Jerry Garcia: Ten Years After

On August 9, 1995, eight days after his 53rd birthday, Jerry Garcia died. Ten years later, the anniversary has been marked by a string of new releases and remastered reissues of Garcia's work.

On August 9, 2005, Rhino Home Video released Jerry Garcia Band: Live At Shoreline 9/1/90. Just as it was with Garcia himself, there's much more to this DVD than meets the eye.

Grateful Dead keyboardist Brent Mydland was found dead of a drug overdose on July 26, 1990. In addition to dealing with the personal loss, the group faced a professional dilemma as well. Six days later, the band was booked to play the Shoreline Amphitheater, outside San Francisco.

It didn't feel right to the group to perform so soon after the death of a band member, but it also didn't feel right to disappoint the fans who were planning to attend the Shoreline concert. The solution was for the Jerry Garcia Band to step up and fulfill the commitment, in the process delivering what may have been the best performance of their lives.

Fortunately for us, that performance was videotaped, and has been released for the first time on DVD as Jerry Garcia Band: Live At Shoreline 9/1/90.

It seemed that all the members of JGB were running on pure emotion and sheer force of will that night. As usual, Garcia's guitar was flawless, and his vocals even more expressive than usual. Bassist John Kahn, drummer David Kemper, and especially keyboardist Melvin Seals delivered inspired performances.

Although the mood was far from somber, the underlying context of Mydland's death was apparent throughout the performance, peaking when, after singing from the soul the first verse of That Lucky Old Sun, Garcia turned and gave his bandmates one of those "Everything's gonna be okay" looks that still inspire his fans today.

If there's a gripe about the production it is that, because all of the very directional microphones were aimed at the band, the sound of the crowd is virutally nonexistent. Except for an all too infrequent wide shot from behind the audience, there's nothing to convey the emotional response of the audience to what was happening on stage.

That Garcia was influenced by several distinctly different music genres is evidenced by the projects in which he was involved both before and during his tenure with the Grateful Dead.

He was so fond of jazz that in 1974 he formed Legion of Mary, described by Relix magazine as "the only real acid jazz group." During its short lifespan, Legion of Mary performed about 60 shows. This two-CD set, The Jerry Garcia Collection Vol. 1: Legion of Mary is the first official release of their material. Most of the 14 tracks were recorded during performances at San Francisco's Great American Music Hall and at Keystone in Berkeley, California during 1975.

There's a funky Motown blues feel to the music, exemplified by covers of Smokey Robinson, Ray Charles, Chuck Berry, and Allen Toussaint. Covers of Bob Dylan and Jesse Winchester prove that the band wasn't restricted to just one musical influence.

While this set has huge historical and musical significance, it won't win any awards for technical excellence. The frequent squeals of feedback and overall tinny sound have the feel of bootleg garage tapes. As a record of another of the many musical sides of Jerry Garcia, this set is invaluable.

2005 has also seen the release of two new entries in the "Pure Jerry" series. The two-CD set Warner Theater: March 18, 1978 and the four-CD Merriweather Post Pavilion: September 1 & 2, 1989, featuring memorable live performances by the Jerry Garcia Band, are available via jerrygarcia.com.

Grateful Dead: Truckin' Up To Buffalo is a two-CD, five-DVD record of the band's 1989 summer tour, including, for the first time, the entire July 4, 1989 show at Rich Stadium, near Buffalo, New York.

Remastered reissues (with previously unreleased bonus tracks) of the Garcia and Reflections albums also merit a place in a true fan's collection.

More To Come

Still to come this year is the scheduled October release of Ladder To The Stars: Garcia Plays Dylan, a two-CD compilation of Grateful Dead, JGB and Legion of Mary covers of songs by Garcia's longtime pal.

Imagine the body of work that would exist if he was still alive today. That new Garcia material is still being released ten years after his death is a testimony to his stature as a musical force.