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Blue Light Rain
''Blue Light Rain'' is the debut album by the instrumental Grateful Dead cover band Jazz Is Dead (band), Jazz Is Dead. It was released in 1998 by Zebra Records. The album features guitarist Jimmy Herring, keyboard player T. Lavitz, bassist Alphonso Johnson, and drummer Billy Cobham. The album title can be found in a line from the song "Unbroken Chain": "Blue light rain, whoa, unbroken chain / Looking for familiar faces in an empty window pane". Reception In a review for AllMusic, Jim Newsom wrote: "Longtime Dead listeners will recognize most of the melodies, but the arrangements and solos by this amazing quartet transform the originals... it is one of the most remarkable studio recordings to fall under the often-maligned jazz-rock fusion banner in many a year... Through this project, they and their bandmates bring musical adventurousness, rhythmic complexity and instrumental virtuosity to a whole new generation, while rekindling the spark in those who were around for fusion's heyd ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jazz Is Dead (band)
Jazz is Dead is an instrumental Grateful Dead cover band that interprets classic Dead songs with jazz influences. The group is notable in featuring veterans of jazz and jazz fusion ensembles. The group's composition has changed over time, and T Lavitz was the band's only constant member until they reformed in 2015 (five years after Lavitz's death). Personnel Members ;Current members *Alphonso Johnson - bass (1998-2001, 2015–2016, 2023) *Steve Kimock - guitar (2023) *Bobby Lee Rodgers - guitar (2023) *Pete Lavezzoli - drums (2023) ;Former members *Billy Cobham - drums (1998-1999) *Jimmy Herring - lead guitar (1998-2001) *T Lavitz - keyboards (1998-2006) *Jeff Sipe - drums (1999-2006) *Kenny Gradney - bass (2001-2002) *Dave Livolsi - bass (2002-2006) *Rod Morgenstein - drums (1999-2006, 2015–2016) *Jeff Pevar - lead guitar (2001-2006, 2015–2016) *Tom Constanten - keyboards (2015–2016) *Chris Smith (keyboardist), Chris Smith - keyboards (2015–2016) Lineups The b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Hunter (lyricist)
Robert C. Christie Hunter (born Robert Burns; June 23, 1941 – September 23, 2019) was an American lyricist, singer-songwriter, translator, and poet, best known for his work with the Grateful Dead. Born near San Luis Obispo, California, Hunter spent some time in his childhood in foster homes, as a result of his father's abandoning his family, and took refuge in reading and writing. He attended the University of Connecticut for a year before returning to Palo Alto, where he became friends with Jerry Garcia. Garcia and Hunter began a collaboration that lasted through the remainder of Garcia's life. Garcia and others formed the Grateful Dead in 1965, and some time later began working with lyrics that Hunter had written. Garcia invited him to join the band as a lyricist, and Hunter contributed substantially to many of their albums, beginning with ''Aoxomoxoa'' in 1969. Over the years Hunter wrote lyrics to a number of the band's signature pieces, including " Dark Star", "Ripple" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keith Godchaux
Keith Richard Godchaux (July 19, 1948 – July 23, 1980) was a pianist best known for his tenure in the rock group the Grateful Dead from 1971 to 1979. Biography Godchaux was born in Seattle, Washington, and grew up in Concord, California, a regional suburban center within the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. He began piano lessons at age five at the instigation of his father (a semi-professional musician) and subsequently played Dixieland and cocktail jazz in professional ensembles as a teenager. According to Godchaux, "I spent two years wearing dinner jackets and playing acoustic piano in country club bands and Dixieland groups...I also did piano bar gigs and put trios together to back singers in various places around the Bay Area... layingcocktail standards like 'Misty' the way jazz musicians resentfully play a song that's popular – that frustrated space... I just wasn't into it... I was looking for something real to get involved with – which wouldn't necessar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blues For Allah
''Blues for Allah'' is the eighth studio album by the Grateful Dead. It was recorded February 27 May 7, 1975, and released September 1, 1975. It was the band's third album on their own Grateful Dead Records label and their third studio album in a row. ''Blues for Allah'' was the group's highest-charting album until 1987's '' In the Dark'', reaching 12 during a thirteen-week stay on the ''Billboard'' Album Chart. Recording ''Blues for Allah'' was recorded after the Dead began a band hiatus in October 1974. Conscious of needing a new album release for their independent label, the band initiated the project in January 1975. In contrast to the commercial studios employed for their previous studio albums, the band used the studio that rhythm guitarist Bob Weir had built at his new home in Mill Valley, California.Beyond Description (1973–1989); Rhino Records, 2004. Liner Notes: David Fricke Rather than their usual approach of recording studio versions of songs that had matur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ron "Pigpen" McKernan
Ronald Charles McKernan (September 8, 1945 – March 8, 1973), known as Pigpen, was an American musician. He was a founding member of the San Francisco band the Grateful Dead and played in the group from 1965 to 1972. McKernan grew up heavily influenced by African-American music, particularly the blues, and enjoyed listening to his father's collection of records and taught himself how to play harmonica and piano. He began socializing around the San Francisco Bay Area, becoming friends with Jerry Garcia. After the pair had played in various folk and jug bands, McKernan suggested they form an electric group, which became the Grateful Dead. He was the band's original frontman as well as playing harmonica and electric organ, but Garcia and bassist Phil Lesh's influences on the band became increasingly stronger as they embraced psychedelic rock. McKernan struggled to keep up with the changing music, causing the group to hire keyboardist Tom Constanten, with McKernan's contribut ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mickey Hart
