David Grisman's bands, in their various quartet and quintet configurations, have showcased Dawg music ever since he started the first DGQ in the fall of 1975. That band featured David on mandolin, Todd Phillips on mandolin, Joe Carroll on bass, Tony Rice on guitar, and Darol Anger on fiddle. Since then, the DGQ has been the leading force in establishing this new genre of acoustic string instrumental music.

The David Grisman Home Page Jim Kerwin joined the DGQ on very short notice in September, 1985, and now has the distinction of being the DGQ member with the longest tenure. "I met David at a jam session and soon after that I got a call to fill in with his quartet," explains Jim. "It seemed his bass player had abruptly left the band with a tour beginning in five days. I had admired David's eclectic style for years, and was up for the challenge." Jim rose to the difficult task of learning dawg bass overnight. "After that first gig," says Jim, "David told me that I could have the job for as long as I wanted." From the start, David saw in Jim both a consummate team player and a very talented musician. "Jim has always understood the function of the bass in my band, which is that of support," says David. "But he can also play inspired solos, with great tone. His ideas are always interesting and fresh." Born in San Francisco in 1952, Jim's earliest performing experience was as a soloist in the grade school choir. He began playing guitar in high school but soon switched to electric bass when, he said, "I realized that I could play in more bands that way." Though rock was the music of the day, Jim's adventurous listening tastes led him to Stravinsky, world music, Captain Beefheart and - most importantly - to the improvisational jazz of Bill Evans and Miles Davis which made him realize that music demanded serious study. After hearing acoustic bassists Scott La Faro, Eddie Gomez and Charlie Haden, Jim decided to study classical technique. At 21, he began five years of intensive training at San Francisco State University under the tutelage of S. Charles Siani. He graduated with a performance degree in solo double bass, and then spent several years touring Europe with an avant-garde jazz trio led by vibist Larry Blackshere. As Jim put it, "I felt I had to learn the rules before I could break them." As a member of the DGQ and bassist on many dawg projects, Jim has been able to explore his broad musical tastes. He has performed with bluegrass greats Red Allen and Del McCoury. He played at Carnegie Hall with Stephane Grappelli and YoYo Ma. He worked with David and Jerry Garcia in a unique acoustic setting that encompassed a myriad of musical genres. He has also played on numerous recordings - including six Grammy nominees - from big band, bluegrass and jazz to Klezmer and Latin. Jim lives in the coastal hamlet of Pacifica, California with his wife Jana and their two children, Patrick, 4, and Chelsea, 3. Between DGQ gigs, Jim plays most nights at San Francisco's Ritz-Carlton Hotel with an outstanding jazz-pop trio featuring vocalist Bonet and pianist Gus Gustavson. Joe Craven plays the congas, bongos, shakers and just about anything else he gets his hands on. He can slap out rhythms on his face (yes, his face) and make mind-boggling percussion sounds with his mouth. It has been said that Joe Craven is a one-man rhythm section - but that is not to under-estimate his talent on the mandolin and violin. For the last six years, this multi-amazing musician has been a fixture in the David Grisman Quintet and has been pivotal in shaping the current sound of the band featured on Dawganova. He also is responsible for the look of the album, having designed the original cover art. David was so impressed when he first heard Joe play the top of his violin case that he asked him to join his band. The subtlety, simplicity, novelty and portability of body and mouth percussion (compared to the more traditional drum kit) appealed to David, who began incorporating the performance art of Joe Craven into his music. "His inventive way of playing percussion is at a more compatible volume level with acoustic string instruments," said David. "Plus, Joe's an incredible string player himself. I immediately picked up on his whole musical trip." Born in 1955, Joe Craven grew up in Atlanta, Georgia listening to the music of the day. His father played guitar around the house, and in high school (after bluffing his way through a music class without ever learning to read notes), Joe realized that he too had a good ear. He taught himself to play the mandolin in college at the University of North Carolina in Columbia. Joe immersed himself in all kinds of music - especially Latin, jazz, bluegrass and acoustic - after hearing the David Grisman Quintet for the very first time in the late 1970's. He embarked on a career as a museum curator in Reno before moving to California to pursue work as a mandolin player. In the mid-1980s, while playing with a Sacramento-based band called Way Out West (practitioners of what he calls "jungle and western" music), Joe developed an arsenal of percussion sounds - and learned the violin rather than hire a fiddle player. Today, in addition to performing with the DGQ (and on the various projects David does with Jerry Garcia) Joe keeps busy as a session musician and performs with a Latin Afro-rock dance band called Mumbo Jumbo. "I love to be in front of people performing," Joe