a week in Jan 1979 (put on the snow tires)

There's been a lack of serious Dead listening 'round here lately, but this little project oddly pulled me out of a slump.  I am drawn to periods that are generally overlooked or underrated, both out of a desire to find some buried treasure and also, it must be said, out of a weirdly perverse attraction to the mundane.  The Jan-Feb 1979 tours have not gone down in the books as the band's best, and justifiably so.  And yet here I am, always on the lookout for an unearthed gold nugget.  You already know that this was the Godchauxs' final stand, and that several of these shows were makeups for Dec 1978 shows that were canceled because of Garcia's illness.  A week after their final blowout at Winterland, I am sure that none of them were too jazzed to be touring the northeast in January.  I was born in New Haven in January 1979 and have been told repeatedly by my family how horrible the snow was.  An online buddy Pig Street attended some of these shows and reports similar conditions.  Party on!

Spoiler: none of these shows are top-to-bottom great, but many of them have something worth hearing and revisiting.  Isn't finding those gems what it's all about?


1/5/79 - The Spectrum

The band's history at the Spectrum is notable, and this was their first two-night stand there, rescheduled from December and split over two weeks, presumably working around the hockey season.  It's a pretty run-of-the-mill show, captured on a solid if not amazing aud tape (all respect to the uncredited taper).  Two unfortunate tape cuts excise Jerry's climactic Sugaree solo and most of the Music Never Stopped jam.  Weir's slide solo in Sugaree sounds truly and unbelievably terrible.  An unexpected highlight is the last stretch of All Over Now, when Garcia and Lesh decide it's time to lift the roof for a few moments.  The second set jam begins with a somewhat sluggish Estimated, which perks up during an unusually colorful segue into a very long Eyes of the World: 16 1/2 minutes of legitimate jamming.  Nothing earthshaking happens, since Garcia sounds happy to take it at a mellow pace, but it's still a pleasant ride.  A loud, raucous Space (all hands on deck and making noise) sets up a more energetic post-Drumz: it sounds like they're having fun on Truckin', and then they attempt the first Nobody's Fault But Mine in a while -- it's a full band effort, not just Garcia playing the melody -- but Garcia's mic gives out and they're forced to make it an instrumental.  Black Peter sounds quite good, though Garcia seems to be making room for Weir's slide again (whyyyyy), and Around and JBG feel unusually goosed.  "Thank y'all, we're gonna see you in a week or two."  Not bad, but overall it's a so-so show.  At least the local reviews were good.

high times at MSG, by Bob Minkin.

1/7/79 - Madison Square Garden 

Another historical first, the band's maiden MSG shows (again rescheduled from December).  Boy howdy, do they sound glad to be there: the run blasts off with a truly titanic Jack Straw, with a jam for the ages.  Mama mia!  The rest of the set is wholly unremarkable, which feels almost cruel given that opening salvo.   There's a pretty nice Cassidy and Jack-a-Roe; Garcia sings "kicked my eye and blacked my dog" in Tennessee Jed, and delivers on a solid Passenger closer.  True to their we-always-blow-the-big-ones form, the second set is marred by PA problems: the opening Miracle has some sound issues, Shakedown feels perfunctory, and repeat Estimated > Eyes finally finds a groove but is also on the shorter side.  Space is an unexpected highlight, with a kind of "world music" vibe as Garcia improvises more melodically with Hart's marimba.  But Not Fade Away feels bloated and overlong to me, although there's an interesting bit where everyone is trading fours, and Black Peter (another repeat) is going well until the PA craps out again, never to fully recover.  Blah.  Hear this Jack Straw over and over, and maybe the Space.  Full disclosure: Bob Wagner's aud tape is solid, but boomy and a little unfocused, which may be tilting my general opinion here.


1/8/79 - Madison Square Garden 

The first set is great!  Good selection, great energy: a very fine Half Step > Franklin's kicks off with a satisfying peak to the Half Step jam and a nice transition.  Everything has the extra edge, and even the more obvious flubs sound more like over-enthusiasm than carelessness.  Lazy > Supplication, another good combo, closes things out.  Promising start!  As much as I really want to love this second set, however, I am just not feeling it.  On paper it's great, and Charlie Miller has repeatedly said that this is one of his particular favorites.  So your mileage, obviously, may vary.  Scarlet > Fire features an unusually prominent Donna "solo" in the transition jam, more forward than her other occasional moments of glossolalia -- you go ahead, Donna! -- and Jerry bumbleebeing his way through the rest of it.  Hmm.  He steps it up for FOTM with one well-crafted solo after another, but the rest of the band sounds like they're plodding along.  Maybe it's just me?  This S>F certainly has its proponents (e.g. here), so perhaps you all will like it more than I do.  Nothing much moves me either in Terrapin or Playing, and they skip Space altogether tonight for some noodling right into the Other One, which doesn't feel like it fully comes together before the vocals.  Wharf Rat, at least, is a powerhouse.  It's interesting that all three of these shows so far have had an energy bump after the Drums, but haven't quite delivered the goods beforehand.

