Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza / Various

The humblest of beginnings can beget the best prizes, as is the case with this spectacular summit meeting of bluegrass mandolinists. The story goes like this: Ronnie McCoury, son of the great Del, is driving his father's 1954 GMC coach in the (where else?) Shenandoah Valley and has a minor epiphany, dreaming up what he describes as a "Bluegrass Mandolin 101." When he shares the idea with Acoustic Disc founder (and mandolin virtuoso) David Grisman, the project is off with a sprint. Next thing you know, there's eight great mandolin pickers--veterans Jesse McReynolds, Bobby Osborne, Frank Wakefield, and Buck White, and (relatively) younger maestros Sam Bush, Ricky Skaggs, McCoury, and Grisman, with Del McCoury on guitar--grabbing 34 tunes for their collective own. They open with a unison reading of "Blue Moon of Kentucky" that recalls how important mandolin ensemble music was in bridging the worlds of concert and popular music generations ago. Then the ensemble's off on a solo-rich ride, with fiddle tunes like "Old Joe Clark" offering everyone a moment in the picking light and Bill Monroe's "Roanoke" giving the session's two planners a chance to speed through in unison. Then there are banjo-tune adaptations like "The Cakewalk" and numerous episodes of influence, where you have Wakefield, one of Grisman's 1960s-era mentors, jamming on "Mexican Stomp." The pickers also get an opportunity to introduce many of the cuts with a short monologue on the tune's genesis and intent. As if that all weren't enough, the set also comes slipcased with a generously colorful booklet that breaks down each tune and features mini-essays on each soloist and lovely photos of their preferred mandolin. Far more than a simple anthology of trad-grass mandolin music, this is a lengthy paean to the instrument and its great practitioners. --Andrew Bartlett