Dec 1977: a long way from home

12/11/77?  credit unknown

 

The 1976-78 JGB had two "jamming" tunes, Don't Let Go and Lonesome and a Long Way From Home, that were both introduced on the road in March 1976.  Despite periods of hibernation, Don't Let Go remains the standard JGB "jam tune" for most folks.  Of course I love the song and have plenty to say about it, but I can't pretend that the jams in many Don't Let Go's don't follow a really simple formula: everyone lays down a steady one-chord groove while Garcia solos for a very long time.  Lonesome had a much more limited shelf-life: the first half of 1976, periodically throughout Buchanan's tenure in fall 1977 and 1978 (notably, they stopped playing Don't Let Go midway through this lineup's lifespan), then two out-of-the-blue performances in 1981 and a handful of shorter set-closers in 1989.  But a few versions of Lonesome featured improvisations that took far more chances and went to a greater variety of places than the usual Don't Let Go.  Beginning with the last three shows of the Nov-Dec 1977 east coast tour, Lonesome became a launchpad for some very interesting and very extended improvisations that dwarf nearly every other extended jam Garcia played in 1977-78, yet seem to remain relatively unheralded.

One earlier extended version of Lonesome, and likely the most well-known of all of them, is the 22 minute performance from 4/3/76 (you know, the one that ends in a magical burst of energy and furious fanning like a hundred birds bursting into the air all at once).  As great as that one is (and trust me, it's great), it still follows the same form as many of the shorter ones: the song ends, the band eases into a I-VII vamp (think Fire On the Mountain), and Garcia slowly cooks it up over a tasty but still fairly repetitive groove held down by Keith Godchaux, John Kahn, and Ron Tutt.  The approach didn't change when Buzz Buchanan took over for Tutt in Nov 1977.  They played it throughout the first week of that tour, then set it aside for a few shows.  Who knows what the catalyst was, but something serious happened when they decided to bring it back.


12/9/77  SUNY Stony Brook
(there are a few aud masters; imho Kathy Sublette's is the best)

Less than a minute into the jam, Kahn seems like he's trying to stir things up, throwing around some big notes that cut against the groove.  Garcia & Godchaux both keep on grooving as usual, and Buzz Buchanan seems to be audibly deciding whether to stick with Garcia & Godchaux or to follow Kahn's lead.  Kahn wins out, the groove begins to fall apar,t and no one seems real invested in keeping it together.  by 6:40ish they've all surrendered to whatever is going to happen.  At 7:07 Kahn and Godchaux play a little bit in the "Spanish" tonality that JGMF detects, another signpost towards someplace new.  Garcia still occasionally circles back to playing figures from his usual Lonesome vamp; but by 8 minutes in, freedom has won out.  Everyone is listening and responding to each other, but this is following a logic that is changing moment by moment with no predetermined direction or groove.  I hear Buchanan trying to reestablish a groove around 10:45, but the winds keep blowing this way and that.  By 16 minutes, things appear to have coalesced into a single train of thought and Garcia soon reasserts a clear tonality and is heading back in the direction of the song.  The second half of this jam is basically a long swim back to the song: they sure do take their time and build up a good head of steam on the way.  Around 22 minutes, Garcia starts playing the "and a long way from home" melody, tying everything together.  The final few minutes take it down low and quiet, and they groove in this zone for a while; at 23:40 Garcia brings it back into the song itself, but enters a couple beats too early.  Everyone covers for the fumble and no harm done.  Folks, that was just a hair under 27 minutes: by far the longest extended improv/jam on a single tune that Garcia played all year, either with the JGB or that other band.  You'd think just for that reason alone, this would be more widely heralded as a big one, but so it goes in the hinterlands of the JGB.  Tell your friends!  The aud tapes reveal that some of the Long Islanders in attendance tonight were audibly unimpressed with the band's laid back approach to time, and there are a few shouts during this jam for them to get it together and get on with things, but thankfully no one onstage was fazed.  I find more and more to appreciate about this jam with every new listen.

