He also released several solo albums, and contributed to a number of albums by other artists over the years as a session musician. He was well known for his distinctive guitar playing, and was ranked 13th in "Rolling Stone"s "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" cover story in 2003. In the 2015 version of the list he was ranked at #46. Garcia was also renowned for his musical and technical ability, particularly his ability to play a variety of instruments, and his ability to sustain long improvisations with the Grateful Dead. Garcia believed that improvisation took stress away from his playing and allowed him to make spur of the moment decisions that he would not have made intentionally.
Introduction
Jerry Garcia
Jerry Garcia | Introduction
Yes, he was a founding member of the Grateful Dead New Riders of the Purple Sage Grateful Dead Yes, Grateful Dead
who wrote the lyrics for the grateful dead
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Robert C. Christie Hunter
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where is he from?
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San Luis Obispo, California
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what are his famous works?
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"Dark Star", "Ripple", "Truckin'", "China Cat Sunflower"
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what is the first one about?
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A song released as a single by the Grateful Dead on Warner Bros
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who composed the song?
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Jerry Garcia
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when was it released?
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1968
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was the song performed anywhere?
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Yes, San Francisco's Fillmore West, the Capitol Theater in Port Chester, NY, the Fillmore East
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did the composer start any band?
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Garcia and Rothman had played together in The Black Mountain Boys, a bluegrass band. The JGAB formed in 1987 and made their first public appearance at The Fillmore on March 17, 1987 at a benefit concert for Artist Rights Today. The JGAB played the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre for a two-week Broadway run, then continued with appearances at The Warfield in San Francisco and the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles. Other performances included the Electric on the Eel concert, the Creating a Better Future benefit in Marin County, California, as well as appearances at the Cotati Cabaret (an exclusive club in Sonoma County, California), and the Frost Amphitheater at Stanford University.
Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band | History
The Jerry Garcia Band was a San Francisco Bay Area rock band led by Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. Garcia founded the band in 1975; it remained the most important of his various side projects until his death in 1995. The band regularly toured and recorded sporadically throughout its twenty-year existence, generally, but not always, during breaks in the Grateful Dead's schedule.
Jerry Garcia Band | Introduction
June 26, 1981, Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, CA is a live album by the Jerry Garcia Band. As the name suggests, it was recorded on June 26, 1981, at the Warfield in San Francisco. It was released as a digital download on April 1, 2013. Released after the first and before the second volume of the "Garcia Live" series of albums, it is sometimes referred to as Garcia Live Volume 1.5.
June 26, 1981, Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, CA | Introduction
Garcia spent the next few weeks sleeping where friends would allow, eventually using his car as a home. Through Grant, Garcia met Dave McQueen in February, who, after hearing Garcia perform some blues music, introduced him to local people and to the Chateau, a rooming house located near Stanford University which was then a popular hangout. On February 20, 1961, Garcia got into a car with Paul Speegle, a sixteen-year-old artist and acquaintance of Garcia; Lee Adams, the house manager of the Chateau and driver of the car; and Alan Trist, a companion of theirs. After speeding past the Palo Alto Veterans Hospital, the car encountered a curve and, traveling around , collided with the guard rail, sending the car rolling turbulently.
Jerry Garcia | Relocation and band beginnings
Other albums recorded by this lineup are "Don't Let Go" and "Garcia Live Volume Seven". The album includes one song, "Gomorrah", that would appear on the band's 1978 studio album "Cats Under the Stars".
Pure Jerry: Theatre 1839, San Francisco, July 29 &amp; 30, 1977 | Introduction
There are no compact arrangements, as each of the selections — consisting of classic R&B, rock, and reggae tunes — are thoroughly explored..." In "The Music Box", John Metzger wrote, "For certain, the bright, clean, crisp, and soulful sound of Garcia’s guitar sang proudly throughout the Theatre 1839 concerts, and no matter how far the relaxed grooves concocted by his backing band drifted out of focus, it was he who consistently put them back on target and guided them forward with his infectiously incendiary intensity. As he and pianist Keith Godchaux took turns twisting and turning the melodies — more often than not with a lighter-than-air touch that was simply divine — Kahn’s bass rumbled beneath the surface with a punctuated efficacy while Tutt steadfastly kept time with the understated precision of an atomic clock.
Pure Jerry: Theatre 1839, San Francisco, July 29 &amp; 30, 1977 | Critical reception
After a short stint at Denman Junior High School, Garcia attended tenth grade at Balboa High School in 1958, where he often got into trouble for skipping classes and fighting. Consequently, in 1959, Garcia's mother again moved the family to a safer environment, to Cazadero, a small town in Sonoma County, north of San Francisco. This turn of events did not sit well with Garcia, who had to travel by bus to Analy High School in Sebastopol, the nearest school. Garcia did, however, join a band at his school known as the Chords. After performing in and winning a contest, the band's reward was recording a song.
Jerry Garcia | Cazadero
In June of the same year, Garcia graduated from the local Menlo Oaks school. He then moved with his family back to San Francisco, where they lived in an apartment above the family bar, a newly built replacement for the original, that had been torn down to make way for a freeway entrance. Two months later, on Garcia's fifteenth birthday, his mother bought an accordion for him, to his great disappointment. Garcia had long been captivated by many rhythm and blues artists, especially Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, leaving him craving an electric guitar. After some pleading, his mother exchanged the accordion for a Danelectro with a small amplifier at a local pawnshop.
Jerry Garcia | San Francisco
On Allmusic, Lindsay Planer said, "Immediately striking is how good the recordings sound, adding to the intimacy and presence of the band's musical communication. The set list reflects Garcia's own decidedly eclectic tastes in addition to the wider variety of styles afforded him, in contrast to his concurrent involvement with the Grateful Dead. Even the songs that were being played by both outfits, such as "Friend of the Devil" and "They Love Each Other", are rendered with significantly different energies. The combo likewise became an outlet for Garcia's lengthy and expressive improvisations, one of the unquestionable fortes of the guitarist's non-Dead endeavors.
Pure Jerry: Theatre 1839, San Francisco, July 29 &amp; 30, 1977 | Critical reception
Garcia's stepfather, who was somewhat proficient with instruments, helped tune his guitar to an unusual open tuning.
Jerry Garcia | San Francisco
With the Grateful Dead, Garcia forged new musical boundaries. With this band, he stops to consider heritage. And at a time when rock 'n' roll was young to begin with... Interestingly, Garcia does not dominate all the jams here. The baton gets passed around frequently from guitar to horns to keyboards, and the game of musical chairs is executed skillfully, with leads chasing leads, and one instrument following the other. Hand-offs are exchanged generously and gracefully, with a true sense of musical conversation. The thrill of this release is in listening to the interplay, because that's where all the action is."
Pure Jerry: Keystone Berkeley, September 1, 1974 | Critical reception
The electric set displays the music that Jerry’s band had accumulated in his vast electric incarnations. The chemistry and ease between these players was previously marveled at and these 1987 concerts display some of the finest Garcia Band."
On Broadway: Act One – October 28th, 1987 | Critical reception
Just as important to note is the fact that Jerry's parents supported our family by owning and operating a bar in San Francisco in the 1940s and so it seemed right to reconnect with our family tradition." On May 16, 2013 the first public performance took place at Garcia’s, with music from Reid Genauer and Friends.
Peter Shapiro (concert promoter) | The Capitol Theatre
In "The Music Box", John Metzger wrote, "Throughout "Let It Rock", each song is pushed, pulled, and stretched in all sorts of ways... The trio of Hopkins-penned tunes... merely extends the sense that Garcia’s visits to Keystone Berkeley primarily provided an excuse for the musicians to get together and improvise on a theme. Yet, like many of his concerts, none of the tunes that Garcia tackled during these shows was ever burdened with mindlessly rambling sojourns. Instead, every note served a purpose, and each musician — Garcia and Hopkins in particular — fed ideas into the fray in order to see what his collaborators could do with them...
Let It Rock: The Jerry Garcia Collection, Vol. 2 | Critical reception
Two other albums recorded by this same lineup are "" and "Garcia Live Volume Four".
Pure Jerry: Warner Theatre, March 18, 1978 | Introduction
The back cover of "Pure Jerry: Theatre 1839" says, "As the Jerry Garcia Band soundboard tapes of July 29 and 30, 1977 are incomplete, the CDs contained herein compile the best performances among those available. Please accept our assurance that every step has been taken to overcome the various challenges presented by 27-year-old 7½ i.p.s. reel tapes — mysterious interferences, frustrating omissions, and some sticky stuff of unknown origin — in order to transfer, edit, and master this music in a way that faithfully celebrates its original performance."
Pure Jerry: Theatre 1839, San Francisco, July 29 &amp; 30, 1977 | Recording and mastering
Garcia was hurled through the windshield of the car into a nearby field with such force he was literally thrown out of his shoes and would later be unable to recall the ejection. Lee Adams, the driver, and Alan Trist, who was seated in the back, were thrown from the car as well, suffering from abdominal injuries and a spine fracture, respectively. Garcia escaped with a broken collarbone, while Speegle, still in the car, was fatally injured.
Jerry Garcia | Relocation and band beginnings
In the early 1960s, the American folk music revival was in full swing, and the San Francisco Bay Area had its own folk scene. In 1961, after getting out of the Army, Jerry Garcia started playing folk music and other old-time songs. Garcia would sing and play acoustic guitar as a member of various ensembles and bands. Over the next few years, Garcia also become interested in bluegrass music, and learned to play the banjo. As his music skills evolved, he continued to play in different bands with similarly inclined musicians. A number of these performances were captured on reel-to-reel tape.
Before the Dead | Recording
Pure Jerry: Theatre 1839, San Francisco, July 29 & 30, 1977 is an album by the Jerry Garcia Band. It was the first release in the "Pure Jerry" series of live recordings by Jerry Garcia and his various solo bands. As the title suggests, it was recorded on July 29 and 30, 1977, at Theatre 1839 in San Francisco, California. It was released on June 1, 2004. The lineup of the Jerry Garcia Band featured on this recording had been together for 18 months. In addition to Garcia on guitar and vocals, the group included fellow Grateful Dead members Keith Godchaux on keyboards and Donna Jean Godchaux on vocals, along with John Kahn on bass and Ron Tutt on drums.
Pure Jerry: Theatre 1839, San Francisco, July 29 &amp; 30, 1977 | Introduction
Thirty-seven of those shows were with the Jerry Garcia Band, whose tight formation was intact since 1984... By the time November 23rd rolled around, the Garcia Band had been on a hot tour... While much of Garcia Band's repertoire was covers, they were always heartfelt soulful arrangements. That night in Milwaukee, which was certainly Deadhead country, the band performed four originals penned by Robert Hunter."
Garcia Live Volume Eight | Critical reception
Garcia stole his mother's car in 1960, and as punishment he was forced to join the United States Army. He received basic training at Fort Ord. After training, he was transferred to Fort Winfield Scott in the Presidio of San Francisco. Garcia spent most of his time in the army at his leisure, missing roll call and accruing many counts of being AWOL. As a result, Garcia was given a general discharge on December 14, 1960. In January 1961, Garcia drove down to East Palo Alto to see Laird Grant, an old friend from middle school. He had bought a 1950 Cadillac sedan from a cook in the army, which barely made it to Grant's residence before it broke down.
Jerry Garcia | Relocation and band beginnings
Jerry Garcia Band Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band Additional musicians Production
Pure Jerry: Lunt-Fontanne, New York City, The Best of the Rest, October 15–30, 1987 | Personnel
On Broadway: Act One – October 28th, 1987 is a three-CD live album by the Jerry Garcia Band and the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band, two music groups led by Grateful Dead guitarist and singer Jerry Garcia. It contains three complete sets of music, recorded at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York City on October 28, 1987. It was released by ATO Records on June 23, 2015. In October 1987 the two Garcia bands played a series of 18 concerts at the Lunt-Fontanne in New York's Broadway theatre district. Each of these shows featured one set of the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band playing folk and bluegrass songs and one set of the Jerry Garcia Band playing rock and R&B.
On Broadway: Act One – October 28th, 1987 | Introduction
Jerry Garcia Band is the second album, and first live album, by the Jerry Garcia Band. It was recorded in the spring and summer of 1990 at The Warfield in San Francisco. It was released by Arista Records as a two-disc CD in August 1991.
