Sam Bush is a bluegrass legend, and it's not unfair to consider him a Bill Monroe for our times -- a visionary who reveres traditions but doesn't let that stop him from expanding the form even further. His latest venture is a collection of recordings from his performances at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, where the mandolinist has played in 26 of the 27 shows, always in different but consistently intriguing configurations.

The 14 songs on Ice Caps are culled from the past decade. (The track list also includes two spoken passages by Telluride emcee Pastor Mustard.) In presenting them here, Bush joins with his former New Grass Revival bandmates Béla Fleck and John Cowan, dobro ace Jerry Douglas, guitarists Darrell Scott and Jon Randall Stewart, and former Subdudes' member John Magnie. Bush and Cowan team up for dynamic duo renditions of Van Morrison's "Hungry For Your Love'' and "Sailin' Shoes,'' while Bush puts his own stamp on selections such as Jeff Black's "Same Ol' River,'' Bob Dylan's "Girl of the North Country,'' John Hiatt's "Memphis in the Meantime,'' Monroe's "Big Mon'' and even 69 seconds of Kool & the Gang's "Celebrate.'' Bush also steps out on electric guitar leads for 1994 jam on Leon Russell's "I Put a Spell on You.''

Ice Caps offers plenty of pickin' and lots of grinnin', but it's also essential and educational listening for anyone who thinks that simple equation is all there is to bluegrass.