12/10/77  Warner Theater, Washington, DC
(imho Gerry Moskal's aud tape is the best - no etree entry??)

A telling moment in this pleasant but imho not very interesting show is Kahn's solo feature in Russian Lullaby.  Say what you will about those bass solos, but the crowds usually cheered and hollered encouragement whenever Kahn went for it.  This particular solo, however, is five and a half minutes long, and Kahn bails on the chord changes after a couple go-rounds and wanders into the woods, with Buchanan right behind him.  It gets pretty spacey for Russian Lullaby!  Garcia's not interested and gets things back on track upon his return, although Kahn gets points for trying to nudge the boss off course a couple of times.  So it's not surprising that whatever mojo blessed last night's Lonesome jam is still plentiful tonight.  This one is a shorter trip at 19 minutes, but is a completely different excursion.  Godchaux was hanging with them every step of the way in last night's jam, exhibiting a side of his playing that rarely came out in his final years.  Tonight, though, he is nowhere to be found.  The jam begins with Garcia gently cruising through the usual 2-chord vamp, but when Kahn gets more assertive and suggests another course, Godchaux disappears and stays silent for almost the entire jam.  And to be honest, it doesn't sound like Kahn, Buchanan, or Garcia are missing him at all: the three of them are as locked in as they were the night before, but now with more space to try something that (onstage at least) they had never done before.  Donna Godchaux adds some wordless vocalization in a few spots.  In general, Kahn seems like the real driving force here; he really cranks it up and lets loose a couple volleys of buzzing, distorted notes, and more often than not it sounds to me like Garcia is following Kahn's lead, rather than vice versa.  The communication here is more like a jazz trio, inventive and intimate.  Like the night before, the latter portion of the jam is an extended swim back to the song itself, but is still just as compelling as the looser stuff that precedes it.  Around 13:50, Garcia starts playing arpeggios (much like in older Playin' or Dark Star jams when he was signaling a change in direction), then just after 15 minutes he starts playing a melodic figure that Kahn picks up and joins.  Around 16 minutes the pair lock into a descending scale that lands them precisely in the outro of the song.  Godchaux reappears immediately as they land back on solid ground.  Unlike last night's crowd, the audience tonight appears to be with them every step of the way; there's a nice touch at 9:12 when someone yells "beautiful!"


12/11/77 Penn State University
(a hissy sbd has been in circulation for a while; I listened to SirMICK's remaster)

This final show of the tour sounds, to my ears, a little punchier and a bit more inspired than the average.  Remarkably, for this third Lonesome jam in a row, they find yet another approach.  Godchaux sticks around for a little bit longer, but again vanishes as things get unusual.  Kahn isn't as assertive tonight, and Garcia seems to be the one who is taking the boat where he wants it to go.  They abandon the vamp for murkier waters, but this time the majority of the jam feels more like a Grateful Dead 'Space' ca. 1977-78 to me (particularly the May 77 varieties), with Garcia leading the charge and everyone following closely in his wake.  Around 10 minutes, Kahn and Buchanan kick into gear and start getting a bit pushier; Garcia returns the Lonesome vamp (prompting a brief cameo from Godchaux) but then playfully veers off again, as they pull in and out the groove.  They find their way back again, and Garcia drops a perfectly timed theme from Close Encounters into the ending as a little bow to tie everything up, then sails them back into the song.  Oh yes.  This is the shortest of the three at around 18:20.


I'd like to do a deep dive into the rest of the 1978 versions as well, but figured I would get the ball rolling with these three back-to-back jams that started it off.  Most of the Lonesome jams in 1978 keep this same freer, more conversational approach.  Stay tuned for more, hopefully.  But for now I encourage everyone to listen to these three in succession and marvel at what got into them at the end of (imho) a solid but not very adventurous tour -- and maybe give a little extra thanks to John Kahn for stepping out of bounds a bit and throwing a few elbows around.