Jimmy Gaudreau

Small as its fingerboard is and played most often by trilling with a pick at high speed, the mandolin is a natural for playing fast as well as having a particularly lovely tone and an ability to ring out and fill in the spaces around other instruments. These features have helped make it a standard item in a bluegrass band, but when the instrument takes the lead in the hands of a player as accomplished as this man is, then listeners are entering a whole new world. From the title, one can assume mandolinist Jimmy Gaudreau is trying to make some kind of all-encompassing statement about what he is able to do on his instrument. It is an ambitious effort, including material that could and definitely has sunk many a lesser player. Just about everything comes off beautifully; in fact, one would have to be trying to pick a fight with mandolinists in order to make much criticism of any of the proceedings here, which include everything from straight-ahead bluegrass to Bach to the "New Camptown Races," which is given a treatment so refreshing that the artist has a perfect right to claim it as his own. Banjoist J.D. Crowe, no slouch in any setting, gets pretty inspired here. There is also tasty use of percussion, unusual for this type of session. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide