6/4/74 - One Mint Julep?

 

My Europe 72 marathon hit a little snag (or rather, life failed to clear the wide path that listening to Europe 72 deserves), but writeups of all that stuff will be coming very soon.  Sigh.  

But in the meantime, here's one for the Garcia/Saunders setlist completists: I wrote up a lengthy review of 6/4/74 many years ago, but there's been a tiny piece of that show that's been nagging at me ever since: at the end of All Blues, Martin Fierro starts playing a blues lick that I could never quite place, and today it finally clicked: it's "One Mint Julep."  Fierro tries it once at 20:13, then gets it right the second time, and Garcia picks up on it and joins in on third go-round.  They riff on it for a few minutes until the song ends at 23:11 (times are for this transfer).

"One Mint Julep" (wiki), by Rudy Toombs, was an early Atlantic Records R&B hit for the Coasters and then found even greater fame as an instrumental when Ray Charles played it on his Genius + Soul = Jazz album in 1961.  A quick look at discogs shows that a variety of folks recorded it after that: R&B instrumentalists like King Curtis and Booker T the MG's, but also more modern jazz players like Milt Jackson, Jimmy Smith, and Freddie Hubbard (Hubbard's version was the one I was listening to today when it clicked), and also Nashville guitarist Chet Atkins -- among certainly hundreds of others.  It's hard to say which version Fierro et al were most influenced by here, since they're playing it over the same groove as All Blues rather than a more typical R&B rhythm.  They also don't play the entire tune: they don't ever play the bridge, just the main blues lick, which was probably in the DNA of every working R&B or jazz musician of the era.  So I don't know if the setlist keepers want to label this as All Blues > One Mint Julep, or just put the ol' asterisk in there with a little note about it.

Carry on.  Or go listen to this show again!  It's great.

Does anyone hear something different?

The Wall Song: a short history

 

12/21/70, by Michael Parrish

David Crosby's wonderful, eerie tune "The Wall Song" is on my mind because of the forthcoming GarciaLive release of Garcia & Saunders at the Keystone Korner, 5/21/71, which you probably already know does not feature John Kahn or anyone else on bass.  [sorry, but: contrary to Rolling Stone's assessment, this has nothing to do with the freakin' Doors and everything to do with the fact that Saunders was adept at playing jazz basslines with his left hand, an innovation of Jimmy Smith's that was taken up by hundreds of organ players].  The Garcia folks have already shared the Wall Song from this show on Youtube, a surprising and unique performance by Garcia without Crosby.  So here is a stroll through the other known recordings of this song, from the small window of time that Garcia and Crosby were actively collaborating.

In 1989, Crosby recalled to David Gans that, during the 1970 sessions for his solo project If I Could Only Remember My Name (IICORMN), "the only time when we ever really got organized was on 'The Wall Song.' That was pretty organized, 'cause it goes through a lot of changes. And so we learned that and actually played it like an arrangement."  In addition to the changes, the song is structured two parts, the second of which (the "B" section or bridge, I guess) has a more syncopated "stop time" feel where the drums don't keep a steady groove, which probably required a little bit of work to lock into place (see the Matrix rehearsal below).

Like many of the songs on IICORMN, the Wall Song had been in the works for a couple of years already.  Steve Silberman tells of an unreleased solo Crosby session from 1968 that features the Wall Song as well as Tamalpais High, Laughing, and other future Cros classics.  But the IICORMN timeline is a little vague: according to pictures of the master reel boxes shared by Stephen Barncard, much of the material was originally tracked in Aug or Sept 1970, although the official project didn't begin until Nov 1970 (while Barncard was also mixing American Beauty).  It seems to have been wrapped up by December, but Crosby then booked Heider's again in January 1971 for sessions that apparently weren't intended for any album -- I need a citation, but I had the sense this was kind of an extended excuse to stay in the studio and avoid the outside world, since Crosby was still intensely grieving over his girlfriend's death.  These tapes were compiled and circulated in the early 90's, and have have since gone down in history as the PERRO (Planet Earth Rock & Roll Orchestra) tapes, named after a loose aggregation of musicians including the Jefferson Airplane and the Dead (here's one page with history; edit: here's a better one, with Barncard's annotations).  The earliest available Wall Song comes from that circulating PERRO collection.   According to Barncard's annotations, the full-band version on the PERRO tapes is from 12/13/70 -- after, it seems, the IICORMN material was in the can.

Dec 1970 (?) demo, PERRO tapes
The first of two takes on the PERRO set: Crosby alone with a 12-string acoustic and double-tracking his vocal.  Just what it says on the box.

[edit: This demo was released on the IICORMN 50th Anniversary edition; it's the same recording, but the official release fades about 15 seconds earlier than the version from the PERRO set.]
 

