The Rainforest Band was an American

jam band A jam band is a musical group whose concerts (and live albums) are characterized by lengthy improvisational "jams." These include extended musical improvisation over rhythmic grooves and chord patterns, and long sets of music which often cr ...

that spans several genres, including

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

, world music, R&B, and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

. Founded in 1990, it produced four albums and performed for ten years.

History

The Rainforest Band began in 1990 with the

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

-nominated album ''Blues From the Rainforest'', a collaboration between jazz keyboardist

Merl Saunders Merl Saunders (February 14, 1934 – October 24, 2008) was an American multi-genre musician who played piano and keyboards, favoring the Hammond B-3 console organ. Biography Born in San Mateo, California, United States, Saunders attended Polyte ...

, percussionist

Muruga Booker Steven Bookvich known as Muruga Booker (born December 27, 1942) is an American drummer, composer, inventor, artist, recording artist, and an autonomous Eastern Orthodox priest. Biography Booker was born in Detroit, Michigan, on December 27, 1 ...

, and

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...

guitarist

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 ...

, with Shakti Booker (vocals), Eddie Moore (percussion),

Melvin Seals Melvin Seals (born 1953 in San Francisco, California) is an American musician, best known as a longtime member of the Jerry Garcia Band. Early life and career Melvin Seals began playing piano at age eight and began his musical adventure playin ...

(sound effects) and Bill Thompson (drum & sampled sound midi-technician). This fusion of world music and jazz was an early hit in a genre which became a category for the Grammys that same year. The music itself was written by Saunders and Booker, and Garcia added tracks both with electric guitar and

MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and re ...

-guitar mimicking

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

, and sampled sounds from the Amazonian

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

were incorporated into the music throughout. Although the album was billed as a Merl Saunders album, in the tour that followed the group was billed as The Rainforest Band, and the album is generally regarded as the first release of the band. For the next ten years they played with an ever-changing line-up of musicians, many from the Grateful Dead family of musicians. They were a favorite

Earth Day Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EarthDay.org (formerly Earth Day Network) including 1 b ...

act; one of their albums was called ''Save the Planet So We’ll Have Someplace to Boogie'', and a familiar chant at performances was “Every Day is Earth Day”. Their albums were produced by Sumertone Records, Merl Saunders’ label, and a portion of the proceeds went to the

Rainforest Action Network Rainforest Action Network (RAN) is an environmental organization based in San Francisco, California, United States. The organization was founded by Randy "Hurricane" Hayes and Mike Roselle in 1985, and first gained national prominence with a gras ...

. In 1999 a DVD of ''Blues From the Rainforest'' was released, containing the entire album from the original masters, concert footage of their September 24, 1990 performance at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, a music video of the title track, and the documentary ''Rediscovering the Amazon'', chronicling Saunders’ trip to the Amazonian rainforest and showcasing the issue of rainforest destruction. After a nearly ten-year period in which Muruga and Shakti Booker had broken from the band, a reunion took place between Merl Saunders and Muruga and Shakti Booker at the

Starwood Festival The Starwood Festival is a seven-day Neo-Pagan, New Age, multi-cultural and world music festival, taking place every July in the United States of America. The Starwood Festival is a camping event which holds workshops on a variety of subjects. Th ...

in 2000. This appearance was to be the launching point of a new tour starting at Nelson's Ledges Quarry Park in 2002; however, it was to be the last performance of the Rainforest Band with Merl Saunders. Merl’s health declined, and he suffered a stroke in 2002, and never performed in this or any of his other musical projects again. He died October 24, 2008. Other artists who have performed as part of the Rainforest Band include

Tony Saunders Anthony Scott Saunders (born April 29, 1974) is a retired American professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1997 to 1999. He was the first player selected by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 1997 MLB expansion ...

Mike Hinton Michael David Hinton (May 4, 1956 – August 1, 2013) was an American guitarist, residing in the San Francisco Bay Area. During his career, he played with numerous bands, including Norton Buffalo and the Knockouts, High Noon, Merl Saunders & the R ...

