10/1/76: some slipknot

courtesy gdsets

I took in the bulk of the 2nd set jam while cooking dinner, and then again just now.  The sbd is just dandy, but this great aud tape is the way to go:
https://archive.org/details/gd1976-10-01.aud.unknown.118468.flac16

(it's even better than the Jerry Moore sourced tapes, imho, although either this tape must be from the same source, or the taper must have been set up right near him?)

ramblings: 

• Slipknot!  Oh Slipknot!  This is masterful.  After about 9 minutes, it seems like everyone else is ready to wrap things up and move on -- but Jerry waits, defers, then slowly spreads his tendrils off in another new direction.  This is a beautiful moment of Grateful Dead communication.  The nudge from the drummers and Phil's little slide at 11:40 cues the walk-up into the ending very nicely. 
• 11 minutes of Franklin's Tower is just enough.  I'm sorry, but this feels, you got it, just exactly perfect.  Not an all-timer, not blowing the roof off, not just cruising either; just the right amount of bounce and Jerry heats it up just when he needs to.  I am happy.  
• They didn't really have the whole disco Dancin' thing down until 1977, and a lot of the earlier 76 ones feel more clunky than funky to my ears.  This one has found its groove, though it doesn't have the same git down as it did in 77-79.  Jerry uses his wahwah pedal to great effect here, giving the jam a more smeary, psychedelic feel than the cleaner wompwompwomp of his trademark Mutron.  Again, it's short and sweet, but not too short: a hair below 8 minutes total before they break the jam off for Drums.
• After 5 minutes of the Wheel, everyone is clearly rarin' to get back into Dancin', but Jerry ignores it and wanders off the path.  The next 3 minutes are yet another of those low-key, only in '76 kind of jams: everyone is game to just see what happens, and Jerry's in no hurry to get them anywhere in particular.  And what happens is quite lovely -- shades of Crazy Fingers in spots, but really just another one of those funny '76 corners, like finding a room in your house that you didn't know was there.  Jerry lands it right in Ship of Fools, not a tune that I typically get excited about.  But after that trip, it's a welcome arrival.  It ends, and after some uncertain splashing about, Jerry guides them all back into the Dancin' reprise.  Kinda messy in spots, but hey man, they're just making this up as they go along.
• But it's not quite over.  Why not slide a little bonus GDTRFB in there just for good measure?  Why yes, thank you, I will.  All of it is great, but I find myself rewinding to 7:14 when Phil does that great tumble down into the AWBYGN riff and they're all playing everything all at once.  They even finagle a slick little transition into the closing Saturday Night, something they definitely did not have to do.  But they did stuff like that in 1976.

I do like 1976.

PS: This was the first of three times that they played at the Market Square Arena.  Each show was very good, and there is fantastic aud tape of each one.  How 'bout that.

RIP Robert Hunter

Rest in peace, Robert Hunter.  Right now I can think of no better tribute than this: tonight I sang his words to my kids before they fall asleep, which I have done nearly every night now for over a decade.

Merl's Tune (Help Us Out)

I assume y'all know Merl's Tune, although there are unfortunately only a small handful of known performances:

3/7/73 - with George Tickner on 2nd guitar.
4/14/73 - no circulating tape, also with Tickner
7/5/73 - released on GarciaLive vol 6
7/10 & 11/73, i.e. the various Live at Keystone releases - Merl's Tune wasn't on the original album and didn't see commercial release until the first Keystone Encores LP/CD in 1988.
11/3/73 - I believe this was Bill Vitt's last show (or one of his last) with Garcia/Saunders?

I am a big fan, in particular, of 3/7/73 and 11/3/73, but of course all of these shows are worth hearing.  For some reason, Merl's Tune fell out of favor (or maybe was never in favor to begin with?), but it would have fit very well next to the band's jazzier material in 1974-75.

Check this out, though.  Cue up any of those version of Merl's Tune, then take a listen @20:40 here:


"Help Us Out," credited to John White (per label scans at discogs) vs. "Merl's Tune" credited on Keystone Encores to Saunders/White.  Thanks to Youtube commentor michael tristan for pointing that out (um, 6 years ago), and to Peter Tschirky for posting it.

John White is a little-known Bay Area guitarist with, afaik, this one Mainstream LP from 1971 to his credit.  I don't know anything about him besides what's in this older blog post: http://soundological.blogspot.com/2009/09/john-white-john-white.html

Saunders plays on the whole record, along with drummer Philip Wilson (ex Butterfield Blues Band, and later a renowned drummer in free jazz circles) and saxophonist Hadley Caliman.  Mainstream's 70's jazz catalog mostly has not made the transition to digital yet, and the original LP's were usually pretty light on detailed session info, so no luck there.  The dense horn-heavy sound on this track is also typical of Mainstream's overstuffed approach to production, but imho this record definitely fits well in that gritty Bay Area rock/R&B/jazz guitar bag next to, say, Harvey Mandel or Mel Brown, that kind of thing.

