The Pizza Tapes is an album by Jerry Garcia (acoustic guitar, vocals), David Grisman (mandolin), and Tony Rice (acoustic guitar). It was recorded at Grisman's studio on two evenings in 1993, and features unrehearsed performances of folk and bluegrass songs. It was released on the Acoustic Disc label on April 25, 2000.
In February 1993, Grisman was playing with Rice and invited Garcia to his studio. Over the nights of February 4 and February 5, the trio recorded what would be known as The Pizza Tapes.
Garcia's copy was supposedly given to a pizza delivery person (as an unorthodox and really groovy tip) and, not long after, Grisman heard a song on the radio in New York City. Fans started bringing tapes to Grateful Dead shows for autographs, and shortly after, the band confiscated a box of bootleg CDs of the session.[4]
Grisman said, "[a]fter several years of being pissed off (about their illegal release), I decided to bury the hatchet...and make these tapes available...."[4] The tapes were released (seven years later), after the album with the songs in the order recorded, with a few mistakes, false starts, and some talking between musicians.
The Pizza Tapes contains the only known version of Garcia performing "Amazing Grace", which was played only after Pam Rice, Tony Rice's wife, requested it.
Rice gave credit to the late Garcia and wrote, "I wish there were words that would express my gratitude for being a part of it. Perhaps just knowing that Garcia might be smiling somewhere saying, 'Dawg can we hear that take again?' will suffice."[4]
In 2010, Grisman's online label Acoustic Oasis released The Pizza Tapes: Extra Large Edition offering 170 minutes of music, including 16 previously unissued alternate takes in addition to the original master takes in their original sequence. In addition to new music, the expanded edition also features more of the personal repartee that characterized the initial release.