, Vince Littleton, Larry Vann, Michael Warren,

Steve Kimock Steve Kimock (born October 5, 1955) is an American rock guitarist. He was a member of San Francisco Bay Area bands Zero and KVHW. His tone and some of his playing approach has been compared to Jerry Garcia, who was a friend of his, and he has ...

, Karen Baker, Tammy Tambora, and

John Popper John Popper (born March 29, 1967) is an American musician and songwriter, known as the co-founder, lead vocalist, and frontman of the rock band Blues Traveler. Early life John Popper was born in Chardon, Ohio. His father was a Hungarian immig ...

. A re-launch of the Rainforest Band as a tribute to Merl Saunders took place at the 29th

on July 25, 2009, featuring Merl’s son bassist

, guitarist Michael Hinton, drummer Bill Norwood, keyboardist Mike Emerson (

Tommy Castro Tommy Castro (born April 15, 1955, San Jose, California, United States) is an American blues, R&B, and rock guitarist and singer. He has been recording since the mid-1990s. His music has taken him from local stages to national and internation ...

Elvin Bishop Elvin Richard Bishop (born October 21, 1942) is an American blues and rock music singer, guitarist, bandleader, and songwriter. An original member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a membe ...

, Petty Theft), and vocalist Misa Malone. Also appearing were

Sikiru Adepoju Sikiru Adepoju (born 10 November 1950) is a Nigerian percussionist and recording artist, primarily in the genres of traditional African music and world music. He plays a variety of instruments and styles. Background A master of the talking d ...

talking drum The talking drum is an hourglass-shaped drum from West Africa, whose pitch can be regulated to mimic the tone and prosody of human speech. It has two drumheads connected by leather tension cords, which allow the player to change the pitc ...

and Douglas "Val" Serrant on

steel drum The steelpan (also known as a pan, steel drum, and sometimes, collectively with other musicians, as a steelband or steel orchestra) is a musical instrument originating in Trinidad and Tobago. Steelpan musicians are called pannists. Descripti ...

and

djembe A djembe or jembe ( ; from Maninka language, Malinke ''jembe'' , N'Ko script, N'Ko: ) is a rope-tuned skin-covered goblet drum played with bare hands, originally from West Africa. According to the Bambara people in Mali, the name of the djembe ...

. Muruga Booker has also formed his own version of the Rainforest Band and recorded a CD (that has not yet been released) in 2010 featuring

Badal Roy Badal Roy ( bn, বাদল রায়; born Amarendra Roy Chowdhury; 16 October 1939 – 18 January 2022) was an Indian tabla player, percussionist, and recording artist known for his work in jazz, world music, and experimental music. B ...

Perry Robinson Perry Morris Robinson (September 17, 1938 – December 2, 2018) was an American jazz clarinetist and composer. He was the son of composer Earl Robinson. Early life and education Robinson was born and grew up in New York City. He attended the Le ...

and the final recordings of

James Gurley James Martin Gurley (December 22, 1939 – December 20, 2009) was an American musician. He is best known as the principal lead guitarist of Big Brother and the Holding Company, a psychedelic/acid rock band from San Francisco which was fronted ...

Discography

* 1990 - ''Blues From The Rainforest: A Musical Suite'' - Featuring Muruga Booker, Eddie Moore, Shakti, Special Guest: Jerry Garcia * 1991 - ''Save The Planet So We'll Have Someplace To Boogie'' - Merl Saunders & the Rainforest Band * 1993 - ''It's In The Air'' - Merl Saunders & the Rainforest Band * 1998 - ''Fiesta Amazonica'' - Merl Saunders & the Rainforest Band

Filmography

* 1997: ''A Tribute to Jerry Garcia: Deadheads Festival Japan 1997'' (Japanese Laser Disc, Video Super Rock series VPLR-70650) * 1999: ''Blues from the Rainforest: A Musical Suite'' (Mobile Fidelity) DVD

References

{{Authority control 1990 establishments in California 2010 disestablishments in California American rock music groups American jazz ensembles from California Jam bands American world music groups Musical groups established in 1990 Musical groups disestablished in 2010