Album Notes

Whispers, Grins, Bloodloss & Handshakes is the second collaboration between David Greenberger and 3 Leg Torso. Fourteen tracks, all under three minutes long, reveal that everything (and everyone) belongs to somebody. The stories cover the mysteries of the world, from car chases to religious paintings, backyards to new horizons, dog tricks to washing machines, sitting in the bleachers to comforting widows.

Greenberger collected the stories on Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard during a project produced by Jay Allison and the Open Studio Project for NPR affiliates WCAI and WNAN. Despite the stories' tendency to contemplate the end of life, the monologues have an intimacy that is totally unexpected. The music is seamlessly integrated with the mood of the words. As always, the emotional range of Greenberger's stories can take you from outright laughter ("Mudurian's List") to chills and tears ("The Last Words of Arthur Wallace"). Ultimately, David Greenberger's goal is to expose the richness of the whole person through humor and intelligence, with genuine tenderness.

The music composed by 3 Leg Torso provides shadings of character and shifting moods. Formed in 1996 as a violin, cello and accordion trio, the ensemble creates original modern chamber music for their unique instrumentation. Over the ensuing years the band has expanded both its musical mission and its size to become a quintet that now performs its eclectic synthesis of chamber music, tango, klezmer, Latin and world music.