Jerry Garcia Band (album) | Introduction
Garcia stated in a 1966 interview, "We don't make up our sets beforehand. We'd rather work off the tops of our heads than off a piece of paper." They maintained this approach throughout their career. For each performance, the band drew material from an active list of a hundred or so songs.
Grateful Dead | Musical style
In September 1989 the Jerry Garcia Band played a 12-concert tour of the Northeast and Midwest. "Garcia Live Volume 13" is a recording of the last show of this tour. At five of the concerts, including this one, Clarence Clemons sat in on tenor saxophone. The opening act at all the shows was Bob Weir and Rob Wasserman.
Garcia Live Volume 13 | September 1989 tour
As with the Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia regularly covered many songs by Bob Dylan with the group, including "Tangled Up in Blue," "Simple Twist of Fate," "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," "Forever Young," "Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)," "Tears of Rage," "Tough Mama" and "When I Paint My Masterpiece."
Jerry Garcia Band | History
The band formed in 1966, with the members coming from Westminster, California, and Tustin, California (both in Orange County). Jim Quarles came up with the name "because it had a mystical and otherworldly ring", and the father of one of the band members (Jim Foster) served as their manager. The two then began writing songs for the new band: "I didn't know what I was doing at the time. I just wrote the songs with Jim Foster. I didn't have any prior experience." The band would start performing in local venues and school dances to create a more cohesive unit.
The Human Expression | History
Garcia Live Volume Four is a two-CD live album by the Jerry Garcia Band. It contains the complete concert recorded at Veteran's Hall in Sebastopol, California on March 22, 1978. It was released by ATO Records on July 8, 2014. At the time of this recording, the members of the Jerry Garcia Band were Jerry Garcia on guitar and vocals, Keith Godchaux on keyboards, Donna Jean Godchaux and Maria Muldaur on vocals, John Kahn on bass, and Buzz Buchanan on drums. Keyboardist Ozzie Ahlers, who would later join the band full-time, makes a guest appearance at the Veteran's Hall show.
Garcia Live Volume Four | Introduction
It debuted at number 65 on the U.S. "Billboard" 200 Albums Chart.
Searching for Jerry Garcia | Commercial performance
However, the group eschewed the former band's avant-garde and world music influences in favor of a slower, groove-based "bar band" approach strongly oriented toward rhythm and blues (the band often featured female backing vocalists characteristic of the genre), gospel music and reggae. Rock versions of contemporary Americana were also prominent. The relatively languorous tempos were dictated by Garcia and Kahn, much to the chagrin of longtime drummer David Kemper: "[I]t bothered me from the very beginning. I’d say, ‘You know we need some uptempo material, it’s just putting me to sleep; the band is putting me to sleep.’ At first I’d say these things, and then I just decided to go with it.
Jerry Garcia Band | History
During Garcia's "pedal steel flirtation period" (as Bob Weir referred to it in "Anthem to Beauty"), from approximately 1969 to 1972, he initially played a Fender instrument before upgrading to the ZB Custom D-10, especially in his earlier public performances. Although this was a double neck guitar, Garcia used the "E9 neck and the three pedals to raise the tone and two levers to lower it." Additionally, he was playing an Emmons D-10 at the time of the Grateful Dead's and New Riders of the Purple Sage's final appearances at the Fillmore East.
Jerry Garcia | Musical equipment
The Jerry Garcia Band was Jerry Garcia's main side project from 1975 to 1995. The band played rock music that emphasized musical improvisation, in a style somewhat similar to that of the Grateful Dead, and also played many rhythm and blues songs. The lineup of the band changed many times, especially in the early years. The only constant member was John Kahn on bass. The Garcia Band member with the second-longest tenure, from 1980 to 1995, was keyboardist Melvin Seals. After Garcia died, Seals formed a band called JGB, dedicated to performing Garcia's music. Donna Jean Godchaux, who was in the Jerry Garcia Band from 1976 to 1978, later reflected, "It was very different from the Grateful Dead in that everything was so scaled back to where we could play theaters instead of hockey rinks.
Jerry Garcia discography | Jerry Garcia Band
On Allmusic, Lindsay Planer wrote, "... let the music speak for itself as "Live at Keystone" is chocked with inspired covers, each respectively extended and collectively improvised by co-instrumental leads Jerry Garcia (guitar/vocals) and Merl Saunders (organ) with Bill Vitt (drums) and John Kahn (bass). This was an ad-hoc configuration, as opposed to the organized touring unit that Garcia developed as the Jerry Garcia Band. From December of 1970 until the spring of 1974 — prior to the combo evolving into the Legion of Mary — the guitarist could often be found performing sporadically in and around San Francisco between engagements with the Grateful Dead.
Live at Keystone | Critical reception
Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band Jerry Garcia Band Production
On Broadway: Act One – October 28th, 1987 | Personnel
In the early 1960s, after getting out of the Army, Jerry Garcia started playing folk and old-time music. Garcia would sing and play acoustic guitar as a member of various ensembles. Over the next few years, he also become interested in bluegrass music, and learned to play the banjo. During this time he was a member of a number of different bands, including the Sleepy Hollow Hog Stompers, the Hart Valley Drifters, the Wildwood Boys, and the Black Mountain Boys. Subsequently he co-founded a jug band called Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions. The jug band was a precursor of the Grateful Dead, as its members also included Bob Weir and Ron "Pigpen" McKernan.
Jerry Garcia discography | Pre-Grateful Dead bands
Following are the lineups for the Jerry Garcia Band's live performances.
Jerry Garcia Band | Personnel
Jerry Garcia Band Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band Production
Pure Jerry: Lunt-Fontanne, New York City, October 31, 1987 | Personnel
Garcia Live Volume Five is a two-CD live album by the Jerry Garcia Band. It contains the complete concert recorded at the Keystone in Berkeley, California on December 31, 1975. It was released by ATO Records on October 21, 2014. The lineup of the Jerry Garcia Band for this concert was Jerry Garcia on guitar and vocals, Nicky Hopkins on keyboards, John Kahn on bass, and Greg Errico on drums. The show also featured performances by guest musicians Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, and Matthew Kelly.
Garcia Live Volume Five | Introduction
The Jerry Garcia Amphitheater is an outdoor concert venue located in McLaren Park in San Francisco, California. The amphitheater's maximum capacity is 3,200 people. It is named after Grateful Dead band member Jerry Garcia, who once lived in the nearby Excelsior District neighborhood. It is the site of the annual Jerry Day event, at which various musical groups perform.
