It
is amazing how many unique bands Jerry Garcia played with. Making it more
incredible is that he had to fit them between a 30-year full time
career with the Grateful Dead. We have listed most of his bands below breaking them down between the categories of acoustic or
electric.
New
Garcia releases!
Jerry
Garcia Band -Garcia Live: Volume Five 12/31/75
-
10/14 release w/ Nicky Hopkins
Jerry
Garcia Band -Garcia Live: Volume
Four 3/22/78 -
7/14 release w/ Keith Godchaux
Fall 1989: The Long Island Sound
Jerry Garcia Band / Bob Weir & Rob Wasserman
From the JGB website ... Gotta Get Back Where You Belong. With those words, we are pleased to
announce the re-launch of JerryGarcia.com.
The new site went live on August 1st, 2012 in celebration of
Garcia's 70th Birthday, and will serve as the hub of activity for a
myriad of events and adventures beginning now.
Garcia Live
For our first order of business we'd like to introduce the Garcia
Live series, a collection of Jerry Garcia's musical projects outside
of the Grateful Dead. The first release from the series features a
recording from the historic Capitol Theatre in Passaic, New Jersey
on March 1, 1980. The band performed an early and a late show on
this evening, as was common at the time. The shows were originally
multi-tracked on a 24-track mobile rig for WNEW's broadcast of the
early show. The new release of these shows will be mixed by John
Cutler and mastered by Joe Gastwirt.
The band, which included Garcia on guitar and vocals, partner in
crime John Kahn on bass, Ozzie Ahlers on Keys and Johnny de Foncesca
on drums, was wrapping up a three-week East Coast run with the
performances on this evening. Highlights including a take on the
Jimmie Rodgers penned rave-up, "That's All Right," an
early show encore of "Deal" and a rollicking version of
"That's What Love Will Make You Do" show Jerry and the
band loose and fluid at the end of the tour.
The Garcia
Live Series is available for pre-order now at the
recently launched Official
Jerry Garcia Store. The release will be offered as
a 3-CD set or as a digital download in MP3, FLAC, and 24-bit FLAC
formats. In addition, bundle options include exclusive t-shirts and
hand-screened, signed and numbered posters. While you are at the
store be sure to check out our first line of men's and women's
apparel and accessories. Believe us when we tell you there is much
more in the works!
Keystone Companions: The Complete 1973 Fantasy Recordings
Release date Sept/ 25, 2012 - Reissue with additional
7 tracks. Live July 10 and 11, 1973
About
the Pure Jerry archival
series.
We
have reviews of Jerry Garcia's solo band CD's broken down in the following sections.
Garcia Misc. Content
JG Electric Pt. 1
JG Electric Pt. 2
JG Studio
JG Acoustic
Garcia / Grisman
Rumors
Old
and in the Way
Latest
releases:
Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band
*Almost
Acoustic Reissue
*Ragged
But Right - 14 songs
Keystone Companions: The Complete 1973 Fantasy Recordings
- July 10 and 11, 1973
Jerry
Garcia Collection Vol. 2 : Jerry Garcia Band
(Keystone Berkeley, November 17 & 18, 1975)
- Nov. Release Date - The first concert release with Nicky Hopkins
in the band.
Hooteroll +2
- Reissue - Sept. 2010 with cool bonus material.
Well
Matched:The Best of Merl Saunders & Jerry Garcia
Release Date - May 23, 2006
Live
at Shoreline (DVD) - The first JGB DVD
The
Very Best of Jerry Garcia
The Best of Jerry Garcia
-One studio disc with some outtakes, one side live.
Jerry Garcia: Garcia Plays Dylan
Both Jerry Garcia Band and the Grateful Dead performing Bob Dylan
songs.
Books
Jerry
Garcia: The Collected Artwork
Complete
Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics
Old and in
the Way guitar tab
Studio
albums
The
individual remastered studio CD's from 2004's wonderful box-set are
available individually.
All Good Things
| Garcia | Compliments
| Reflections | Cats
Under The Stars | Run
for the Roses --- or Jerry
Garcia box set All Good Things
Garcia Grisman
Been All Around
This World.
Miscellaneous
content
Article
Jerry Garcia's Musical
Roots: Jerry's Banjo Years
by Sandy Rothman
Jerry
Garcia band concert reviews
from 1989.
Jerry
Garcia computer video - It's good; a studio version of
"Deal" with some visuals.
