This material came from the first Tone Poems sessions at David Grisman’s studios, and its title came from the fact the master was allegedly stolen from Jerry Garcia’s kitchen table by a pizza delivery guy.

In the liner notes David Grisman writes, “After several years of being pissed off (about their illegal release), I decided to bury the hatchet…and make these tapes available…”

I’m glad he did. The material is primarily traditional songs mixed with a couple of country standards. For variety, Dylan’s “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door,” and a pair of gospel numbers are thrown in, along with a couple of loose jams and some banter.

The sound is wonderful. It’s warm, intimate, and closely matches the exquisite sonics of Tone Poems. On a good system it’s like having everyone in the room with you. Garcia (whose voice has never sounded better) plays through the left channel, Tony Rice in the right, and Grisman and Jerry’s voice are in the center. Even without the excellent channel separation it’s easy to tell Garcia and Rice’s guitar playing apart, but this way if you want to play along with one of ’em, just turn down one channel.

If you enjoy traditional acoustic music, you owe it to yourself to give The Pizza Tapes a listen. For more, go to http//www.dawgnet.com.