Jerry Garcia Amphitheatre | Introduction
Each show began with an hour-long acoustic set that dug deep into the songbook of America, and it ended with a blast of equally eclectic electric material. Taken in total, these concerts offered a sterling overview of Garcia’s disparate interests and featured some of the finest moments of his solo career... the sound quality is noticeably less than perfect, and although the deficiency quietly settles into the background, it never manages to disappear completely." On The Best Of Website, Barry Small said, "The acoustic band on this tour was a one time line-up and they surely are enjoyable. Though, they were very similar in personnel to the 1964 band the Black Mountain Boys that featured Garcia (banjo), Rothman (guitar), and Nelson (mandolin)...
Pure Jerry: Lunt-Fontanne, New York City, The Best of the Rest, October 15–30, 1987 | Critical reception
It takes a master to stand on a stage with just an acoustic guitar and a bass backup and be able to carry a show, enthralling an audience as only the charismatic Garcia could without ever saying a word to the crowd." On All About Jazz, Doug Collette said, "Capturing two instruments and a single voice (Kahn doesn't sing at all) presents no great technical challenges, sonically speaking, but the recording of this February 1986 show, overseen by engineer John Cutler, not only catches the timbre of the instruments but the intimacy of the performance in the two thousand seat venue.
Pure Jerry: Marin Veterans Memorial Auditorium, San Rafael, California, February 28, 1986 | Critical reception
Almost Acoustic is a live album by the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band. Held in high esteem by fans for superb sound quality and fine musical selection, it contains songs that were recorded from late November to early December of 1987 at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco and the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles. It was released on December 6, 1988. The Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band was a short-lived musical ensemble that played folk and bluegrass music, using acoustic instruments. The members of the band were Jerry Garcia on guitar and vocals, David Nelson on guitar and vocals, Sandy Rothman on mandolin, dobro, and vocals, John Kahn on double bass, Kenny Kosek on fiddle, and, on some songs, David Kemper on snare drum.
Almost Acoustic | Introduction
Over the years, the lineup of the Jerry Garcia Band changed many times. The one constant member besides Garcia himself was bassist John Kahn, who served as Garcia's principal musical collaborator outside of the Grateful Dead after 1970. Melvin Seals had the next longest tenure, serving as keyboardist from 1980 onward. Jerry Garcia's musical interests were famously varied, and this was reflected in the diverse music played by his band. Like the Grateful Dead, the Jerry Garcia Band played rock music that was influenced by blues, folk, country, and jazz in an improvisatory milieu that largely served as a framework for Garcia's solos.
Jerry Garcia Band | History
It was very enjoyable on that level because these places were built for music to be played in. It was just a really unique situation to be as popular as Jerry Garcia was and still be able to be in a band that could do what we did in a smaller setting than the Grateful Dead. It was kind of like a home away from home for Jerry, in that he got this different expression of what he was feeling musically than the Grateful Dead."
Jerry Garcia discography | Jerry Garcia Band
Garcia Live Volume 10 is a two-CD live album by the Jerry Garcia Band. It contains the complete concert recorded on May 20, 1990 at the Hilo Civic Auditorium in Hilo, Hawaii. It was released on February 23, 2018. From February 1986 to November 1993, the lineup of the Jerry Garcia Band was Jerry Garcia (guitar, lead vocals), Melvin Seals (keyboards), John Kahn (bass), David Kemper (drums), Jaclyn LaBranch (backing vocals), and Gloria Jones (backing vocals).
Garcia Live Volume 10 | Introduction
Garcia Live Volume Two is an album by the Jerry Garcia Band. It was recorded live on August 5, 1990, at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California. It was released by ATO Records on June 25, 2013, in two formats — as a two-disc CD, and as a digital download. The lineup of the Jerry Garcia Band for this concert — and for most of the band's shows from 1985 to 1995 — was Jerry Garcia on guitar and vocals, Melvin Seals on keyboards, John Kahn on bass, David Kemper on drums, and Jaclyn LaBranch and Gloria Jones on background vocals.
Garcia Live Volume Two | Introduction
Everyone involved in the Jerry Garcia Band lineup, including its prestigious leader, sounds deeply immersed in the group camaraderie which, in turn, enhances the live experience for the audience and the performer... The sources of the "Pure Jerry" archival series aren't always so pristine in audio quality as this one (the stellar likes of which Joe Gastwirt mastered), or the level of competence and enthusiasm in the musicianship so high, but this set accurately reflects the time in which it was recorded and the level of care it was afforded in preparation for release."
Pure Jerry: Bay Area 1978 | Critical reception
The song is included in "Rock Band 3".
Jerry Was a Race Car Driver | History
Jerry Garcia was an American musician. A guitarist, singer, and songwriter, he became famous as a member of the rock band the Grateful Dead, from 1965 to 1995. When not touring or recording with the Dead, Garcia was often playing music in other bands and with other musicians. From 1971 to 1975, Garcia's main musical collaborator outside the Grateful Dead was keyboardist Merl Saunders. From 1975 to 1995, Garcia's principal side project was the Jerry Garcia Band. The one constant member of the Jerry Garcia Band, as well as the various Saunders–Garcia lineups, was John Kahn on bass. The Garcia Band member with the second-longest tenure, from 1980 to 1995, was keyboardist Melvin Seals.
Jerry Garcia discography | Introduction
Garcia Live Volume One is an album by the Jerry Garcia Band. It contains the complete early show and late show performed on March 1, 1980, at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey. It was released on February 19, 2013, by ATO Records, in two formats — as a three-disc CD, and as a digital download. The album is the first of a series of archival concert releases called "Garcia Live". At the time of the Capitol Theatre concerts, the members of the Jerry Garcia Band were Jerry Garcia on guitar and vocals, Ozzie Ahlers on keyboards and vocals, John Kahn on bass, and Johnny de Foncesca on drums.
