Bluegrass great Vassar Clements dies

NASHVILLE (Billboard) - Acclaimed fiddle virtuoso Vassar Clements died August 16 of cancer at his daughter's home outside of Nashville. He was 77.

Known to some as the "Miles Davis of bluegrass," Clements began performing with Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys when he was just 14, becoming a regular member of the legendary group in 1949.

In 1956, he left the group and began a four-year stint with Jim & Jesse McReynolds, after which he performed with banjo star Earl Scruggs.

"Vassar Clements was a special artist and notable among the early pioneers as well as for his remarkable work in recent years," said Dan Hays, president of the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA).

Clements' work on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's groundbreaking 1972 multi-artist album, "Will the Circle Be Unbroken," was a milestone in a career that spanned more than five decades.

"He was the nicest guy. He treated everybody like you were either family or friend," the band's John McEuen told Billboard. "He was the greatest fiddle player in the world, but you never knew it if you talked to him. He influenced the next 30 years of fiddle playing with the ("Circle") album."

During his career, Clements performed with a variety of acts that included Faron Young, Dicky Betts, the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers, Linda Ronstadt, David Grisman and Paul McCartney.

He signed his first major-label record deal in 1973 with Mercury/Polygram and went on to record 27 albums that explored country and swing, earning him a second nickname, the King of Hillbilly Jazz."

Clements' only solo bluegrass album was 1992's "Grass Routes" on Rounder Records, but he played as a member of bluegrass supergroup the Blue Grass Album Band during the 1980s and 1990s. The lineup included Tony Rice, J.D. Crowe, Doyle Lawson and Mark Schatz.

In addition to fiddle, he played viola, cello, bass, mandolin, guitar and tenor banjo.

The IBMA recognized Clements as a first-generation pioneer of bluegrass music at its 2001 awards.

"There didn't seem to be any musical boundaries around Vassar's creativity or abilities," Hays said. "He appeared to me to be right at home and just as articulate within a jazz ensemble as he was in his collaborations with the Blue Grass Album Band."