Tone Poems 3 follows in the tradition of
David Grisman's two previous
Tone Poems albums, featuring vintage instruments and the musical styles for which they were designed. As this project was designed to show off slide and resophonic instruments,
Grisman doesn't stick to just the mandolin. In addition to various steel and slide mandolins, the session leader plays tenor guitar and guitar with
Mike Auldridge and
Bob Brozman, two of the resophonic guitar's most eminent players. A different set of antique instruments is used for each song, and the vintage of the instruments progresses in roughly chronological order. The type of music, then, also develops from track to track. Initially, the album features Hawaiian-style songs like "Moonlight Bay" or once popular Tin Pan Alley tunes like "Whispering" that may have been played in a Hawaiian manner in the '20s. But as the trio starts working with post-Depression era instruments, songs such as "Limehouse Blues" and "Just Joshin'" show the influence of the blues and country genres that eventually began to employ steel-slide sounds. By the end of the record, the band plays some quite modern material, like the original "New Steal," a dirty, blues-heavy stomp. Indeed, one of the greatest perks of these
Tone Poems sets is their educational value, and, like the others, this one comes with a 40-plus page booklet featuring descriptions and color photos of the instruments played on each song. Some of the album's best moments spring from the group's historical re-creations. The standard "Crazy Rhythm," for instance, is expanded into a sort of duet suite with quirky, out-of-time intros by
Brozman on ukulele and
Grisman on mandolin (not to mention some blistering solo work). Yet, this album isn't just a history project; it's sprinkled with several original compositions, including two gritty blues numbers, that are at least as appealing as the older tunes and raise hopes that these three masters will record together again. ~ John Uhl