Garcia Live Volume One | Introduction
Ragged but Right is the second live album by the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band. It was recorded in October and December 1987 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York City, the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles, and the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco. It was released on November 16, 2010, twenty-two years after the band's first album, "Almost Acoustic". The Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band existed from the summer of 1987 to the summer of 1988, and played fewer than 30 concerts. Led by Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, the band included three members of the 1964 bluegrass band the Black Mountain Boys — Garcia on guitar and vocals, David Nelson of the New Riders of the Purple Sage on guitar and vocals, and Sandy Rothman on mandolin, dobro, banjo, and vocals — plus long-time Garcia collaborator John Kahn on acoustic bass, Kenny Kosek on fiddle, and David Kemper on snare drum.
Ragged but Right (album) | Introduction
In 1965, after a dalliance with jug band music, Garcia co-founded the rock band the Grateful Dead. "Before the Dead" includes performances by several musicians who also collaborated with Garcia in later years. Robert Hunter wrote the lyrics for many Grateful Dead songs; David Nelson was a member of the New Riders of the Purple Sage; and Nelson and Sandy Rothman were members of the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band.
Before the Dead | Recording
Don't Let Go is the third live album, and fourth album overall, by the Jerry Garcia Band. It was recorded on May 21, 1976 at the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco, with a bonus track recorded on September 11, 1976 at the Keystone in Berkeley. It was released on January 23, 2001. From January 1976 to August 1977, the lineup of the Jerry Garcia Band was the one featured on this recording – Jerry Garcia on guitar and vocals, Keith Godchaux on keyboards, Donna Jean Godchaux on vocals, John Kahn on bass, and Ron Tutt on drums. Two other albums recorded by this lineup are "" and "Garcia Live Volume Seven".
Don't Let Go (Jerry Garcia Band album) | Introduction
The Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band (JGAB) was a band formed by Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. They played a number of concerts in 1987 and 1988, and subsequently released two live albums.
Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band | Introduction
Inspired by American folk music, rock and roll, and blues, Garcia formed the Grateful Dead (initially known as The Warlocks) with blues singer Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, while Nelson joined the similarly inclined New Delhi River Band (which would eventually come to include bassist Dave Torbert) shortly thereafter. Although they lacked the managerial acumen and cultural cachet of the Grateful Dead and elected to remain in East Palo Alto, California unlike the former group, which soon relocated to the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, the New Delhi River Band were considered by late 1966 to be the house band of The Barn (one of the region's few viable concert venues outside of San Francisco) in Scotts Valley, California.
New Riders of the Purple Sage | Origins: early 1960s – 1969
Weir's ability to solve that sort of problem is extraordinary. [...] Harmonically, I take a lot of my solo cues from Bob." When asked to describe his approach to soloing, Garcia commented: "It keeps on changing. I still basically revolve around the melody and the way it's broken up into phrases as I perceive them. With most solos, I tend to play something that phrases the way the melody does; my phrases may be more dense or have different value, but they'll occur in the same places in the song. [...]" Garcia and the band toured almost constantly from their formation in 1965 until Garcia's death in 1995.
Jerry Garcia | Career with the Grateful Dead
The Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band, on the other hand, only existed from the summer of 1987 to the summer of 1988. They played folk, bluegrass, and Americana songs. In the second half of October 1987, the two bands played a series of concerts at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in Midtown Manhattan. At each show, the acoustic band would play a first set of music, and the electric band would play a second set. The second and third entries in the "Pure Jerry" series of live albums, released simultaneously in November 2004, document these concerts. "" contains all of the final two concerts of the run — the early show and the late show performed on Halloween.
Pure Jerry: Lunt-Fontanne, New York City, The Best of the Rest, October 15–30, 1987 | Introduction
the Jerry Garcia Band largely delivered a sturdy pair of sets. Despite the replacement of drummer Ron Tutt with relatively unknown percussionist Buzz Buchanan, the rhythm section was remarkably tight... Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of "Pure Jerry: Warner Theatre, March 18, 1978", however, is the manner in which it thoroughly highlights Garcia's relationship with pianist Keith Godchaux. Indeed, within the open terrain of the Jerry Garcia Band's sonic structure, the duo had an abundance of opportunity to interact, and in employing the intuition of musicians who were extraordinarily fluent in jazz, they frequently spurred one another into carrying the music to new heights." On The Best Of Website, Barry Small said, "Much of ["Cats Under the Stars"] is vocal oriented and some songs are light on the guitar.
Pure Jerry: Warner Theatre, March 18, 1978 | Critical reception
Garcia was influenced by music at an early age, taking piano lessons for much of his childhood. His father was a retired professional musician and his mother enjoyed playing the piano. His father's extended family—which had emigrated from Spain in 1919—would often sing during reunions. In 1946 two-thirds of four year-old Garcia's right middle finger was cut off by his brother in a wood splitting accident while the family was vacationing in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Garcia later confessed that he often used it to his advantage in his youth, showing it off to other children in his neighborhood.
Jerry Garcia | Early life
Motown, soul, rhythm and blues, gospel, jazz, disco; basically anything that Garcia felt more confident developing away from the instrumentation of his other band. With his own band, Jerry felt free taking his favorite tunes to elaborately explore, lengthen, and jam."
Garcia Live Volume Seven | Critical reception
Disc 1 – Jerry Garcia Band Disc 2 – Jerry Garcia Band Disc 3 – Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band
Pure Jerry: Lunt-Fontanne, New York City, The Best of the Rest, October 15–30, 1987 | Track listing
By 1974, lead guitarist Jerry Garcia wanted to stop touring and take a break from performing with the Grateful Dead. Before beginning a hiatus of uncertain length, a five-show farewell run was set for October 16-20, 1974 at Winterland in San Francisco. An idea developed to film the shows and then send the movie out on tour as a substitute. (The Band would film their farewell concert at the same venue two years later.) Manager Ron Rakow also sold the idea for a soundtrack album to United Artists Records. At the beginning of the second set of the final show on October 20, 1974, Mickey Hart joined the band on stage as a second drummer.
The Grateful Dead Movie | The concerts
And as an improvisational soloist, John Coltrane was one of his greatest personal and musical influences.
Jerry Garcia | Career with the Grateful Dead
Garcia Live Volume 13 is a two-CD live album by the Jerry Garcia Band. It was recorded on September 16, 1989 at Poplar Creek Music Theatre in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. It was released on April 24, 2020. At this concert Clarence Clemons of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band played saxophone for the entire show.
Garcia Live Volume 13 | Introduction
Two other albums recorded by this same lineup are "" and "Garcia Live Volume Four".