12/13/70, PERRO session
The rest of the PERRO material is from Jan 1971, but the date on the tape box for this performance is 12/13/70.  Although that dating doesn't quite jive with the IICORMN material, this track is clearly more than just a studio jam: it sounds like Crosby playing rhythm (right channel), Garcia, Lesh, Kreutzmann, plus what is either another rhythm guitar (or maybe a piano?) in the left channel and a tambourine, and I'll bet some of that is overdubbed.  Garcia doesn't sing harmony vocals, and I don't know if the harmony part here is Nash or Crosby overdubbed [edit: it's Crosby overdubbed].  The song itself ends at 4 minutes and Cros says "okay," and the jam begins.  Garcia gets in some nice licks, but the jam never catches flight and eventually trickles off.  Someone says, "can we do one more?" and another person (Nash?) responds something I can't make out.


12/15/70, The Matrix
If the studio version above is dated correctly, then only a few days later Crosby played the Wall Song live at a gig at the Matrix with Garcia, Lesh, and either Hart or Kreutzmann (I think it's Hart; more on that in a minute).  The tape has been in circulation for ages, but its origins are still murky.  The lineup is often referred to as "David and the Dorks," though it was billed as Jerry Garcia & Friends.  The date has been given variously as 12/15, 12/16, 12/17 (i.e. any of the three nights they were booked at the Matrix) or 12/20 (unlikely).  Lost Live Dead runs down the circumstances that are known.  The first half of the circulating tape is a rehearsal and the second half is live, although it's not clear if the rehearsal is from the same day.   The Wall Song is played twice at the rehearsal and then once at the Matrix performance. 

 
The rehearsal takes are pretty skeletal and it doesn't sound like everyone knows the song yet.  Crosby is heard occasionally giving directions and someone else is counting the time out loud during the stop-time B section.  Garcia now adds some harmony vocals, which he does on every subsequent live version.  He sounds more comfortable in the jam, however, so that indicates that this is later than the PERRO studio version (above) -- but maybe Hart was learning it?  The first version cuts off during the jam at 7:37.  The second rehearsal take has more confident drumming, but someone is still counting the B-section out loud, and Cros is still giving verbal direction.  This jam also peters out when it seems like Garcia isn't sure whether or not to go back to the B-section, then Crosby starts singing wordlessly, and they go over the timing of the B-section again.  Lesh and Hart run through it on their own while Cros & Garcia discuss something else.

The kinks sound like they have been mostly ironed out for the live Matrix performance, and they all attack the jam with a little more feeling at first, and Garcia digs in with a little more bite.  But it seems like they pull back after a bit, sounding unsure about really opening up or not, and the jam only lasts 2 1/2 minutes.  Jerry's last note trails off in a smear of feedback, which is great.  The tempo is still way slow (I don't want to say plodding, but it's laaaid back) -- for what it's worth, I think the circulating tape is actually running too slow here. 

A word about the drummer: I do think it's Mickey Hart, although I think Kreutzmann played on the 12/13/70 recording.  There is photo evidence that Kreutzmann played with Crosby, Garcia, and Lesh on 12/21 at Pepperland (see Michael Parrish's amazing eyewitness account and also JGMF) and this fine Lost Live Dead post has a comment thread surmising that Kreutzmann is the most likely candidate for this Matrix gig.  But occam's razor aside, I still think it's Hart: the drumming is more basic than Kreutzmann's fluid cymbal work and fills, and also more like the drumming on the 8/21/71 jam, which is pretty much certainly also Hart.  Plus, if Kreutzmann had just laid down a serviceable take in the studio, why would they be relearning the song a few days later?  I would speculate that Hart was a last minute fill-in for Kreutzmann for whatever reason (Hart did play on Cowboy Movie on IICORMN, after all)

1/9/71 (?) - Graham Nash & David Crosby album version (uncut)
Crosby, Garcia, Lesh, Kreutzmann, and Graham Nash on piano.  Again, there is some confusion about the dating of this.  This is the full version of the track released on Nash & Crosby's 1972 album; the album cut fades before the jam.  David Gans broadcast this unedited version on the GDH twice (in 1989 and 2001, the latter a fantastic show on the Crosby/Garcia connection co-hosted with Steve Silberman) but gave two different dates, 11/11/71 and 11/9/71.  Other material for Nash/Crosby album (with different musicians) was recorded at a few sessions in Nov 1971, but JGMF thinks the date of this Wall Song is really 1/9/71, which locates it in the middle of the PERRO material.  Which makes sense to me.

From a Garciacentric perspective, I think this is the best performance.  The tempo is noticeably more brisk than the laid back live versions.  I also appreciate that Garcia plays with more interaction with the piano (Nash seems to know one lick, but it works well), whereas on every other version Garcia is pretty much out in the woods by himself.  He's playing his Strat here, so the sound is brighter and twangier.  Crosby's guitar is lower in the mix now.  They find a slightly higher cruising altitude for the jam, with a couple of changes in direction and a Crosby/Garcia driven peak that climaxes the jam before it quickly subsides: really this whole performance feels more like a group "jam" than Garcia soloing over a laid back groove.