I have heard a couple of Merl Saunders sideman appearances from this same Garcia/Saunders timeframe, but the ones I'm thinking of were for Fantasy Records, Saunders' label.  This John White LP is from 1971, so presumably Saunders wasn't under contract with Fantasy yet.

So, um, yeah.  Dunno if this is in the same league as the "Finders Keepers" misattribution.  Barring other information, I will just offer this for your consideration.

update (Dec 2019): 
JGMF sent along a pic the tape box for one of the Bettyboard reels from 7/11/73, with this handwritten notation of the contents:
Harder They Come
John White Song
Like a Road
How Sweet it Is
My Funny Valentine 

Okay.  John White song.  I guess that answers that question?  Maybe not?

11/5/74: a tale of two Jerrys

Jerry Moore, courtesy of Relix.

Continuing my Paul Humphrey streak, I very much enjoyed returning to this outstanding tape made by the great Jerry Moore, who taped several shows from this short Garcia/Saunders east coast tour, including all three of the Bottom Line early shows.  No late shows!  Can't blame a guy who's gotta get up and go to work in the morning, but still.  Oh woe.

I find the set to be enjoyable, but mixed overall -- the good stuff is really outstanding, but they're not totally consistent.  They come pumping out of the gate, but the delivery seems to dip a little bit in the middle of the set, with a draggy tempo for Second That Emotion and good-but-not-very-inspired performances of Leave Your Hat On and He Ain't Give You None.  But this was their first night on the road and mostly they're pretty cookin'.  They stumble a bit with getting together at the start of Mystery Train, but then they do indeed get it together.  Favela is fast, so fast that it feels like Jerry is only just staying on top of it.  To my ears, he fares much better on La-La, but both are pretty heavy performances. 

Taper legend Harvey Lubar shared the following story about this night (here)

As some of you might know, Jerry Moore and I were real close when we were in college together but drifted apart afterwards.  Nothing major, just life.  So, here's a quick story: Jerry and I went to the Bottom Line on 11/5/74 to see the early show.  The tables were perpendicular to the stage and we had the first two seats on each side of the table, right by the center of the stage.  When Garcia came out, I mentioned to Jerry that Garcia was starting to gray.  Jerry looked at him (his ankles were 3 feet away from us) and nodded in agreement.  We had never been so close to him before.  Jerry then took his mics out and actually put them on the stage for a few seconds while rearranging his bag.  Garcia stared at Jerry with total disbelief (his eyes actually widened) but he didn't say a word.  Then the show began.  Another great recording by Mr. Moore.

It is indeed an excellent aud tape, but what is particularly delightful is the chatter between, I presume,  Moore, Lubar, and maybe another buddy or two.  Thanks to the particular terroir of this tape, we are in a unique position (to paraphrase myself) of listening to Jerry Moore and Harvey Lubar listen to Jerry Garcia, and they are loving it.  This new drummer, whoever he is, is blowing their minds.  They are telling each other all about it.  For example, after a great That's a Touch:

"That drummer is really good."
"He's great!"
"Martin is nice."
"Yeah, he fits in."
"The drummer is really nice on the little rolls there."

after Favela:

"Musically, this is the best I've heard them."
"The drummer is gooood."
"He's really good." 
"He's damn good."
"Did you see, him and Garcia--"
"--right, that's what I was just going to say, he obviously knows(?) him a hell of a lot."
[calling out] "Who's the drummer!?" "what's his name?"
[deadpans] "Mickey Hart."
"He was, like, checking it with him -- it was incredible... [inaudible] ...It's really strange, but it was definitely happening." 
"That must be different for Garcia, for sure -- it's a different style of playing entirely."

 After La-La:

"This is definitely better than the last time they were here." (ahem)

And I would have to agree.  After Mystery Train, one of them declares, "phenomenal!" and Moore stops the tape.  But they weren't done yet.  The tape cuts back in:

"I don't believe that wasn't their last number!"
"What is it, quarter after two?"  [this has got to be sarcastic, right? This is definitely the early show]

and they power through a hot Money Honey to end the early show, unusually long at almost two hours!  A nice final touch is that Moore lets it roll for another minute, capturing the Bottom Line announcer cheerfully asking everyone to clear out for the next set and being greeted by Moore, Lubar, and a chorus of New Yorkers expressing how they feel about that.

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.

10/27/74: stay golden, Jerry

courtesy gdsets

I had never closely listened to this because of the aud tape quality, but I was feeling intrepid and it paid off.  This is currently the earliest Garcia/Saunders recording with Paul Humphrey.  Some thoughts:

• Humphrey's first gig with the band was evidently at the tiny Chateau Liberté club on 10/11.  The next night, Garcia/Saunders was at the Berkeley Community Theater, apparently being fronted by Maria Muldaur (JGMF).  At a rare outdoor show in Santa Barbara on the 13th, Muldaur joined them again (JGMF).  gdsets also lists a Keystone Berkeley gig on 10/15 (the night before the Dead's final pre-hiatus stand at Winterland!? hmm), and then this three-night run at the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach, just south of LA and presumably not far from Humphrey's home base (gdsets lists five nights?).  Okay.  In between all this, the Grateful Dead machine played their final five shows for the foreseeable future.  Everyone at the time must have been reeling at the potential consequences of a Grateful Dead-less world, but Garcia's work schedule was not disrupted in any way.

