Jerry Garcia
Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead...
, David Grisman
David Grisman
David Grisman is an American bluegrass/newgrass mandolinist and composer of acoustic music. In the early 1990s, he started the Acoustic Disc record label in an effort to preserve and spread acoustic or instrumental music.-Biography:Grisman grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey...
and Tony Rice
Tony Rice
Tony Rice is an American acoustic guitarist and bluegrass musician. He is considered one of the most influential acoustic guitar players in bluegrass, progressive bluegrass, newgrass and acoustic jazz.Rice spans the range of acoustic music, from traditional bluegrass to jazz-influenced New...
. The album was made over a series of two evenings in 1993 featuring completely unrehearsed songs recorded in Grisman's own recording studio.
History
The long standing musical relationship between Garcia and Grisman began with Grisman's mandolin work on select tracks on the American BeautyAmerican Beauty (album)
American Beauty is the fifth album by the Grateful Dead. It was recorded between August and September 1970 and originally released in November 1970 by Warner Bros. Records...
album as well as collaborators amongst the likes of Peter Rowan, John Kahn
John Kahn
John Kahn was an American rock bass player. For a period of about twenty five years Kahn was Jerry Garcia's principal collaborator outside of the Grateful Dead.-Biography:...
, and Vassar Clements
Vassar Clements
Vassar Clements was a Grammy Award- winning American jazz, swing, and bluegrass fiddler. Clements has been dubbed the Father of Hillbilly Jazz, an improvisational style that blends and borrows from swing, hot jazz, and bluegrass along with roots also in country and other musical...
, in the bluegrass band Old and in the Way
Old and in the Way
Old & in the Way was a bluegrass supergroup in the 1970s. The group performed traditional tunes such as "Pig in a Pen" as well as bluegrass-flavoured versions of The Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses" and Peter Rowan's "Panama Red"....
. Tony Rice's contributions with Grisman's quintet in the early 1980s would earn him a place in these historic recordings.
In February 1993, Grisman was playing with Tony Rice and invited Garcia to his studio. Over the nights of February 4 and February 5, the trio recorded what would be known as The Pizza Tapes.
Garcia's copy was stolen by a pizza delivery boy and, not long after, Grisman heard a song on the radio in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. Fans started bringing tapes to Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
shows for autographs, and shortly after, the band confiscated a box of bootleg
Bootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
CDs of the session.
Seven years later, Grisman released the album with the songs in the order recorded, with a few mistakes, false starts, and some talking between musicians.
The Pizza Tapes contains the only known version of Garcia performing "Amazing Grace", which was only played after Pam Rice, Tony Rice's wife, requested it.
Rice gave credit to the late Garcia and wrote:
In 2011, Grisman's online label, Acoustic Oasis released The Pizza Tapes: Extra Large edition offering 170-minute of music, including 16 previously unissued alternate takes in addition to the original master takes in their original sequence. In addition to new music, the expanded edition also features more of the personal repartee that characterized the initial release.
Track listing
- "Appetizer" – 0:13
- "Man of Constant SorrowMan of Constant Sorrow"Man of Constant Sorrow" is a traditional American folk song first recorded by Dick Burnett, a partially blind fiddler from Kentucky. The song was originally recorded by Burnett as "Farewell Song" printed in a Richard Burnett songbook, c. 1913. An early version was recorded by Emry Arthur in 1928...
" (traditional) – 5:06 - "Appetizer" – 0:29
- "Louis Collins" (Mississippi John HurtMississippi John HurtJohn Smith Hurt, better known as Mississippi John Hurt was an American country blues singer and guitarist.Raised in Avalon, Mississippi, Hurt taught himself how to play the guitar around age nine...
) – 5:57 - "Shady Jam" (Jerry Garcia, David Grisman, Tony Rice) – 3:41
- "Shady GroveShady Grove (song)"Shady Grove" is an 18th-century folk song popular in the United States. It is a standard in the repertoires of folk, Celtic and bluegrass musicians. In most traditional versions, the melody is in a minor key...
" (trad.) – 4:46 - "Always Late" (Lefty FrizzellLefty FrizzellLefty Frizzell , born William Orville Frizzell, was an American country music singer and songwriter of the 1950s, and a proponent of honky tonk music. His relaxed style of singing was an influence on later stars Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, George Jones and John Fogerty...
, Blackie Crawford) – 0:57 - "SummertimeSummertime (song)"Summertime" is an aria composed by George Gershwin for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess. The lyrics are by DuBose Heyward, the author of the novel Porgy on which the opera was based, although the song is also co-credited to Ira Gershwin by ASCAP....