5/21/71, Garcia/Saunders at the Keystone Korner 

Back to the slower tempo.  With no Crosby in sight, Garcia sings lead this time!  He's pretty shaky compared with Cros, but soulful nevertheless ("such a great wiiide open door").  Saunders and Vitt sound excellent, as you'd expect, and though I can't imagine they must have rehearsed this much beyond running it down before the gig, both of them nail this.  In his earliest documented appearance with Garcia, Martin Fierro adds almost nothing to the song itself but comes in strong right at the jam and occupies centerstage for much of what follows.  He does get some skronk on, so be warned -- I know there are folks who don't like this side of his playing, and he does go a bit over the top here, but I can dig it.  Free jazz, man.  Garcia takes a short turn, with a nice raw, feedbacky sound.  Vitt and Saunders really give him a nice pocket to work with.  Then Fierro solos again, quoting "A Day in the Life" around 9:18 [thanks, Light Into Ashes]  The groove starts pulling apart and getting freeform around 10 min, then they pull back together and groove on, slowly.  At 11:45 Fierro quotes "A Day in the Life" again.  The jam ends dramatically after around 12 1/2 minutes.


8/21/71, jam at Mickey's barn 

I've already covered some specifics about this tape here.  On The Wall Song, I hear Garcia, Crosby, Lesh, one drummer (Hart, I presume), Ned Lagin on piano, someone else on organ (David Freiberg, I guess, since it seems too basic to be Saunders), and John Cipollina joins halfway through, playing mostly slide (and also wahwah later) but barely takes the spotlight.   This one is over a half hour long and is primarily a jam on the main vamp with occasional drops into the verses, which are mostly instrumental.  Crosby and Garcia sing parts wordlessly (da da da), but do sing bits of the third verse, then eventually circle back around to the first verse much later.  It's all a lazy afternoon jam, man, but unfortunately Garcia never finds much of a thread.  He regularly comes to the forefront with some tasty stuff, but never sustains any ideas into a longer solo.  There's a lot of vamping.  The organ takes a brief solo (about 13:40 on the sbd copy) and Lagin's piano adds some simple but colorful fills throughout.  At the 20 minute mark, the tempo kicks up a bit and they abandon the vamp for a one-chord groove (although nothing too different happens) for about 8 minutes, then return to the tune for the final 5 minutes of the jam.  Crosby cues up the B-section and signals the ending.  As the kids say, this has a vibe.  It seems appropriate that we go out on this lazy, jammy note, with our heroes going down that golden road on a late summer afternoon in the woods up in Marin.  Jerry announces "I gotta go play" (he had a gig that night with the NRPS) and that's that.

I don't know if Crosby played the Wall Song again in this period.  It doesn't seem like Crosby & Nash ever played it in their shows in the mid 70's (it's hard to tell, though, since the network of Crosby setlists is tough to search; I was not super thorough with this, so I hope someone proves me wrong!)

Crosby remained connected to the Dead behind the scenes through 1975.  He participated in Ned Lagin's Seastones project, and joined the Dead at Weir's studio to rehearse Blues for Allah and some of his own tunes for the 3/23/75 SNACK benefit show.  But Crosby missed the show itself for the birth of his daughter (thanks Grateful Seconds).  The last of his informal public collaborations with Garcia was at a Seastones performance on 9/19/75 (per Nedbase).  Then, as far as I know, they didn't cross paths again until Crosby (solo) opened for the Dead on New Years Eve 1986.

Jan 21-22, 1975 - or, the case of "7/21-22/74"

Some years ago I came to the conclusion that the Garcia/Saunders tapes (er, filesets) labeled as 7/21/74 and 7/22/74 were mixed up and mislabeled -- it was pretty obvious that what circulates as 7/21/74 couldn't be from one show.  I did some close listening to where the tape cuts were and came up with a convincing reassembly of these fragments that made more sense.  I can't think of another way to reassemble these fragments that would work, so I just went ahead and reordered/retagged them and have been listening to my own modified version for a while, so I figured I would expand my usual listening notes with the full argument.  JGMF has covered the unlikeliness of the tapes really being from 7/21 & 7/22/74, and it seems far more likely that the real dates are 1/21 & 1/22/75 at the Keystone in Berkeley.  JGMF has also confirmed that the lineup on these nights was unusual: Tony Saunders on bass (all of 19 years old, I believe) and Gaylord Birch on drums, in addition to Martin Fierro, Merl Saunders, and Jerry Garcia. 

Tony Saunders, from the back cover collage on Merl's s/t 1974 album

The music on these tapes is phenomenal and, in a few instances, utterly unique, and I believe that the confused presentation of these filesets has caused this music to be overlooked by all but the most fervent Garcia fan (no knock on anyone who was part of the distribution chain of these tapes, of course).  Maybe you are someone who hasn't given them close attention for this very reason.  If that describes you, dear reader, then read on and listen anew and be wowed.

In the interest of saving the fine print until the end, I will dive into the music first and assume you're willing to buy my reasoning re: the dating and organizing of this music as closer to what was actually played. 

On a contextual note: it is established that,

• Ron Tutt joined the band in December 1974, prompting the formal name change to Legion of Mary several months later.  Even after LOM was formalized as a band, there were still occasional local listings for "Garcia & Saunders" gigs.  This meant that Tutt was not present for whatever reason (more info; there was no Elvis conflict in Jan 1975, fwiw).
• In 1974-75, Merl Saunders was performing concurrently with his own band, Aunt Monk, including Tony on bass and Martin Fierro on sax.  Garcia would occasionally show up at these shows as well, playing material both familiar and unfamiliar to him from the Garcia/Saunders repertoire (more info).
• Despite being two separate bands, there was the occasional overlapping of personnel between Garcia/Saunders and Saunders' own gigs.  One such overlap were three remarkable shows in June 1974 where Tony replaced John Kahn on bass, which I have covered here.  
• The musicians and repertoire on these tapes in question seem to live right in the middle of the venn diagram of Garcia/Saunders and Aunt Monk.

 courtesy JGMF (surprise!)