Pure Jerry: Bay Area 1978 | Introduction
Garcia served as lead guitarist, as well as one of the principal vocalists and songwriters of the Grateful Dead for its entire career. Garcia composed such songs as "Dark Star", "Franklin's Tower", and "Scarlet Begonias", among many others. Robert Hunter, an ardent collaborator with the band, wrote the lyrics to all but a few of Garcia's songs. Garcia was well-noted for his "soulful extended guitar improvisations", which would frequently feature interplay between him and his fellow band members. His fame, as well as the band's, arguably rested on their ability to never play a song the same way twice. Often, Garcia would take cues from rhythm guitarist Bob Weir, remarking that "there are some [...] kinds of ideas that would really throw me if I had to create a harmonic bridge between all the things going on rhythmically with two drums and Phil [Lesh's] innovative bass playing.
Jerry Garcia | Career with the Grateful Dead
On Allmusic, Fred Thomas wrote, "Recorded in 1980 at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey, the extensive set list includes only a few Garcia/Dead staples ('Deal', 'Sugaree'), but branches out into more eclectic territory with massively jammed-out versions of covers ranging from the Beatles to Jimmy Cliff. Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter joins the band for an encore including 'Tiger Rose' and 'Promontory Rider'."
Garcia Live Volume One | Critical reception
JamBase wrote, "While it is not strictly speaking a complete show, "The Jerry Garcia Collection, Vol 2" is sequenced to approximate a two-set club gig, highlighting performances recorded November 17 and 18, 1975, during a pair of intimate gigs at Keystone Berkeley in front of a hometown crowd. The shows demonstrate that this lineup was capable of collective improvisation on the same level as the Grateful Dead, says David Gans, host of "The Grateful Dead Hour". 'Everybody could play melody or rhythm, or both, at any time, flying in and out of formation and always in intimate relation to what the others were playing,' he writes in the collection's liner notes."
Let It Rock: The Jerry Garcia Collection, Vol. 2 | Critical reception
In the early 1990s, the Grateful Dead had been working on new songs. When Jerry Garcia died in 1995, the band decided to break up and this album was never finished. Work on the unfinished album began in February 1992 in West Marin County in California, at a studio the band called "the Site", which was located on a hill with scenic views and occasional views of wildlife. At the time, Jerry Garcia was not particularly interested or focused upon the project, which discouraged its impetus. The studio session work did not have any lead vocals from songs that Garcia performed lead vocals on, and Garcia's guitar work on the tracks was described as "rudimentary." The tracks for the new album were incomplete.
Unfinished Grateful Dead album | Overview
Garcia Live Volume 12 is a three-CD live album by Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders. It was recorded on January 23, 1973 at the Boarding House in San Francisco. It was released on December 20, 2019. At this concert, Jerry Garcia (electric guitar, vocals) and Merl Saunders (keyboards, vocals) were accompanied by their usual rhythm section of John Kahn (bass guitar) and Bill Vitt (drums). They were joined by vocalist Sarah Fulcher, who often sang with the band in the early part of 1973.
Garcia Live Volume 12 | Introduction
Pure Jerry: Warner Theatre, March 18, 1978 is a two-CD live album by the Jerry Garcia Band. It contains two complete concerts — the early and late shows performed on March 18, 1978, at the Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C. The sixth in the "Pure Jerry" series of archival concert albums, it was released on August 9, 2005. From November 1977 to November 1978, the lineup of the Jerry Garcia Band was the one featured on this recording — Jerry Garcia on guitar and vocals, Keith Godchaux on keyboards and vocals, Donna Jean Godchaux and Maria Muldaur on vocals, John Kahn on bass, and Buzz Buchanan on drums.
Pure Jerry: Warner Theatre, March 18, 1978 | Introduction
The Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band played folk and old-time music. They were together for about a year, from 1987 to 1988. They performed several dozen concerts, usually as the opening act for the Jerry Garcia Band. The JGAB included two musicians who had played with Garcia in 1964 in a bluegrass band called the Black Mountain Boys – Sandy Rothman and David Nelson.
Jerry Garcia discography | Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band
Let It Rock: The Jerry Garcia Collection, Vol. 2 is an album by the Jerry Garcia Band. It was recorded live at the Keystone in Berkeley, California, on November 17 and 18, 1975. It was released by Rhino Records as a two-disc CD on November 10, 2009. From 1975 to 1995, the Jerry Garcia Band was the main musical side project of Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. The band underwent many personnel changes over the years. "Let It Rock" features the original lineup of the Jerry Garcia Band, which lasted from August through December 1975 — Garcia on guitar and vocals, Nicky Hopkins on piano, John Kahn on bass, and Ron Tutt on drums.
Let It Rock: The Jerry Garcia Collection, Vol. 2 | Introduction
On Allmusic, William Ruhlmann wrote, "... the Jerry Garcia Band (JGB) achieved its highest level of exposure in 1991. That August, Arista Records released the double live album "Jerry Garcia Band", Garcia's first major label "solo" album in nine years. The JGB was a solo act in the sense that Garcia dominated it, but its musicians, organist Melvin Seals, bass player John Kahn, and drummer David Kemper, had been with him regularly for years, as had backup singers Gloria Jones and Jackie LaBranch. Within days of the concert commemorating the recently deceased Bill Graham at which he had played with the Dead, Garcia and the JGB embarked on a month-long tour of the East Coast and the Midwest in November...
Pure Jerry: Coliseum, Hampton, VA, November 9, 1991 | Critical reception
Jerry Adler was born and raised in New York City, and while young he idolized baseball player Graig Nettles. He first started to play guitar using his father's 1949 Gibson LG-1, which he still uses to write songs. At age nine started his first band called The Bed Bugs. He started writing as early as 1993, and took part in the New York group The 527S. Musicians he cited as influences have been Joe Strummer, John Lennon, and Bob Marley, with The Beatles being a particularly strong influence. For lyrics, he has cited poets such as Walt Whitman as inspiration.
Jerry Adler (rock musician) | Early life
In 1961 they were performing in nightclubs in New York City and by the following year were considered a "national phenomenon", said the "New York Times".
