ncadmr
01-31-2004, 03:17 PM
I found this and thought I'd share.
Perfecting their chops
Mandolin masters Thile, Marshall make their music cook
By John Lehndorff, Rocky Mountain News
December 22, 2003
Noted wine lover, foodie and mandolin virtuoso Mike Marshall has been trading guitar lessons for cooking lessons from a chef at Alice Waters' legendary Berkeley restaurant, Chez Panisse.
I got to stand in the kitchen there and chop vegetables and just watch these guys in action. I was blown away. It's such a high level of precision and speed, Marshall said, calling from outside Columbus, Ohio.
It's so much like music. You start with the people you play with. How can you not be influenced by what you eat and hear? Some of my best memories are of shared experiences: cooking, eating and playing music together, just blasting all the senses, Marshall said, handing the phone to Chris Thile, one of the best young mandolin players in America.
Music and food go hand in hand for me, Thile said. Wherever I'm playing, I think about what the local music is and the regional cuisine and wine and reflect that. The act of eating the food, drinking the wine and then playing some tunes, well, that's the ultimate.
Marshall suggested tonight's show at the Boulder Theater with Thile is the musical equivalent of six-course feat. He really is something. It's a romp every night, Marshall said.
The 20-something Thile, for his part, likes to antagonize the elder Marshall by telling him how he used to listen to his work with Tony Rice and David Grisman as a little boy.
When I was 16 and 17 I got obsessed with an album Mike did with Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer. It opened a lot of doors for me. Here were three undeniable masters of their instruments playing original music that was so complex, yet still so emotionally charged. I can't tell you how great it is for me to get to play with him, he said.
Grammy-nominee Marshall has been a dominant bluegrass and newgrass presence for two decades. He has stretched the mandolin envelope with forays into classical and Brazilian music.
Thile is one-third of the Grammy-winning neo-bluegrass band, Nickel Creek. The band has sold nearly 1.5 million copies of its first two CDs and its hard-driving acoustic sound on The Smoothie Song has been a hit on rock stations such as KBCO.
Although sometimes still billed as a bluegrass band, Nickel Creek's music has evolved into something else entirely.
Bluegrass is a wonderful place from which to leapfrog because of its metronomic sense of time, said Thile. If bluegrass has a weakness as a genre, it is that it can be taxing on the ear. It's hard to find any space in the music because of the emphasis on flashy, hyperspeed picking.
Tonight's gig comes a few months after the release of Marshall and Thile's first CD together, Into the Cauldron (Sugar Hill), an engrossing collection of original tunes and covers featuring, simply, the two musicians on mandolin.
Nickel Creek's numerous fans at tonight's Boulder Theater show shouldn't expect a Nickel Creek-type show. Thile said he won't be playing Nickel Creek songs or opening his mouth, except to talk.
No singing! None! It's really nice not to hear words. It's a fresh experience not to be sung at, he said.
According to Marshall, about 30 percent of the show is improvisation and the rest involves super worked-out arrangements. We'll play one of Bach's Goldberg Variations and a piece I wrote in the style of a J.S. (Bach) solo violin piece.
Not content to simply play tunes from the new CD and a few Christmas songs, the duo decided to write more music and record the shows for a live CD.
We raised the bar for ourselves - we tend to do that, Marshall said. It can take weeks to learn how to play some of the stuff we write. We play a LOT of notes.
For both Thile and Marshall, Colorado has become a second home. Thile recently married his longtime Boulder-raised girlfriend and moved to San Francisco. The parents of Marshall's wife, noted klezmer musician Kayla Flexor, live in Louisville.
Colorado still provides one of the best forums for any musician expanding the envelope for acoustic music, Thile said.
John Lehndorff is the dining critic; lehndorffj@rockymountainnews.com or 303-892-5103
Perfecting their chops
Mandolin masters Thile, Marshall make their music cook
By John Lehndorff, Rocky Mountain News
December 22, 2003
Noted wine lover, foodie and mandolin virtuoso Mike Marshall has been trading guitar lessons for cooking lessons from a chef at Alice Waters' legendary Berkeley restaurant, Chez Panisse.
I got to stand in the kitchen there and chop vegetables and just watch these guys in action. I was blown away. It's such a high level of precision and speed, Marshall said, calling from outside Columbus, Ohio.
It's so much like music. You start with the people you play with. How can you not be influenced by what you eat and hear? Some of my best memories are of shared experiences: cooking, eating and playing music together, just blasting all the senses, Marshall said, handing the phone to Chris Thile, one of the best young mandolin players in America.
Music and food go hand in hand for me, Thile said. Wherever I'm playing, I think about what the local music is and the regional cuisine and wine and reflect that. The act of eating the food, drinking the wine and then playing some tunes, well, that's the ultimate.
Marshall suggested tonight's show at the Boulder Theater with Thile is the musical equivalent of six-course feat. He really is something. It's a romp every night, Marshall said.
The 20-something Thile, for his part, likes to antagonize the elder Marshall by telling him how he used to listen to his work with Tony Rice and David Grisman as a little boy.
When I was 16 and 17 I got obsessed with an album Mike did with Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer. It opened a lot of doors for me. Here were three undeniable masters of their instruments playing original music that was so complex, yet still so emotionally charged. I can't tell you how great it is for me to get to play with him, he said.
Grammy-nominee Marshall has been a dominant bluegrass and newgrass presence for two decades. He has stretched the mandolin envelope with forays into classical and Brazilian music.
Thile is one-third of the Grammy-winning neo-bluegrass band, Nickel Creek. The band has sold nearly 1.5 million copies of its first two CDs and its hard-driving acoustic sound on The Smoothie Song has been a hit on rock stations such as KBCO.
Although sometimes still billed as a bluegrass band, Nickel Creek's music has evolved into something else entirely.
Bluegrass is a wonderful place from which to leapfrog because of its metronomic sense of time, said Thile. If bluegrass has a weakness as a genre, it is that it can be taxing on the ear. It's hard to find any space in the music because of the emphasis on flashy, hyperspeed picking.
Tonight's gig comes a few months after the release of Marshall and Thile's first CD together, Into the Cauldron (Sugar Hill), an engrossing collection of original tunes and covers featuring, simply, the two musicians on mandolin.
Nickel Creek's numerous fans at tonight's Boulder Theater show shouldn't expect a Nickel Creek-type show. Thile said he won't be playing Nickel Creek songs or opening his mouth, except to talk.
No singing! None! It's really nice not to hear words. It's a fresh experience not to be sung at, he said.
According to Marshall, about 30 percent of the show is improvisation and the rest involves super worked-out arrangements. We'll play one of Bach's Goldberg Variations and a piece I wrote in the style of a J.S. (Bach) solo violin piece.
Not content to simply play tunes from the new CD and a few Christmas songs, the duo decided to write more music and record the shows for a live CD.
We raised the bar for ourselves - we tend to do that, Marshall said. It can take weeks to learn how to play some of the stuff we write. We play a LOT of notes.
For both Thile and Marshall, Colorado has become a second home. Thile recently married his longtime Boulder-raised girlfriend and moved to San Francisco. The parents of Marshall's wife, noted klezmer musician Kayla Flexor, live in Louisville.
Colorado still provides one of the best forums for any musician expanding the envelope for acoustic music, Thile said.
John Lehndorff is the dining critic; lehndorffj@rockymountainnews.com or 303-892-5103