 1/21/75


The Harder They Come - very fine, with an excellent groove and feel, especially compared with many 1974-75 performances that I often find more plodding.  Interestingly, it sounds like Fierro is playing his usual tenor with lots of wahwah during the song itself, but soloing on a higher-pitched horn (a soprano maybe?  I am sure it's him and not a guest, and you can hear him fiddling with his tenor again shortly after his solo is over).  After a high energy finish, Jerry announces the set break.

When I Die - the reel cuts in at the beginning.  This is funky!  and arguably one of the best of the versions that we have (at least until the next night!).  Merl & Tony play a cool little rhythmic figure that they keep up throughout most of the solos, and Birch absolutely nails this.  There's a snafu near the end when Merl finishes his solo and Garcia jumps back in, not hearing that Merl has transitioned back into the bridge of the song.  No harm done.  Afterwards, someone (either Tony or Birch?) laughs, "whoo! yeah, Jerry! what's up!"  Garcia noodles around a bit and someone asks,"wanna do it? you gonna do it?" which prompts:

Pennies From Heaven - They shift gears into classic organ combo mode for Garcia to serenade this standard from the 30's that is probably associated with Louis Armstrong as much as anyone else, although Garcia's idol Django Reinhardt is among the many who also recorded it.  There are plenty of examples of Garcia hanging with Saunders on jazz material that was not his typical forte, but it's amazing to hear him taking the lead here in digging into a standard like this!  He's clearly having a blast, even if he's chewing the scenery just a little bit.  Fierro solos next, then another quick chorus from Garcia, then Merl.  Just as his solo is ending, the reel cuts off and cuts back in as they go into the head of the song, with very little missing.  It sounds like folks are patting Garcia on the back when they're done: Merl says, "that's good!" and someone else adds, "that's all right!"   [edit 2025: Legion of Mary also played Pennies From Heaven on 2/28/75! please oh please, someone circulate this tape!]  Then Garcia suggests, "we could do Reggae Woman."

Boogie On Reggae Woman - Excellent again.  At this point, there were only a small number of performances of this on tape (it became a staple for LOM in 1975), but they are all on top of it tonight.  Check out after the last verse how they keep it going a little longer, verrry quietly.  Nice touch!

Some inaudible off-mic talk follows.  After Midnight and Mystery Train are mentioned.  Merl and Tony play with the beginning of Creepin' (Stevie Wonder), until Merl suggests, "why don't we just - you wanna do Wonderin'?  Wonderin' Why?"

Wonderin' Why - sounds wonderful, if not all that different from many other wonderful versions.  Then Garcia counts right into a stompin' How Sweet It Is.  This one is interrupted by another reel flip, missing a bigger chunk of music this time.  He says good night, and the crowd sounds particularly appreciative and vocal with their thanks.

Well then.  This was amazing.  Top drawer Garcia/Saunders, in outstanding Bettyboard sound.  What could be better?  Glad you asked:


1/22/75

After Midnight - this cuts in at the peak of Fierro's solo, so watch your eardrums.  But it's really hot!  High temperature stuff.  Afterwards - Jerry: "You wouldn't happen to have any matches, do you? ... but don't even worry, don't worry about it."   Then, a guy in the crowd: "Jerry, want a hit, man?"  Jerry: "Do I want a hit, man?  No thank you, I just had one."  Classic.  Merl calls the next tune.

When I Die - Betty's mix is a little hot, but so is the playing.  As hot the last version was, this one is even better and also a few minutes longer.  My goodness.  This time, rather than jump right into the bridge out of Merl's final solo, they opt to keep jamming loosely for a little bit before wrapping things up.  What a version!  C'mon, deadheads, you all need to hear this.

You Can Leave Your Hat On - this takes things down a notch, perhaps inevitably given how high energy the first two songs were.  But it ain't bad at all!  There's another small reel flip in this one.  Notice how during Merl's solo (after the flip), Garcia is messing around a bit with playing octaves a la Wes Montgomery, something that he did occasionally in early 75 and another clue as to the dating of this tape.  Afterwards, someone says "we can only do one more" and Garcia counts off

That's What Love Will Make You Do - Birch's beat here is distinctive from other 74-75 versions and this feels a little stiff at first, but they loosen up as the solos gain momentum.  Garcia's guitar volume drops @4:23, and I wonder if he blew a tube or something else, but he plays on without a hiccup.  Nice near miss @11:02 when he catches them by surprise by repeating the "when you speak of beauty" break, but whoa, they all nail it anyway!  Amazing.  "We're gonna take a break, we'll be back pretty soon."