Jerry Stiller | Early life
On Allmusic, Lindsay Planer said, "The quartet is led by Jerry Garcia and features longtime Garcia associate John Kahn (bass), Melvin Seals (keyboards), David Kemper (drums), Gloria Jones (vocals), and Jackie LaBranch (vocals). The selections accurately image the wide spectrum of pop, R&B, rock and soul covers Garcia and company played circa the late '80s and early '90s... Garcia's rush upon rush of incendiary fretwork equals the verve in practically any Grateful Dead rendering during the early '90s. However, the primary focus is divided between the superior choice of material and equally adroit execution... The initiated and initially curious alike will find much to enjoy and discover throughout "Jerry Garcia Band"."
Jerry Garcia Band (album) | Critical reception
Pure Jerry: Bay Area 1978 is a two-CD live album by the Jerry Garcia Band. It contains selections from four concerts performed in the San Francisco Bay Area in February and June 1978. The ninth and last entry in the "Pure Jerry" series of archival concert albums, it was released on August 31, 2009. From November 1977 to November 1978, the lineup of the Jerry Garcia Band was the one featured on this recording — Jerry Garcia on guitar and vocals, Keith Godchaux on piano and vocals, Donna Jean Godchaux and Maria Muldaur on vocals, John Kahn on bass, and Buzz Buchanan on drums.
Pure Jerry: Bay Area 1978 | Introduction
This album has two CDs of music played by the electric Jerry Garcia Band and two CDs by the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band. "", includes selections from the entire run of concerts. It has two CDs by the Jerry Garcia Band and one CD by the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band.
Pure Jerry: Lunt-Fontanne, New York City, October 31, 1987 | Introduction
Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for being a principal songwriter, the lead guitarist and a vocalist with the rock band the Grateful Dead, of which he was a founding member and which came to prominence during the counterculture of the 1960s. Although he disavowed the role, Garcia was viewed by many as the leader or "spokesman" of the group. As one of its founders, Garcia performed with the Grateful Dead for their entire 30-year career (1965–1995). Garcia also founded and participated in a variety of side projects, including the Saunders–Garcia Band (with longtime friend Merl Saunders), the Jerry Garcia Band, Old & In the Way, the Garcia/Grisman acoustic duo, Legion of Mary, and New Riders of the Purple Sage (which Garcia co-founded with John Dawson and David Nelson).
Jerry Garcia | Introduction
In an interview with "Rolling Stone", Garcia noted that "my own preferences are for improvisation, for making it up as I go along. The idea of "picking", of eliminating possibilities by deciding, that's difficult for me".
Jerry Garcia | Introduction
They chose "Raunchy" by Bill Justis.
Jerry Garcia | Cazadero
Lead guitarist Jerry Garcia was often viewed both by the public and the media as the leader or primary spokesperson for the Grateful Dead, but was reluctant to be perceived that way, especially since he and the other group members saw themselves as equal participants and contributors to their collective musical and creative output. Garcia, a native of San Francisco, grew up in the Excelsior District. One of his main influences was bluegrass music, and he also performed—on banjo, one of his other great instrumental loves, along with the pedal steel guitar—in bluegrass bands, notably Old & In the Way with mandolinist David Grisman.
Grateful Dead | Members
Garcia's ancestors on his father's side were from Galicia in northwest Spain. His mother's ancestors were Irish and Swedish. He was born in the Excelsior District of San Francisco, California, on August 1, 1942, to Jose Ramon "Joe" Garcia and Ruth Marie "Bobbie" (née Clifford) Garcia, who was herself born in San Francisco. His parents named him after composer Jerome Kern. Jerome John was their second child, preceded by Clifford Ramon "Tiff", who was born in 1937. Shortly before Clifford's birth, their father and a partner leased a building in downtown San Francisco and turned it into a bar, partly in response to Jose being blackballed from a musicians' union for moonlighting.
Jerry Garcia | Early life
A statement on the back cover of the album says, "This package contains CDs compiled from two-track, soundboard tapes that are not to be mistaken for or confused with fully produced studio masters. For as much as any other purpose, these recordings are offered to honor the electrifying spiritual, social and historical aspects of the Jerry Garcia Band's concert of November 9, 1991. Enjoy this marvelous music with our assurance that every step has been taken to present it in a way that faithfully celebrates its original performance."
Pure Jerry: Coliseum, Hampton, VA, November 9, 1991 | Recording
Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir (each of whom had been immersed in the American folk music revival of the late 1950s and early 1960s), were open-minded to electric guitars. The Grateful Dead's early music (in the mid-1960s) was part of the process of establishing what "psychedelic music" was, but theirs was essentially a "street party" form of it. They developed their "psychedelic" playing as a result of meeting Ken Kesey in Palo Alto, California, and subsequently becoming the house band for the Acid Tests he staged. They did not fit their music to an established category such as pop rock, blues, folk rock, or country & western.
Grateful Dead | Musical style
By the end of 1974, Jerry was done being that kind of hero. He was ready for a change of scene. He needed a break from it. I honored his decision and the rest of us did, too." Although the hiatus was short-lived (the band began recording a new album just months later), a five-date "farewell" run was scheduled for October 16-20, 1974 in San Francisco. In addition to recording the concerts on two 16-track machines, the shows were filmed for a movie release.
Steal Your Face | Concerts and recording
He organized, conducted and composed the library for the 12 piece symphonic Jazz/Fusion group "Spectrum" for 10 years, from 1971 to 1981, performing concerts in the Los Angeles area. A review in "Variety" called it, ""exciting, moody and pulsating, laced with dramatic images."" Pete Carpenter heard the group and enlisted him to begin composing as part of a team consisting of him, Grant and fellow TV and film score composer Mike Post, which lasted for another nine years.
Jerry Grant (composer) | Early life
Kahn's piece was a more thorough description, more definitive, and after it was reprinted by other publications, it served to popularize the term to a greater degree. After accepting the offer of a free concert ticket to see the Grateful Dead at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Kahn reviewed their July 1984 concert, writing in the "East Bay Express" how she pictured Jerry Garcia as the "hippie abominable snowman". Garcia liked her review and asked Kahn to come to his house in San Rafael to interview him, at the same time refusing an interview request from the "Today" show. Kahn arrived to find Garcia very high on some substance (a condition she easily recognized from her nurse training) and she thought he would be a terrible interview subject.