MSG, by Bob Minkin.

1/10/79 - Nassau Coliseum

And another historical moment: the Dead return to Nassau, which they had sworn off in 1973 after heavy police presence and arrests.  A few good pulls were made, but Keith Gatto's aud tapes of both nights are spectacular, which I admit may contribute to my higher opinion of these shows.  The first set mostly lopes along without much spark (the B-grade song selection is partially to blame), but ends well with quality versions of Passenger and Loser before a hot Music Never Stopped finale that burns through both jams to a big finish.  Shakedown is a much better performance than MSG's (prompting Phil to crack, "you know it well!" to all the Long Islanders), but then a workmanlike Miracle > Bertha > Good Lovin' seems like they are settling in for another unremarkable 2nd set jam.  But oh no: a full blown Dark Star.  How?  Why?  Huh?  Remember that they had brought this back ten days earlier for the closing of Winterland blowout (and would play a shorter one again 10 days later), but this one takes the full ride for over 18 minutes, complete with a nice climax in the second half.  imho this vies with the 1984 Greek Theater encore for the best of the "lost years" Dark Stars, and what a nice surprise it is.  Space, thankfully, is another full-blown skronk-fest (crazier than 1/5) with another big climax, dropping off into a decent but unremarkable Wharf Rat.  They have one more ace to play: St. Stephen, another reprise from Winterland (and the last one they would play until 1983), a pretty on-point and fired up version.  Thank you, boys!  Dark Star through the end of the show is well worth hearing.

1/11/79 - Nassau Coliseum
(a rare sbd also circulates, though the aud is the better bet)

I wasn't expecting much from this more pedestrian looking setlist, but surprise surprise, the first set felt pretty solid.  A big ol' Sugaree opener boasts a great final jam (and less egregiously bad Bob slide), and there's also a nice Cassidy and a solid-if-not-amazing Jack Straw > Deal finisher, both with some slippery spots but an all-around good feeling.  The second set opens with a very long, jammy Miracle, by far the longest (10+ minutes) of this period, with a nice, easy, quasi-Truckin' shuffle.  The band goofs around wishing happy birthday to everyone ("the Birthday Brothers & Sisters Band!") before setting sail into the best Estimated so far (though check out Jerry pulling the e-brake hard in the bridge solo) with a lovely, nearly composed transition into He's Gone.  They groove on a long Truckin' tease before Drums, then noodle around for bit before Truckin' proper.  They give this one another good reading and make their way roundabout to the Other One, with a great transition to the intro and a short but very punchy jam, and finally a very slow but steady Stella Blue with an extra long outro solo -- not a true stunner, but a worthwhile trip -- before wrapping up the night a fine Casey Jones encore that I hope was a little parting fuck you to the Nassau police.  Start to finish, this may be the most consistent second set of these six shows, though nothing jumps out enough to make it one for the books.  A worthwhile specimen, nevertheless.


1/12/79 - The Spectrum

Back at the Spectrum for night 2, with Eddie Claridge's and Jim Wise's sweet, up-close FOB as the only circulating recording.  The first set is mostly pretty ho-hum (the opening Jack Straw doesn't hold a candle to the MSG version), but things settle into place with a nice Peggy-O, and a great one-two punch of Passenger and Deal.  The energy spills over into a nice Samson, though Garcia's voice isn't in good enough shape for Roses.  Yikes.  Dancing in the Streets had become far less common than it had been in spring '78, and while it seemed like the band's interest in stretching this one out had been waning, this one pulls a rabbit out of its hat: after a brisk, tight jam, they bring it back around and then wander off into a looser groove; it's nice them exploring an unexpected direction at this stage in the game.  Garcia manages to tie it back into the Dancin' reprise, they wrap up the tune, and then Garcia sets off again as everyone else takes a break.  Hart eases off, and the next few minutes are just Garcia and Kreutzmann playfully sparring with each other -- nothing like John Coltrane/Elvin Jones intensity, but it's pretty cool to hear these two having a rare 'alone together' moment.  Hart returns for a low-key Drums, which ushers in a Not Fade Away that (after another grimacey slide solo) is elevated by Garcia powering through the rest of the band's laconic groove with a stronger attack.  A bonus GDTRFB and Sugar Magnolia (no ballad) keep the energy and good vibes up high.  It's worth hearing this Dancin>jam, and worth sticking around for the rest of it if you're not in a rush.