Cucumber Slumber - the first of two tunes unique to this show.  The oft-repeated story behind Weather Report's Cucumber Slumber is that bassist Alphonso Johnson came up with its classic bassline in the studio and the tune was a spontaneous jam (although the album track is actually a second take made after some evident arrangement, including a melody played in unison by the sax and keyboards; lots of info here) .  The song moves back and forth between two distinct sections, one in Db7 (the band is playing this section as the album track fades in) and one in E7 (with Johnson's famous bassline), with a transition between the two.  Weather Report spends more time jamming in the Db7 section, although the E7 section is probably what most listeners remembers about the song.  If you want a more technical explication, see Mark Frandsen's analysis in his dissertation on Weather Report's bass players (which clarified all this info for me).

Tony commented at etree, "that was a song we played with Aunt Monk and Jerry liked it so we played it together."  Their arrangement is looser and emphasizes the E7 section almost entirely, with Tony holding on to that bassline for all its worth.  Like Weather Report, they begin playing in Db7 briefly (it sounds maybe like Fierro is alluding to Weather Report's melody, though they never play it), but once they get into the E7 section, they stay there for a long time: both Fierro and Garcia solo, and when Merl's turn comes, he leads everyone into the Db7 section briefly (this is around 9:15) and then back into E7 for his extended solo, and then another turn for Garcia.  During Garcia's second solo, things get looser and the playing becomes more interactive and "jammy" (Tony abandons the bassline for a little while as well).  They shift back to the Db7 section in the final few minutes, and wrap it up by playing the transition figure at the end.  Wow!  Given that they're mostly jamming out on one chord, everyone has plenty of room to flex and they all sound comfortable digging in. 

The Harder They Come - a little looser in spots, but this is still great and like When I Die from this show, it sounds like they're pushing a bit further than the prior version.  Check out how they get real quiet at 12:16 for the end of Garcia's solo -- he's playing the melody and Martin creates a guitar-like effect by tapping the keys of his horn while working the wahwah, which leads right back into the vocals.  Very cool, and something I don't recalls ever hearing in THTC before.

What's Going On - the second unique song.  I'm sure plenty of folks with gigs like Merl's were playing this tune in the early 70's; one way to approach it was to have everyone solo over the form of the entire song, like this version by organist Johnny Hammond Smith.  But Merl also must have heard Donny Hathaway's incredible live version which features both vocals and a keyboard solo over just the instrumental bridge of the song.  Notably, Hathaway also made a minor but pretty hip adjustment to this part by adding some additional changes (hear it in his solo).  Merl opts to have it both ways: Fierro plays the tune on flute, and then he, Garcia, and Merl take a turn soloing over the entire song form, which imho makes for some unavoidably long-winded solos.  Everything glides along well enough but a bit sloppily, with the tempo wavering and speeding up as it goes.  But after Merl's solo ends (at 16:20 into the song) he shifts gears and solos again, this time just over the instrumental bridge, like in Hathaway's version.  Everyone goes for another round of solos, but now it sounds like they're finally taking flight, since no one has to follow the contours of the actual song and can just dig in and blow.  The cut at the end is negligible, just a fraction of a second.  Wow!  Overall it's a little shaky, but is redeemed by the funkier second half.  And given what a unique performance this is, it's hard to be too critical. 

How Sweet It Is - another high-energy set closer, with no cut this time.  The last 50 seconds of dead air as they break down is a nice touch: "awright, Jerry, cut that shit out!"

I am out of superlatives.   Much like the June 74 shows with Tony, these performances are both unique and, despite a few looser-than-usual moments, feature some incredibly high caliber playing.  Mid 70's solo Jerry doesn't get much better than this, and if you haven't spent time getting up close and personal with these tapes, you really should.


THE RATIONALE

If you've made it this far, I am sure you cannot wait to hear how I came up with this order for the songs.  These are the digital filesets for these tapes as they circulate:

"7/21/74" = jg1974-07-21.jgms.93mins.sbd-Betty.117653.flac1644
"7/22/74" = jg1974-07-22.jgms.146mins.sbd-GMB.86198.flac1644

And if you split the filesets into reels, based on the tape breaks (the tape runs continuously between songs unless noted), you get this:

7/21/74 d1t01 [18:24] Harder They Come > "we're gonna take a break"
7/21/74 d1t02 [13:01] /When I Die
7/21/74 d1t03 [15:56] Pennies From Heaven//

7/21/74 d2t01 [12:32] /After Midnight
7/21/74 d2t02 [18:40] When I Die
7/21/74 d2t03 [11:32] You Can Leave Your Hat On//

7/21/74 d2t04 [3:18] //How Sweet It is > "see y'all later"

7/22/74 d1t01 [3:30] //"instrumental" (actually the ending of Pennies From Heaven)
7/22/74 d1t02 [22:34] Boogie On Reggae Woman
7/22/74 d1t03 [17:21] Wondering Why
7/22/74 d1t04 [5:06] How Sweet It Is//

7/22/74 d1t05 [6:16] //You Can Leave Your Hat On
7/22/74 t1t06 [13:07] That's What Love Will Make You Do > "we're gonna take a break"

7/22/74 d2t01 [21:27] /Cucumber Slumber
7/22/74 d2t02 [19:43] Harder They Come
7/22/74 d2t03 [26:26] What's Going On (tape cuts the last second)

7/22/74 d2t04 [10:32] How Sweet It Is > "thank you, we'll see you all later on."