Mickey Hart (born Michael Steven Hartman, September 11, 1943) is an American percussionist. He is best known as one of the two drummers of the rock band Grateful Dead. He was a member of the Grateful Dead from September 1967 until February 1971, and again from October 1974 until their final show in July 1995. He and fellow Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann earned the nickname "the rhythm devils". Early life and education Michael Steven Hartman was born in Flatbush, Brooklyn, Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. He was raised in suburban Inwood, New York by his mother, Leah, a drummer, gown maker and bookkeeper. His father Lenny Hart, a champion Drum rudiment, rudimental drummer, had abandoned his family when the younger Hart was a toddler. Although Hart (who was hyperactive and not academically inclined) became interested in percussion as a grade school student, his interest intensified after seeing his father's picture in a newsreel documenting the 1939 World's Fair. Shor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bob Weir
Robert Hall Weir ( ; né Parber, born October 16, 1947) is an American musician and songwriter best known as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the group disbanded in 1995, Weir performed with The Other Ones, later known as The Dead, together with other former members of the Grateful Dead. Weir also founded and played in several other bands during and after his career with the Grateful Dead, including Kingfish, the Bob Weir Band, Bobby and the Midnites, Scaring the Children, RatDog, and Furthur, which he co-led with former Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh. In 2015, Weir, along with former Grateful Dead members Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, joined with Grammy-winning singer/guitarist John Mayer, bassist Oteil Burbridge, and keyboardist Jeff Chimenti to form the band Dead & Company. The band remains active. During his career with the Grateful Dead, Weir played mostly rhythm guitar and sang many of the band's rock & roll and country & western songs. In 1994, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Kreutzmann
William Kreutzmann Jr. ( ; born May 7, 1946) is an American drummer and founding member of the rock band Grateful Dead. He played with the band for its entire thirty-year career, usually alongside fellow drummer Mickey Hart, and has continued to perform with former members of the Grateful Dead in various lineups, and with his own bands BK3, 7 Walkers and Billy & the Kids. Early life Kreutzmann was born in Palo Alto, California, the son of Janice Beryl (née Shaughnessy) and William Kreutzmann Sr. His father was of German descent. His maternal grandfather was football coach and innovator Clark Shaughnessy. Kreutzmann started playing drums at the age of 13. At first he practiced on a Slingerland drum kit lent to him. As a teenager, he was practicing drums alone in a large building at his high school when Aldous Huxley and another man walked in. Huxley told Bill he'd never heard anything like it, and encouraged him in his drumming – despite the fact Bill had been told by h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dark Star (song)
"Dark Star" is a song released as a single by the Grateful Dead on Warner Bros. records in 1968. It was written by lyricist Robert Hunter and composed by lead guitarist Jerry Garcia; however, compositional credit is sometimes extended to include Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, Ron "Pigpen" McKernan, and Bob Weir. "Dark Star" was an early Grateful Dead classic which the group often used as a vehicle for extended jamming sessions during live performances. The song is included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll list and was ranked at number 57 on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time. Composition and release In May 1967, Garcia composed the preliminary chords of the song, but it was at the time without lyrics. A handful of months later, Robert Hunter, who would become a longtime collaborator with the Grateful Dead, arrived back in California and overheard the band playing around with the track. While in Rio Nido, a sm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scarlet Begonias
"Scarlet Begonias" is a song by the Grateful Dead. The lyrics were written by Robert Hunter and the music by Jerry Garcia. The live debut of "Scarlet Begonias" came on March 23, 1974 at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California. The song begins in Grosvenor Square in London and also references " Tea for Two" from ''No, No, Nanette'' by Irving Caesar and Vincent Youmans. The third stanza uses gambling/loss imagery that occurs in many Grateful Dead songs. The line "As I picked up my matches and was closing the door" uses the symbolism of playing poker with matchsticks to indicate a very low stakes gamble that was made for fun. The line "Everybody's playing in the Heart of Gold Band" was used by Keith and Donna Godchaux to name their new group "Heart of Gold Band" when they left Grateful Dead in 1979. The recording first appears on the 1974 release ''From the Mars Hotel''. When " Fire on the Mountain" was incorporated into the band's repertoire in 1977, "Scarlet Begonias" would ofte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phil Lesh
Philip Chapman Lesh (born March 15, 1940) is an American musician and a founding member of the Grateful Dead, with whom he played bass guitar throughout their 30-year career. After the band's disbanding in 1995, Lesh continued the tradition of Grateful Dead family music with side project Phil Lesh and Friends, which paid homage to the Dead's music by playing their originals, common covers, and the songs of the members of his band. Lesh operated a music venue called Terrapin Crossroads. He scaled back his touring regimen in 2014 but continues to perform with Phil Lesh & Friends at select venues. From 2009 to 2014, he performed in Furthur alongside former Grateful Dead bandmate Bob Weir. Background Lesh was born in Berkeley, California, United States, and started out as a violin player. While enrolled at Berkeley High School he switched to trumpet and participated in all of the school's music-related extracurricular activities. Studying the instrument under Bob Hansen, conducto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerry Garcia
Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician best known for being the principal songwriter, lead guitarist, and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence during the counterculture of the 1960s. Although he disavowed the role, Garcia was viewed by many as the leader of the band. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 as a member of the Grateful Dead. As one of its founders, Garcia performed with the Grateful Dead for the band's entire 30-year career (1965–1995). Garcia also founded and participated in a variety of side projects, including the Saunders–Garcia Band (with longtime friend Merl Saunders), the Jerry Garcia Band, Old & In the Way, the Garcia/ Grisman and Garcia/Kahn acoustic duos, Legion of Mary, and New Riders of the Purple Sage (which he co-founded with John Dawson and David Nelson). He also released several solo albums, and contributed to a number of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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