A brief
Jerry Garcia bio is provided by DjangoMusic
Check out the guitar tab
book by Dix Bruce, featuring Jerry Garcia and David Grisman's
first album transcribed.
| Jerry
Garcia Acoustic
Band
(s)
Top of Page |
| Hart
Valley Drifters |
A
group from 1962 that included Jerry Garcia (banjo, guitar), David Nelson
(guitar), Robert Hunter (bass), Norm van Mastricht (guitar,
dobro). |
| Sleepy Hollow Hog Stompers |
An early Jerry Garcia bluegrass band from
1962.
Some bootlegs tapes circulate. |
| Wildwood Boys |
A bluegrass band formed in the
fall of 1962 with Robert Hunter and others. Garcia played
banjo. No commercial releases exist, though there are several unreleased
recording that circulate among tape traders. |
| Black
Mountain Boys |
A
band that included Jerry Garcia (banjo, guitar), David Nelson
(guitar), along with others like, Sandy
Rothman, Robert Hunter, and Eric Thompson. |
| Mother
McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions |
The roots of the Grateful Dead
are formed in this jug band featuring Ron "PigPen"
McKernan and Bob Weir. Some of their material
would make it into the Grateful Dead's repertoire. |
| New
Riders of the Purple Sage |
The New Riders of the Purple Sage were founded by Jerry
Garcia, David Nelson, and John Dawson (Marmaduke). Jerry's indulgence
into pedal steel guitar. Please visit our New Riders section
for this segment of Jerry career.
Don't miss our Buddy
Cage interview. |
|
Old and in the Way |
An all star line up of bluegrass
musicians that performed mostly in the Bay Area in 1973.
Several recordings exist of these performances. A brief bio is
provided by Djangomusic. |
| Great American String Band |
A short lived bluegrass band from
1974 featuring David Grisman on mandolin. Garcia primarily
played banjo. No official recordings, but some tapes circulate.
This band is similar in style to several David Grisman
line-ups to follow. |
| Garcia
/ Kahn Acoustic |
An
acoustic line-up of Jerry Garcia and bassist John Kahn. An
official release from the Pure Jerry series was released in
March 2009, a concert from Marin Veterans Memorial Auditorium
- 2/28/86. In addition to 1986, Garcia and Kahn also had a
number of shows in 1982, 1984, and 1985, as well as an
occasional one here and there.
There is a solo acoustic Jerry performance
from 4/10/82. I read after those shows, early and late, Jerry
called Kahn to perform with him. I happen to like the just
Jerry recording. |
| Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band |
Formed in 1987 this line up
typically performed one set before Garcia's electric band.
They played three major venues in San Francisco, Los Angeles,
and the famous 18 shows on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne
Theater in New York. The Bay Area was treated to a few
small venues. |
| Jerry
Garcia and David Grisman |
This collaboration has a
diversity of styles.
First, their self-titled
album combines Garcia's Grateful Dead and Grisman Dawg music
into "Grateful Dawg." That was followed by several
other brilliant albums;
The Pizza Tapes,
the jams,
Shady Grove bluegrass
and Amercian music,
So What the jazz
release,
Not For Kids Only,
a children album,
the Grateful Dawg movie
and soundtrack, a documentary.
|
| Jerry
Garcia Electric
Band
(s)
Top of Page |
| Howard Wales and Jerry Garcia |
A collaboration mostly known for
their Monday evening jams at the Matrix in 1970. A bio of
Howard Wales is provided by DjangoMusic. |
| Merl Saunders and Jerry Garcia |
This is the first of several
bands Garcia and Saunders played in together. A brief bio of
Merl Saunders is provided by Djangomusic. |
| Legion of Mary |
A
similar line to the first Garcia Band with
the addition of a saxophone player. They took a jazzier
approach. No commercial releases yet, but there is no shortage
of tapes for the active taper. |
| Reconstruction |
The jazziest sound of all the
several Garcia Bands, featuring a trombone and saxophone. This
was short lived outfit performing primarily in the Bay Area in
1979. Merl Saunders sang most of the songs. |
| Jerry Garcia Electric Band -
piano |
In the mid to late
70's Garcia had several different line ups. It mostly featured
Keith Godchaux, but it included a brief stint with Nicky
Hopkins. I've got a
1976 studio
rehearsal/jam session recording with New Orleans influence
pianist named James
Booker. |
| Jerry Garcia Electric Band -
organ |
The
Jerry Garcia Electric with an organ emphasis, tested out
several line-ups before settling with his core featuring
Melvin Seals on keyboards, John Kahn on bass, David Kemper on
drums and
Gloria Jones, and Jackie LaBranch on back up vocals. |