Then rearrange the reels like this to make the pieces fit together.  I can't think of any other way to arrange the music that makes sense:

"reel #1"
7/21/74 d1t01 [18:24] Harder They Come > "we're gonna take a break"
7/21/74 d1t02 [13:01] /When I Die
7/21/74 d1t03 [15:56] Pennies From Heaven//

"reel #2"
7/22/74 d1t01 [3:30] //"instrumental" (actually the ending of Pennies From Heaven)
7/22/74 d1t02 [22:34] Boogie On Reggae Woman
7/22/74 d1t03 [17:21] Wondering Why
7/22/74 d1t04 [5:06] How Sweet It Is//

"reel #3"
7/21/74 d2t04 [3:18] //How Sweet It is > "see y'all later"

"reel #4"
1st set:
7/21/74 d2t01 [12:32] /After Midnight
7/21/74 d2t02 [18:40] When I Die
7/21/74 d2t03 [11:32] You Can Leave Your Hat On//

"reel #5"
7/22/74 d1t05 [6:16] //You Can Leave Your Hat On > "do one more" 
7/22/74 t1t06 [13:07] That's What Love Will Make You Do > "we're gonna take a break"

"reel #6"
7/22/74 d2t01 [21:27] /Cucumber Slumber
7/22/74 d2t02 [19:43] Harder They Come
7/22/74 d2t03 [26:26] What's Going On (tape cuts the last second)

"reel #7"
7/22/74 d2t04 [10:32] How Sweet It Is > "thank you, we'll see you all later on."


This means that the actual shows would look like this:

one show:
end of 1st set:Harder They Come (7/21) [18:24]
complete 2nd set:When I Die (7/21 d1t02) [13:01]
Pennies From Heaven (7/21 + 7/22) [15:56+3:30]
Boogie On Reggae Woman (7/22) [22:34]
Wondering Why (7/22) [17:21]
How Sweet It Is (7/22 + 7/21) [5:06 + ? + 3:18]


the other show (nearly complete?):
1st set:After Midnight (7/21) [12:32]
When I Die (7/21 d2t02) [18:40]
You Can Leave Your Hat On (7/21+7/22) [11:32+6:16]
That's What Love Will Make You Do (7/22) [13:07]
2nd set:Cucumber Slumber (7/22) [21:27]
Harder They Come (7/22) [19:43]
What's Going On (7/22) [26:26]
How Sweet It Is (7/22) [10:32]


I believe that the two sets from the latter show are from 1/22/75, because these versions of When I Die and The Harder They Come are better than the ones from the other show: both are played longer and with more apparent ease.  They are all more careful when ending When I Die, and THTC has some unusual interplay that seems more likely to have happened when they were more comfortable with the tune and each other.  I know that doesn't prove anything, but that's how I am choosing to label each show. 

Why 1/21 & 1/22/75?  It can't be 7/21-7/22/74, but the provenance of the tapes is pretty good and those dates had to come from somewhere.  I know that when I write 1's, they usually look like 7's [edit: JGMF sent a pic of the tape reel boxes and yup, Rex Jackson wrote 1/22/74].  And I am usually still writing last year's date when it's only three weeks into a new year.   The existence of G/S gigs on those dates plus some stylistic details all point in the same direction. 

edit: Just to make sure I am giving credit where it is due, the understanding that these tapes couldn't be from July 1974 is all JGMF's work and research.  I came to the Jan 75 theory on my own, although I know others have arrived at that same conclusion, likely all stemming from JGMF's blog.  The reel re-ordering was from my own listening.

2/5/74: Martin and Martin?

[addendum, 2024: I'm adding a small further bit of defense for my theory below]

A casual listen to Garcia & Saunders at the Great American Music Hall on 2/5/74, to double-check a comment about a mystery guest saxophonist, yielded (of course) a scad of observations that are not quite as coherently unified as I would like.  But such is the practice of observation, I guess.

2/5/74, courtesy gdsets

The recording of this show:

This show (and its neighbor, 2/9/74 at the Rheem Theatre in Moraga, CA) are unusual for being recorded a by taper, Ed Perlstein, who was able to connect his deck to a feed from the soundboard.  He got unplugged at the Rheem, but taped the full show on 2/5.  One drawback of a straight sbd feed is that it's not meant to be heard in isolation, i.e. at home (which is no fault of Mr. Perlstein's, of course): it's a mix for the room that is supplementing the sound coming from the band's gear onstage, so we get very prominent vocals, kickdrum, and saxophone, a little bit of everything else, and less electric guitar, since Garcia's amps tended to be really loud.  At times, his guitar is almost inaudible on this tape, which is not a point in its favor.  The 2/9/74 tape doesn't suffer from this as badly, but it was also a bigger venue (it held 1000; the GAMH held less than half that, see below).

