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With the reissue of Jerry Garcia and David Grisman’s So What, a meandering and lovely acoustic jazz set from 1998, Jon Dale singles out other collaborative highlights from the Grateful Dead frontman’s extra-curricular career…
JERRY GARCIA & DAVID GRISMAN
So What (reissue, 1998)
ORG MUSIC
7/10
A curious album, this one. Garcia and Grisman were long-time collaborators, having met in the late ’60s, which led to Grisman appearing on the Grateful Dead’s 1970 album American Beauty; they’d soon play together in bluegrass band Old & In The Way, and later, in the ’90s, they released a string of collaborative albums, including an album of children’s music (Not For Kids Only). There were many strings to their collective bow, then, and while their focus did tend to be on bluegrass and folk – Grisman combined these genres with jazz into a form he called Dawg Music – So What feels like a bit of an outlier, given its focus on acoustic jazz. They take on a few Miles Davis tunes here, flexing from a spirited “So What” to a tender “Milestones”; the real gems here, though, are the lovely runs through Milt Jackson’s “Bag’s Groove”.
The best of Jerry’s collaborations
HOWARD WALES & JERRY GARCIA
Hooteroll?
DOUGLAS, 1971
8/10
A surprisingly sturdy, impressive jazz-rock album, Hooteroll? has Wales and Garcia going at it particularly feverishly. It’s on Wales’s terms, largely – his overdriven organ tends to dominate proceedings – but when Garcia steps in, he’s more than capable of taking up the baton. One of the better albums in this genre.
MERL SAUNDERS
Fire Up
FANTASY, 1973
8/10
Saunders started playing with Garcia at The Matrix, the beginning of a long, fruitful collaboration. On Fire Up, Saunders is joined by Garcia, fellow Grateful Dead member Bill Kreutzmann, and Creedence’s Tom Fogerty. It’s a joy, Saunders’s piano and Garcia’s guitar and singing in perfect tandem, a deep blues-funk groove.
OLD & IN THE WAY
Old & In The Way
ROUND, 1975
8/10
A joyous, celebratory live performance from this bluegrass gang, where Garcia returns to the banjo, and joins David Grisman (mandolin), Vassar Clements (fiddle), Peter Rowan (guitar) and John Kahn (string bass). Playful and full of spirit, it’s a lovely documentation of the group, recorded late ’73 in San Francisco.