1/30/91: rashers and sausages

 

courtesy Jerrybase.  Any bets where Jerry was on his night off?

1/30/91 at the Warfield has a really good Don't Let Go.  Not one for the all-timer list, but it's longer than usual (just under 21 minutes) and Garcia sounds like he's inspired and flying high: he soars over the usual main jam, then leans into the spacey second jam that lasts around 3 1/2 minutes.  But then, rather than bring it back to the Don't Let Go rhythm and final verse, he does something that as far as I know is unique to this lone version: at approx 17:15, Garcia starts firing off this brisk melodic theme that reminds me of an Irish jig (actually, as I learned, it's a double jig; see below).  Quickly, David Kemper picks up on what's happening and Melvin Seals lays down some rich chords below him, and they blast off on this unexpected digression for about a minute and a half.  Garcia takes a neat left turn out of this and gets them back into Don't Let Go without batting an eye.  Any Irish music fans care to weigh in on this one?

Thanks to this helpful primer, I now know that

To tell whether a tune you're listening to is a jig or a reel, let your foot tap along with the music at a natural pace, then see how many fast notes you count between each tap. If you can count to 3, it's a jig. If you can count to 4, it's a reel. [...] There are actually several different Irish rhythms which have the term "jig" in their name...when people say "jig," they generally mean a double jig. Double jigs have three notes per beat, and every other beat is a downbeat. Try saying "rashers and sausages" three times fast. That's a double jig rhythm.

(and after Don't Let Go ends, someone next to the taper says, "sounds like he was going into the Other One," which makes sense: the Other One's rhythm is also a 3-against-2 polyrhythm.  For a good time, try saying "rashers and sausages" along with the Other One beat and see what happens.)

So what the heck just happened?  I don't think Garcia is "teasing" any particular tune.  My hunch is that he's just playing in a style that came to mind, and Kemper and Seals were quick enough to hop on and let Garcia ride with it for a minute.  My first thought was that this might have been something he had been playing with David Grisman, but it doesn't match any specific tune that I know of.  They do something kind of similar on the bridge of Grateful Dawg, and Handsome Cabin Boy would have this same rhythmic feel if it was played twice as fast.  But my guess is they were just doodling around with some old Irish tunes during one of their sessions -- or, more likely, a rehearsal for their debut public performance, which would happen 72 hours later on the same stage.

Any ideas, folks?