The show itself:

is enjoyable, but not one for the ages.  To my ears, 1/17/74 at the Keystone is the one great performance from the first half of the year (which got better as it progressed: see the 6/4-6/6 shows, much of August, and Paul Humphrey's run in October-November).  2/5/74 sounds like it was a fun old night at the office for the band, who play nothing wildly inspired, but are in a nice, loose, happy groove.  I am pretty sure that Billy Kreutzmann is on drums, and he gives everything an ideal swing and pop -- it's always worth highlighting what a great drummer he is, even if he rarely stands out like Paul Humphrey or even Ron Tutt would have.  But check his work on Someday Baby, Roadrunner, It's Too Late: all meat 'n potatoes rhythm & blues, but Billy K puts 'em all right where they should be.  In terms of highlights from Garcia, though, there's not a lot that stands out to my ear.  Tunes that blossomed into more extended vehicles elsewhere are relatively restrained here: La-La, My Problems Got Problems, Wondering Why, Are You Lonely For Me, and so on.  My favorite "jam" here is My Funny Valentine, stretching past 20 minutes and worth every second.

Martin Fierro and the mystery saxophone:

Maybe it's my imagination, but Fierro seems to be given more of the spotlight early in the night: he gets the first solo on the first song, Someday Baby (nice touch to hear Garcia call out "Martin!"), and follows it with La-La, his own composition.  One big mystery of this show -- the reason, actually, that I revisited it -- is that a second saxophone is audible for almost the entire second set, starting at the end of The Harder They Come.  A few mystery trumpet players notwithstanding, I think there is only one other recording of a guest saxophonist from this period: 9/2/74, a baritone sax which might be Snookie Flowers.  What stands out about 2/5 is that this second saxophone doesn't take a single solo, as far as I can tell.  Nearly everything he(?) plays are simple unison lines with Fierro, with pretty close harmonies.  At no point does this second saxophone seem to do anything other than mirror what Fierro is doing: there are some very brief moments in My Funny Valentine and Are You Lonely For Me where the two horns are playing lines that are independent, but otherwise they are in lock-step with each other.  The only times that the second sax disappears is during Wondering Why -- where Fierro plays flute -- or when Fierro is taking a proper sax solo of his own (e.g. Think).

So, I wonder, is this actually a second horn player, or is it all Fierro?  It's not an electronic harmony effect (those exist now, but I don't know if they did in 1974, and Fierro doesn't seem to have used any electronic attachments until later that summer, anyway).  Could he have been playing two horns at once, a la Rahsaan Roland Kirk?  In jazz, that technique is associated almost exclusively with Kirk (who could do it with three), and although many surely dismissed it as a gimmick, it was nevertheless done.  To my knowledge, George Braith was Kirk's only contemporary who regularly used the technique on his recordings, but search Youtube for "two saxophones at once" to see more contemporary examples.  Here is Jeff Coffin (of Bela Fleck & the Flecktones and the Dave Matthews Band) demonstrating how it's done (start at 4:30).

Granted, if this is the case, this would be the only Garcia/Saunders recording where he does this, which would also be pretty strange.  But is it as strange as a second saxophonist playing nearly perfect unison parts with Fierro all night -- but never taking a single solo break -- for just this one performance?  Nothing that both horns plays is in any way complex, mostly just little accompaniment riffs, but it seems far too tight to be just an off-the-cuff guest appearance, and I can't imagine that Fierro and another player would have rehearsed for this.  I can far more easily imagine Fierro playing two horns, then never doing it again after a single raised eyebrow from Garcia, or simply because it was a pain in the ass.

Any thoughts?

[edit: I posted more evidence in the comments.  I'm not going to re-edit this post, though, so see below if you're still not buying it]

[addendum Nov 2024; this occurred to me out of the blue today and I wanted to add it here rather than tuck it away down in the comments]

Further thoughts on why Fierro might have done this just once at this one particular show: consider the sense of occasion.  As outlined below, this show established the GAMH as Garcia's San Francisco room of choice for the next year-and-a-half.  I wonder if it also wasn't something of a debut for Fierro?  Granted, he'd already been playing with the band in a more casual capacity -- he plays on 7/19/73 and 10/2/73 (Winterland) which were both unusual shows with added musical guests; he's on two of the four circulating Keystone shows from Oct-Nov 73 -- but there are plenty more known G/S shows with no tape/setlist, so we don't know how regularly Fierro was present.  On the next available tape, 1/17/74 Keystone, someone in the crowd asks who the sax player is and Garcia introduces him by name.  So it seems safe to assume he may not have been established as a band member yet (or maybe he was and that's just some doof asking what many people already knew?).  So now, on 2/5/74, the band is playing a bigger, fancier space than the Keystone, right in the heart of San Francisco. Maybe no one says so, but maybe the feeling is that something a little special is happening, for Fierro at least. As I said above, Fierro seems to be given more of the spotlight early in the night (Garcia calling him out name as he plays the first solo of the night, then playing his own tune next).  Maybe Fierro figures he'll mark the occasion by trying something a little extra, maybe a tip of the hat to the room's jazz pedigree, and he does the two-horns-at-once thing.  I dunno.  That seems like a thin argument, but it does get at the "why this show and not any other show?" question.

Garcia at the Great American Music Hall:

courtesy gdsets; not much rock & roll!