" (George GershwinGeorge GershwinGeorge Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
, Ira GershwinIra GershwinIra Gershwin was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs of the 20th century....
, Dubose HeywardDuBose HeywardEdwin DuBose Heyward was a white American author best known for his 1925 novel Porgy. This novel was the basis for the play by the same name and, in turn, the opera Porgy and Bess with music by George Gershwin.-Life and career:Heyward was born in 1885 in Charleston, South Carolina and was a...
) – 3:19 - "Appetizer" – 0:26
- "Long Black VeilLong Black Veil (song)"Long Black Veil" is a 1959 country ballad, written by Danny Dill and Marijohn Wilkin and originally recorded by Lefty Frizzell.A saga song, "Long Black Veil" is told from the point of view of an executed man falsely accused of murder...
" (Danny DillDanny DillHorace Eldred Dill , known professionally known as Danny Dill, was an American country music singer and songwriter...
, Marijohn WilkinMarijohn WilkinMarijohn Wilkin , née Melson, was an American songwriter, famous in the country music genre for writing a number of hits. Wilkin won numerous awards over the years and was referred to as "The Den Mother of Music Row," as chronicled in her 1978 biography from Word Books--Lord, Let Me Leave a Song...
) – 4:31 - "Rosalee McFall "(trad.) – 3:12
- "Appetizer" – 1:13
- "Drifting Too Far From The Shore" (Charles Moody) – 4:54
- "Amazing GraceAmazing Grace"Amazing Grace" is a Christian hymn with words written by the English poet and clergyman John Newton , published in 1779. With a message that forgiveness and redemption are possible regardless of the sins people commit and that the soul can be delivered from despair through the mercy of God,...
" (trad.) – 4:52 - "Little SadieLittle Sadie"Little Sadie" is a 20th Century American folk ballad in D Dorian mode. It is also known variously as "Bad Lee Brown", "Cocaine Blues", "Transfusion Blues", "East St. Louis Blues", "Late One Night", "Penitentiary Blues" and other titles. It tells the story of a man who is apprehended after shooting...
" (trad.) – 3:12 - "Knockin' on Heaven's DoorKnockin' on Heaven's Door"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan for the soundtrack of the 1973 film Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid. It reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.-Story line and song structure:...
" (Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
) – 4:47 - "Space Jam" – 0:59
- "So WhatSo What (composition)"So What" is the first track on the 1959 Miles Davis album Kind of Blue.-History:"So What" is one of the best known examples of modal jazz, set in the Dorian mode and consisting of 16 bars of D Dorian, followed by eight bars of E Dorian and another eight of D Dorian...
" (Miles DavisMiles DavisMiles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
) – 6:29 - "Appetizer" – 0:23
- "House of the Rising Sun" (trad.) – 5:39
Personnel
- Jerry GarciaJerry GarciaJerome John "Jerry" Garcia was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead...
- guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, vocals - David GrismanDavid GrismanDavid Grisman is an American bluegrass/newgrass mandolinist and composer of acoustic music. In the early 1990s, he started the Acoustic Disc record label in an effort to preserve and spread acoustic or instrumental music.-Biography:Grisman grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey...
- mandolinMandolinA mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single... - Tony RiceTony RiceTony Rice is an American acoustic guitarist and bluegrass musician. He is considered one of the most influential acoustic guitar players in bluegrass, progressive bluegrass, newgrass and acoustic jazz.Rice spans the range of acoustic music, from traditional bluegrass to jazz-influenced New...
- guitar
Production
- Producer – David GrismanDavid GrismanDavid Grisman is an American bluegrass/newgrass mandolinist and composer of acoustic music. In the early 1990s, he started the Acoustic Disc record label in an effort to preserve and spread acoustic or instrumental music.-Biography:Grisman grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey...
- Executive producer – Craig Miller
- Recording, mixing – David Dennison
- Mastering – Paul Stubblebine
- Production assistant – Rob Bleetstein
- Photography – Pamela Rice, Dexter Johnson
- Design, layout – D. Brent Hauseman
- Liner notes – David GrismanDavid GrismanDavid Grisman is an American bluegrass/newgrass mandolinist and composer of acoustic music. In the early 1990s, he started the Acoustic Disc record label in an effort to preserve and spread acoustic or instrumental music.-Biography:Grisman grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey...
, Tony RiceTony RiceTony Rice is an American acoustic guitarist and bluegrass musician. He is considered one of the most influential acoustic guitar players in bluegrass, progressive bluegrass, newgrass and acoustic jazz.Rice spans the range of acoustic music, from traditional bluegrass to jazz-influenced New...