Alice Kahn | Writing
Garcia Live Volume Seven is a two-disc live album by the Jerry Garcia Band. It was recorded at Sophie's in Palo Alto, California on November 8, 1976. It was released on August 19, 2016. From January 1976 to August 1977 the members of the Jerry Garcia Band were Jerry Garcia on guitar and vocals, Keith Godchaux on keyboards, Donna Jean Godchaux on vocals, John Kahn on bass, and Ron Tutt on drums.
Garcia Live Volume Seven | Introduction
Garcia Live Volume Six is a three-CD live album by Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders. It was recorded on July 5, 1973 at the Lion's Share in San Anselmo, California. It was released on June 24, 2016. From February 1971 to July 1975, Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders played many live shows together when the Grateful Dead were not on tour. Their band's lineup for the Lion's Share concert was Garcia on guitar and vocals, Saunders on keyboards and vocals, John Kahn on bass, and Bill Vitt on drums. A few days later, the band played two shows at the Keystone in Berkeley, California that are documented in the albums "Live at Keystone", "Keystone Encores", and "".
Garcia Live Volume Six | Introduction
By contrast, the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band only existed from the summer of 1987 to the summer of 1988. In the second half of October 1987, the two bands played a series of concerts at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in Midtown Manhattan. At each show, the acoustic band would play a set of music, and the electric band would play a second set. The second and third entries in the "Pure Jerry" series of live albums, released simultaneously in November 2004, document these concerts. "Pure Jerry: Lunt-Fontanne, New York City, October 31, 1987" contains all of the final two concerts of the run — the early show and the late show performed on Halloween.
Pure Jerry: Lunt-Fontanne, New York City, October 31, 1987 | Introduction
Pure Jerry: Lunt-Fontanne, New York City, October 31, 1987 is a four-CD live album by Jerry Garcia. It features performances by both the Jerry Garcia Band and the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band. It contains two complete concerts, both recorded at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York City on October 31, 1987. The second in the "Pure Jerry" series of archival concert albums, it was released in November 2004. The Jerry Garcia Band was Jerry Garcia's main side project from 1975 to 1995 when he was not on tour with the Grateful Dead. The group had an evolving lineup that included Melvin Seals on keyboards starting in late 1980, and John Kahn on bass for the band's entire existence.
Pure Jerry: Lunt-Fontanne, New York City, October 31, 1987 | Introduction
On Allmusic, Lindsay Planer wrote, "Within this context, Garcia's predilection and underrated jazz leanings are given plenty of room for some stretched-out exploratory excursions... For the inclined, 2004's "Pure Jerry: Keystone Berkeley, September 1, 1974" is a no-brainer, while the faithful might liken it unto aural manna for the masses. Curious parties won't leave disappointed, either." In "The Music Box", John Metzger wrote, "Granted, the set lists employed by any of the Garcia-Saunders projects didn't vary tremendously from one show to the next, and each was peppered with an organic blend of Bob Dylan-penned, Motown-germinated, jazz, blues, funk, reggae, and rock selections...
Pure Jerry: Keystone Berkeley, September 1, 1974 | Critical reception
Pure Jerry: Coliseum, Hampton, VA, November 9, 1991 is a two-CD live album by the Jerry Garcia Band. It contains the complete show recorded on November 9, 1991, at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia. The seventh in the "Pure Jerry" series of archival concert albums, it was released on August 1, 2006. For this concert, the regular lineup of the Jerry Garcia Band was augmented by Bruce Hornsby, who sat in on electric piano for the entire show.
Pure Jerry: Coliseum, Hampton, VA, November 9, 1991 | Introduction
He played on over 50 studio albums, the styles of which were eclectic and varied, including bluegrass, rock, folk, blues, country, jazz, electronic music, gospel, funk, and reggae. Artists who sought Garcia's help included the likes of Jefferson Airplane (most notably "Surrealistic Pillow", Garcia being listed as their "spiritual advisor"). Garcia himself recalled in a mid-1967 interview that he'd played the high lead on "Today," played on "Plastic Fantastic Lover" and "Comin' Back to Me" on that album. Others include Tom Fogerty, David Bromberg, Robert Hunter ("Liberty", on Relix Records), Paul Pena, Peter Rowan, Warren Zevon, Country Joe McDonald, Pete Sears, Ken Nordine, Ornette Coleman, Bruce Hornsby, Bob Dylan, It's a Beautiful Day, and many more.
Jerry Garcia | Side projects
Joe Gastwirt's mastering preserves the natural camaraderie of the two musicians in all its quiet glory as well." On Allmusic, William Ruhlmann said, "It would be nice to be able to report that on what is the closest thing to a real solo album in Jerry Garcia's catalog, he took the opportunity to rethink and rearrange his music, but that's not the case here. Still, Garcia fans will welcome the unusually stripped down nature of the performance. It really is as close to 'pure Jerry' as they are likely to get."
Pure Jerry: Marin Veterans Memorial Auditorium, San Rafael, California, February 28, 1986 | Critical reception
Garcia Live Volume Nine is a two-CD live album by Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders. It was recorded on August 11, 1974 at the Keystone in Berkeley, California. It was released on July 28, 2017. The musical lineup for this concert was Garcia on guitar and vocals, Saunders on keyboards and vocals, Martin Fierro on saxophone and flute, John Kahn on bass, and Bill Kreutzmann on drums. A slightly later version of this band, with a different drummer, was called Legion of Mary.
Garcia Live Volume Nine | Introduction
Indeed, the first edition of "Pure Jerry" is a loose, inspired, fun-filled endeavor, and although it’s far from perfect, it also sounds just right, particularly whenever the collective takes flight on a mind-blowing journey across the heavens." On All About Jazz, Doug Collette said, "Not surprisingly, Jerry's band at this time included Keith and Donna Godchaux, who had been part of the Dead retinue since early in the decade; their presence is notable for the admirable restraint displayed by the latter, especially as she chimes in on lovable covers such as the Temptations' [sic] "I Second That Emotion"... while the sturdy accompaniment Keith supplies here lacks some of the clarity and contrast of interplay with Jerry's guitar work as captured with the Dead, that's in large measure due to a important change in tone on Garcia's part: the tone of his guitar solos, fills and rhythm work, particularly on reggae covers including "Stir It Up" and "The Harder They Come", is earthier and warmer, with much less of a psychedelic edge."
Pure Jerry: Theatre 1839, San Francisco, July 29 &amp; 30, 1977 | Critical reception