The Keystone in Berkeley is rightfully considered Garcia's homebase in the 70's until the mid-80's, but he also played the Great American Music Hall a lot in 1974.  2/5/74 marks the beginning of a long stretch.  The economic implications of this are more in the JGMF/Lost Live Dead wheelhouse, but it nevertheless strikes me as interesting.  Do we know who was promoting these shows?  I am sure they were happy to fill all those weeknights (see below) with a money maker like Garcia.  The venue was only slightly larger -- 470 vs. 435 at the Keystone -- but the GAMH appears to have been a much classier joint: it also served food, and the decor was a considerable step up from the Keystone, not to mention that it also sported a pretty colorful history.  The club seemed to book the typically eclectic range of local Bay Area and national acts, but not much in the way of rock & roll.  A few major jazz artists recorded live albums there: Sonny Rollins, McCoy Tyner, Carla Bley, Betty Carter, and Carmen McRae, plus acoustic artists like Doc Watson and David Bromberg.  I am surprised that Old & In the Way never played there.

[edit: Jerrybase has since updated this list, which I will not bother to do myself: see here] 

 7/19/73 (Thurs) - the first circulating recording of G/S with Martin Fierro; Fierro said that he first played with Garcia at the Matrix with Howard Wales, but afaik no other evidence exists of that. [partial sbd tape]
2/5/74 (Tues) [sbd tape]
2/12/74 (Tues) [uncirculating Bettyboard, partial?]
3/2/74 (Sat)
3/10/74 (Sun) - David Grisman, Richard Greene & Vassar Clements, with Garcia as guest (no tape); see jgmf
5/2/74 (Thurs)
5/20/74 (Thurs) [uncirculating Bettyboard]

7/14/74 (Sun) - with Stephen Stills and Jack Cassady as guests - see jgmf

7/23/74 (Tues)
8/7/74 (Weds)
8/15/74 (Thurs) [aud tape]
8/24/74 (Sat) [sbd tape]
8/28/74 (Weds) [8 tunes released on the "9/1/74" Pure Jerry set; see jgmf]
10/6/74 (Sun) - with Jim Nelson, drums [partial sbd tape]
10/30/74 (Weds)
11/28/74 (Thurs) [sbd tape]
12/16/74 (Mon)
2/27,28/75 (Thurs, Fri) - the first time billed as the Legion of Mary? [2/28 partial sbd tape]
5/15/75 (Thurs) [aud tape]
6/18/75 (Fri) - billed as Garcia/Saunders, not Legion of Mary.  fwiw, I am confident that the tape circulating with this date is actually an aud of 7/4/75.
7/4,5/75 (Fri, Sat) [7/4 sbd tape] (ahem)
7/30/75 (Weds) - maybe? as per jgmf
8/13/75 (Weds) - aka the GD's One From the Vault; see Lost Live Dead
8/20,21/75 (Weds, Thurs) - advertised as the Jerry Garcia Band, actually Keith & Donna Band with Jerry as guest [8/20 partial sbd & aud tape]

unknown (blues?) band, courtesy GAMH via 7x7

Favela

Just a quick hit on this, since I've been revisiting some old recordings of this cool tune.  Antonio Carlos Jobim, its composer, hopefully needs no introduction -- and if you don't know who he is, you have probably heard a couple of his more famous compositions.  The Instituto Antonio Carlos Jobim (what I gather is the official Jobim museum in Rio de Janeiro) gives the title as "Favela (O morro não tem vez)," although Jobim's original copyrighted melody (1962) is just in the Portugese title.  "O morro não tem vez" translates to "the hill has no time," or something like "there are no opportunities in the hill," though I have also seen recordings of this titled "somewhere in the hills," which is where a favela would be (favelas are slums, which are up in the hills surrounding Rio).  (sidenote: anyone who feels like learning it and/or studying the arrangements can see all the original manuscripts at their online archive! #librarianenvy)

As far as I can tell, the first American recording was by Stan Getz with guitarist Luiz Bonfá (and Jobim) as "O Morro Não Tem Vez" on his Jazz Samba Encore! album, made and released in early 1963.   Jobim recorded it a couple of months later for his own American debut, The Composer of Desafinado Plays, then again with a bigger orchestral arrangement for his second album.  Sergio Mendes (pre easy listening) also recorded it in 1965 for his American debut, The Swinger From Rio, and I can't resist pointing out this lesser known but totally cookin' trio performance also from 1965 as well; wrap your head around that bass/drums intro!  There were probably more as well.  Martin Fierro seems to have brought the tune to the Garcia/Saunders band, so I presume that he heard it on Stan Getz's record.  G/S play it in the same key as Getz, as well.

The first time Garcia played Favela, that we know of, was 8/15/74.  The band played it at nearly every show through December, and then it was played periodically, but far less, by the Legion of Mary.  Paul Humphrey plays the shit out of it on nearly every version, many of which are quite fast and pretty damn furious.  They really bit down on it every night.

The original recordings, by contrast, are at a much more languid tempo.  I strongly recommend both Getz's Jazz Samba Encore and Mendes' Swinger From Rio to anyone who enjoys this kind of jazz, and both are a perfect fit for the waning days of summer.