says. "That is when I am in my element." Enrique Coria "My father gave me a Spanish guitar when I was 12 years old and I went crazy," recalls Enrique Coria. "I was always thinking about the guitar. Always." He knew of one musician in Dique Los Molinos, the small village in the center of Argentina where he grew up. From him Enrique learned the fundamental chords. He would practice each day for hours. When unable to get guitar strings, he would use fishing lines instead. He taught a friend to play guitar so he could make music with someone else. At 15, he left his family and moved to the city of Cordova to pursue a career as a guitarist. Enrique immediately began performing contemporary Argentinian folk music with different bands at clubs and festivals in Cordova. When he was 18, he moved to Buenos Aries to work with a popular group called Los Rundunes. At 20, he started playing guitar with a well known Argentinian singer named Hernan Figueroa Reyes, who introduced Enrique to many great performers of the region. Through Reyes, Enrique met and studied with a classical guitar master from Argentina named Jorge Martinez Zarate. Over the course of 20 years Enrique has played on approximately 400 recordings with popular groups from Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Bolivia. But it is the music that you will hear on Solos From South America. that Enrique Coria has always dreamed of recording. They are guitar compositions that mix the classical style from Europe with the folk rhythms and harmonies of Latin America. Some of the music you will hear was written by noted early 20th century composers like Eduardo Falu from Argentina, Antonio Lauro from Venezuela, and Augustin Barrios of Paraguay. Each has written or arranged music that is now prominent in the repertoires of many world-class guitarists. But most of the gems on Solos From South America are outside the mainstream of the classical guitar world - just as Enrique himself is. His technique is beautiful. His sound is rich and full, and the music is most evocative. Matt Eakle His first musical memories are of his mother, a piano teacher, playing Chopin and Debussy as he drifted off to sleep. As a toddler, his three older brothers (one played the guitar, one the clarinet and the oldest played the violin) would sing him musical phrases - and he would mimic them back. That Matt Eakle would grow up to be a musician is no surprise, but no one would have ever predicted that he would become the first flutist in the history of dawg music. His first musical memories are of his mother, a piano teacher, playing Chopin and Debussy as he drifted off to sleep. As a toddler, his three older brothers (one played the guitar, one the clarinet and the oldest played the violin) would sing him musical phrases - and he would mimic them back. That Matt Eakle would grow up to be a musician is no surprise, but no one would have ever predicted that he would become the first flutist in the history of dawg music. "Its a quirky thing," said the 41-year-old musician. "Through playing dawg music, Ive gained a reputation as a flutist who can play virtually any style of music - jazz, classical, folk, bluegrass, rock, Brazilian, Arab, Klezmer, Japanese, you name it - I love it all." Matt Eakles flute has enriched and enlivened the sound of dawg music for nearly eight years. Matt, in addition to being a great soloist, is a true team player in the David Grisman Quintet, playing (and singing) percussion parts during Joe Cravens violin passages, and using the flute in countless innovative ways to support the other players. "When Matt steps up to the microphone," says his boss, David Grisman, "I know that heres my chance to really lay that rhythm down, and when he and I play a tune together in unison, its hard to tell us apart. In the DGQ, were known as the Melody Brothers." Matt got his start on the flute in the Roosevelt Junior High School Band in Richmond, California, where he grew up. He took flute lessons from a teacher who listed among his favorite musicians B*la BartÑk and Jimi Hendrix. He studied classical flute off and on for 10 years, but instead of seeking a career in the symphony, Matt chose to pursue his eclectic musical tastes with his flute. That included everything from playing for tips on the sidewalk in front of Ghirardelli Square to forming a jazz ensemble with the great guitarist Davis Ramey, Matts jazz mentor. Matt met David Grisman through a mutual friend in 1985 and played his first gig as a DGQ member in November of 1989 at Yoshis in Oakland at shows featuring the quintet and special guest Vassar Clements. "One of the nicest things about playing with David has been the opportunity to play music with his friends - Vassar, Tony Rice, Stephane Grappelli, Jerry Garcia, Frank Wakefield, Mark OConnor and Bonnie Raitt..." Matt is featured on four Acoustic Disc CDs - Dawg 90, Dawgwood, Dawganova, DGQ-20 - and is a special guest on others: Not for Kids Only, Shady Grove and Latin Touch. Last month, Matt recorded Flute Jazz, an Acoustic Disc project of his own. "Its my first feature album doing exactly what I want to be doing," said Matt. Flute Jazz is a collection of Matts original compositions and jazz standards featuring Davis Ramey, who has been Matts musical partner and teacher for the past 15 years, and Harvie Swartz, the fine bassist (Andy Statman Quartet, Stan Getz and others). Listen for Flute Jazz sometime soon.