Talented pickers like David Grier discovered quite a few years back that somewhere between jazz and bluegrass was an area which could utilize their skills and create a new sound which incorporated jazz's improvisation with bluegrass's standard patterns. Often called "newgrass," it's a sound which has seen some considerable talent applied to it, and David Grier certainly fits into that category. With Grier on PANORAMA are a few other stalwarts of the genre - Sam Bush, Todd Phillips, Stuart Duncan, Mike Compton, Craig Smith, and Bob Carlin - and they establish immediately that PANORAMA is going to be a first-class outing as far as musicianship is concerned. Completely instrumental, completely acoustic, it is indeed a superb showcase of playing skills.
At this point it's tempting to say simply that PANORAMA fits into the newgrass category, that it's superbly performed, and that it's like a good many other such style recordings out there by a talented corps of musicians. In one sense (and it's a fairly cruel sense), if you've heard one newgrass recording, you've heard them all. (And I know that the same could be said of every genre, and it's always said by people who don't particularly care for that genre.) As a listener who enjoys a good newgrass instrumental from time to time, but also as one who has started sensing a homogeneous tendency among many of them, I can say honestly that this one moves one notch above its peers in what it accomplishes. None of the melodies here are surprising for the genre, some have a folk leaning, some a jazz leaning, and some a bluegrass leaning. But at the core of each song is a jazz anchor that surfaces in one way or another and which gives the recording its distinction.
When Grier goes for straight jazz, as he does on the wonderful "The Skeleton," it becomes obvious how far this player has worked his music. The way he approaches jazz elements is refreshing as well; he uses them as coherent anchor points for nearly everything here, providing himself and other musicians solid meeting and departing points which test their skills and allow them room to maneuver. No one, Grier included, moves into areas too far removed from the main melody and rhythm lines, but just the slight detours they take make PANORAMA a recording worth pursuing.
Guitar players ought to love PANORAMA. It lives up to its name as far as its breadth, and Grier is a superb player. Every acoustic note is well-delivered, flashy only in it's substance. Non-guitarists need not fear it, however. These are well-written, well-selected pieces, and they are so well-played that they are a pleasure well beyond their technical prowess. In short, even for someone like me who was getting a little jaded on the sameness of material coming from the newgrass camp, this is a standout effort. And the armchair-guitarist in me does a stop-and-wonder frequently as Grier fires off one of those how-does-he-do-that runs. Solid stuff intellectually as well as from a pure listening standpoint, PANORAMA is a genuine keeper.