• The sound quality of this tape is not great, but at least it sounds like our taper was right up front, maybe even with his mics set up onstage.  The vocals are very low (another stage mic tape giveaway), but the instrumental balance is good.  But it's overloaded and a couple generations down the line.  Grit your teeth and adjust.

• Quality notwithstanding, I found the most of the music here surprisingly hot.  That's a Touch I Like and Roadrunner, tunes that I usually enjoy without taking much notice of, are both really bangin', with Humphrey's powerful beat nearly levitating the whole band.  Favela is another bananas crazy version, flying along really quickly, but incredibly energetic and intense.  Expressway, like one on the 31st, feels draggier to me, with Humphrey perhaps overcompensating a bit (and Fierro deserves every "more cowbell!" joke that you care to make at his expense).  It Ain't No Use is mislabeled in the text file as It's Too Late: besides plowing a deep groove, also take note of Garcia's nice Roy Buchanan-esque volume knob bends on the intro.  Mystery Train is slamming.  Wow!  This band smokes.

• No big surprise that Maria Muldaur joins in again tonight, playing blue light chanteuse on Gee Baby Ain't I Good to You, an old chestnut that was recorded by loads of folks -- notably, in this case, also by her then-husband Geoff Muldaur on his album Having a Wonderful Time.  The story of both of the Muldaurs' connection to Garcia in early 74 is worth parsing out, although not here -- but his album seems to have been made in Garcia's/Saunders' orbit (and with the latter's participation) around the time of Garcia's Compliments earlier in the year, and Geoff Muldaur was on stage with the band at least once, possibly twice.  Also, the text file here mysteriously notes "Ringo on drums," but I am not hearing any audible evidence that anyone else is playing besides Humphrey.  If there is, then there is no way in the world that it's that Ringo.

• Aud tape fun: the taper's pals provide a nice distraction during the downtime in between songs, but Garcia's voice (off mic) comes through in spots as well.  Before Favela: "how do we start this? ... G minor?" (cue stoned chuckles).  Before Mystery Train (track 8, @1:05) it sounds like one of the pals says something in a mock southern accent about Mississppi Moon, to which Jerry responds something that I can't make out.  In the chatter after Expressway, another pal reasons, "guess they have new songs to worry about."  Yes indeed.

10/31/74: they don't know what my love is

courtesy gdsets

Another quickie: I like this show a lot and come back it to fairly regularly, if not all that often.  Again, trying to avoid a big project (I caught myself about to make a Paul Humphrey Top 10, for goodness sake), so just a few things:

• Paul Humphrey on the drums.  Good gracious me.  I am a big fan of Paul Humphrey.  The JGMF/Lost Live Dead axis has pinned down the specifics of his tenure with Garcia (I still contend that he is absolutely not on Pure Jerry 9/1/74 despite being credited), but my guess is that most deadheads unfortunately still associated him only with Lawrence Welk.  He did do some time on the Lawrence Welk show (everyone's gotta make a living), but he was also a session man par excellence and is one of the great funk drummers of his era: Exhibit A.   Dunno the circumstances of how exactly he was hired for Garcia/Saunders -- I believe it was Saunders who brought him in, and I presume it was for the sake of their east coast tour -- but he laid it down real funky for about seven weeks and then went on his way.  There is a lot of really, really great music in those seven weeks.

• The sbd tape is decent, but not outstanding quality.  The drums seems to be mixed a bit loud, and I believe that the very fizzy/phasey sound of the cymbals indicates too much noise reduction?  At any rate, it's still Paul Humphrey on drums.   

• John Kahn also sounds like he is in particularly good form tonight.  Go John!

• Interesting to see Osiris as one of the opening bands (good luck googling for info about a band called "Promised Land" in any way connected with Garcia).  Thanks to Corry, we know that Osiris happened to feature Pigpen's little brother Kevin McKernan on vocals, and that Garcia had taken a paternal interest in helping them with gear and exposure.  Lots of info here (and much more in the comments).

• The music!  Oh, the music.  Humphrey only had a couple of gigs under his belt at this point, and, while he never overplays, he was definitely a busy drummer.  To be honest, it didn't always work 100% of the time, but it sure works to everyone's advantage tonight: The Harder They Come, to my ears, didn't really find it's groove until later in Garcia's solo career, and the tempo here is a little sluggish at first, but jeez, Humphrey is killing it under those solos.  Expressway also feels a little leaden to me, but then watch out: everything after that is plenty fired up.  The groove in You Can Leave Your Hat On is borderline obscene; some serious voodoo soul stew happening in here.  Freedom Jazz Dance is outrageous.  Humphrey does get a little slap-happy towards the end of the set (the tape sound and the mix, to be fair, is doing him no favors), but the energy is way up there and it sounds like everyone is having a ball.  Tight and loose in all the right ways.