1/12/79? by unknown

Takeaways
None of these six shows is a powerhouse from start to finish.  With the exception of 1/8/79, all of these first sets are pretty skipable, barring a couple highlights.  The first two shows are generally pretty low-gear and low priority.  I keep hoping that 1/8/79's second set will turn my crank someday, but it hasn't happened yet.  Things get genuinely engaging for me with the second set of 1/10 Nassau, 1/11 maintains the energy for an all-around generally solid show, and 1/12 delivers with an overlooked strong second set jam.  But I'm not feeling inspired to keep going, so this symmetrical six-show run will suffice.   fwiw, the second set from 1/15/79 in Springfield is probably the best single set of this final winter 79 period (though, again, the first set was mostly a snoozer, iirc).  2/3/79 Indianapolis is another real diamond in the rough, and I presume most folks know the final Keith & Donna show on 2/17/79 has some very spirited (if messy) playing and a host of setlist surprises.

The "problem" with these shows has less to do with any obvious flaws and more of a kind of settled but indifferent professionalism (well, professionalism by the Dead's standards).  "We used to play for acid, now we play for Clive," perhaps.  Jerry's and Donna's voices sound pretty blown out more often than not, Keith never sounds too engaged in any of it (though the tone of the electric piano he was playing isn't doing him any favors), and everyone else just kind of plays on through.  As much as history has firmly attributed this to the Godchauxs, it sounds to me more like a cloud had settled on the band in late 78 that didn't fully clear until Brent Mydland was fully settled in a year later. 

1/9/79: Keith is not amused (Bob Minkin)

11/12/93: David Murray's blues

by Joe Ryan, via GDAO

This started out as a comment to JGMF's write-up of this show, but it ballooned into a full post's worth of ramblings (lucky you!).  The JGB show on 11/12/93 at Madison Square Garden featuring jazz great David Murray is a popular (or at least very well-known) show, but, while it's historically significant, I don't think it's mostly very good.  While his first time with the Dead two months earlier was outstanding (the Bird Song! the Estimated!) and his 1995 return isn't bad either, this JGB show is redeemed by one out-of-left-field standout performance that belongs on a list of highlights from the year.  Otherwise, this show overshadows some much better but lesser-known performances from '93 while prompting the question of what exactly was going on.

From the start, Murray is playing a lot of saxophone.  A lot.  During Garcia's vocals, during Garcia's solos, just all over the place.  To my ears, How Sweet It Is is a near-trainwreck and Strugglin' Man is the low point, with an unbelievable amount of crossed wires.  What the hell was going on?  Could they hear each other?  TLEO, Forever Young, and Money Honey at least start to get their ducks in a row, but Murray's playing is way over on the abstract side of things and, while the audience cheers every one of his big screaming high-note climaxes, the effect is almost surreal.  But, after strangely starting and stopping Everybody Needs Somebody (the only time I can recall hearing him do that), Garcia cranks up Lay Down Sally and the whole room lifts off -- Murray gets his blows in first, but clears the way for Garcia to take the jam way further than usual.  This is one of the most exciting performances of this tune, and definitely one of the longest.  Um, okay then!  Read into it what you will, but it's a pretty sweet note to end on after a sour first set.  I don't get any sense, however, that Murray "cut Garcia to shreds" (see below) or that Garcia was responding competitively -- rather, it's more like Murray either couldn't hear him for most of the set, or was just going for it without much care, and Garcia kind of shrugged his shoulders and let it roll, before finally belting it out at the very end.  But of course I have no idea what was really going on.

