JERRY GARCIA BAND- “STAYS HONEST”
JERRY GARCIA LIKES TO ROCK OUT IN THE WOODS. PHOTO ART BY BEN UPHAM.
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JERRY GARCIA BAND-
“STAYS HONEST”
BY JOHN WISNIEWSKI
THE POST STANDARD
SYRACUSE, NEW YORK
FEBRUARY 20, 1980
Singer/songwriter/guitarist Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, the most
enduring and best-loved of the San Francisco bands that came into prominence during the psychedelic music era of the late-1960s, is currently touring the, East Coast with a band of friends to raise money for the screen rights to novelist Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s “The Sirens of Titan.”
It was evident from the Garcia Band’s standing-room-only performance Tuesday night at the nearly 3,000 seat Syracuse Area Landmark Theatre that Garcia has no intentions of making the tour a simply take-the-money-and-run proposition. No matter what the motives for the tour are, they have not taken away from the integrity of the music.
This edition of the Jerry Garcia Band includes drummer Johnny D’Fronesca, keyboards player Ozzie Ahlers and bassist John Kahn — as fine a non-Dead lineup as Garcia has ever assembled. The four piece band exhibited very appealing jazz tendencies that made for some refreshing re-workings of old Garcia/Dead favorites.
“Sugaree,” the night’s opener, for instance, was an impressive showcase for Ahlers’ knockout electric-piano work and Garcia’s trademark guitar lines – lines that build into beautifully slithery and elastic melodies.
Without a doubt, the musicianship was at the forefront. While Garcia is an able vocalist, he has never been a great one. He will probably always be remembered more for his playing than his singing.
The night was full of moments of inspired improvisation by Ahlers and Garcia, who seemed at their best when playing off of each other.
Kahn’s bass work was in the same solid and-economically tasteful style for which he has become noted. And D’Fronesca’s drums left nothing to complain about. It was a night of competent and spirited musicianship that created a lot of good feeling — something for which, it seems, Garcia can always be counted on.
JERRY GARCIA BAND DISCOGRAPHY:
1971 Hooteroll? (w/ Howard Wales)
1972 Garcia
1973 Live at Keystone (w/ Merl Saunders)
1974 Compliments
1976 Reflections
1978 Cats Under the Stars
1982 Run for the Roses
1988 Almost Acoustic (Live)
1991 Jerry Garcia Band (Live)
1991 Garcia Grisman
1993 Not For Kids Only (w/ Grisman)
1996 Shady Grove (w/ Grisman)
1997 How Sweet it is (Live)
1998 So What (w/ Grisman)
2001 Dont Let Go (Live)
2001 Shining Star (Live)
2004 After Midnight (Live 1980)
2005 Garcia Plays Dylan (Live)
2009 Let it Rock (Live 1975)
CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW TO SEE GRATEFUL DEAD AND JERRY GARCIA PHOTOS AND ARTWORK:
GRATEFUL DEAD 12-27-77
and
JERRY GARCIA BAND 10-27-78
and
GRATEFUL DEAD ARTWORK
and
PURCHASE GRATEFUL DEAD CD’S AND DVD’S