PERFORMANCE/TOUR: Mandolinist Extraordinaire Chris Thile

Mandolinist extraordinaire Chris Thile is only 28, but already he has shocked or changed the world in which he operates several times. First, there was his breakout work with the acoustic trio Nickel Creek. More recently with the Punch Brothers, he wrote a large-scale song cycle for bluegrass band called The Blind Leaving the Blind (Nonesuch). As historical analogies to Thile, I would nominate Duke Ellington or Astor Piazzolla, who also tried to extend their once-humble idioms (jazz and tango...

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