The second set is better overall, but at times it's in more of a relieved okay, things finally are starting to go right kind of way.  Depending on your tolerance for Murray's style, Shining Star is or is not kind of a mess, but there's an interesting moment when Murray's solo gets increasingly hairy and Garcia jumps in with some flurrying, high energy stuff to complement what he's doing (this starts around @7:45).  It's a neat moment where Garcia seems to be trying to make something out of a situation that has gone off into uncharted waters, but it's also one of the only moments they seem to actually be engaging with each other.  Maybe Garcia was just out of sorts: his vocals sound completely out of synch with the band on You Never Can Tell, not the first time that night he flubbed his singing, and I wonder if he wasn't also having a bit of an off-night, regardless of Murray's presence.  Murray sits out for The Maker, which provides a bit of a breath of fresh air, although it's not a particularly strong version on its own merits (they were really nailing this tune on this tour).  And then comes the moment that should have attained some real lift-off, Don't Let Go.  Modal vamps!  Open-ended spacey jamming!  Jaaazz!  Murray gets out his bass clarinet and things are sounding pretty sweet.  Garcia hoots and hollers the final round of "hold me tight and don't let go's" and stomps on his wahwah pedal right out of the gate.  The stars are aligning!  But... I dunno, it's a fine jam, but Garcia and Murray seem to just play through each other rather than with each other.  Again, I'm wondering more about the sound onstage and whether they weren't able to hook it up for more mundane reasons.  Murray drops out for a minute to switch back to his tenor sax, but Garcia skips the chance to go off into deep space and returns to the vocals instead, and I can't help thinking it was a missed opportunity all around.  Rats.  Fortunately, someone seems to have finally tapped Murray on the shoulder, because his contribution to That Lucky Old Sun is much more fitting, and he actually keeps it relatively within the lines and even plays some suitable horn riffs in the closing Tangled Up in Blue.  Garcia, again, delivers the goods at the last minute, belting out a powerful final Tangled jam that builds to a solid fanning climax that I'm sure left everyone smiling after a pretty perplexing show.

JGMF quotes Gary Lambert in his piece, who relays that no one from Garcia's camp actually told Murray what kind of music the JGB played or what the expectations were.  I can certainly believe it, but I give Murray a lot more credit than that: musicians sit in with other musicians without much advance preparation all the time, and good musicians adjust on the fly -- especially good jazz musicians, who (should) have the ears to pick up on song forms and harmonic patterns relatively quickly and improvise over them.  I don't doubt for a second that David Murray is such a musician.  Jim Powell says Murray cut Garcia to shreds that night, but I don't think so.  Murray plays and plays and plays and, well, he overplays, and imho very little of it sounds "better" than Garcia or even on the same page.  To be fair, Murray seems like he's mixed low for much of the night -- to give soundman John Cutler the benefit of the doubt, I'm sure it was a struggle working with Murray's wider dynamic range (on an acoustic instrument, in a basketball arena) and maybe Murray didn't have much monitor support... but it's also possible that Cutler was mixing him down for other reasons.  I don't know if he had played with singers or pop musicians like Branford Marsalis did, but it seems weird to me that a musician of Murray's stature and experience wouldn't have eased off the gas a bit (see this interview, particularly comment #5, for a number of things Marsalis did that Murray doesn't seem to do).  I don't think that's just because no one bothered to tell him that the JGB were essentially a rhythm & blues band.

And, lest you think I'm just not a fan of David Murray: while I can't say I've heard a lot of his work, I have several albums of his that I think are incredible (1980's Ming would be the starter) and I very much like his 1997 Dark Star album.  If you're not familiar with him outside of the Dead, Murray is one of the major jazz saxophonists of the 80's/90's, and was part of a generation of post-loft NYC avant-gardists who made the innovations of Albert Ayler and Coltrane coexist with "the tradition" that so much of the post-Coltrane players had rejected.  Like a lot of those musicians (Henry Threadgill and Arthur Blythe are two contemporaries you may know), Murray was certainly known for a particular sound but could play in a variety of styles very effectively.  To give two then-contemporary examples to consider alongside his JGB performance, try Shakill's Warrior (1991),  a "back to the roots" project revisiting the organ/tenor combos of the 50's-60's [interestingly, this band's guitarist, Stan Franks, played a few shows with the earliest Phil & Friends lineup and was originally slated to play lead guitar in the original 1998 lineup of the Other Ones, before he was replaced by Mark Karan and Steve Kimock].  Or try Murray's guest appearance on the Skatalites' recording of his own tune Flowers for Albert (1994; Murray takes the first solo). Neither of these are necessarily representative of his typical sound, but I think they show that Murray could have found something to fit the JGB's sound.  If he had wanted to boot it out like Jr. Walker on How Sweet It Is, I am confident that he could have gone there while still sounding like David Murray.

Coming soon: some of the aforementioned much better but lesser-known performances from 1993.

by Joe Ryan, via GDAO

postscript: Murray's spot with the Dead on 9/22/93 was fantastic, but when the Dead came back to the NYC area in 1994, Murray did not appear with them.  While the Dead were at Nassau Coliseum in March 1994, Murray instead sat in with a Dead cover band, the Zen Tricksters, at the Wetlands Preserve in lower Manhattan (a funny-shaped bar down by the Holland Tunnel that was the NYC jamband scene's headquarters, if you never went there) for a full 3+ hour show.  It's hard not to wonder what Murray thought about that, but I don't remember anything being wrong with the music at all.  I had the tapes way back when, and I liked them a lot -- but that was over 20 years ago, so I withhold judgment until they appear digitally at LMA.  I would love to hear that again.