What I think is Might Be (?) a January 1976 keyboardists' tryout tape

The great Charlie Miller has gathered and shared many thousands of tapes. One that he got hands on somewhere along the line and then forgot about has just come into the light.

ca. 1975-1976 JGB rehearsals, outs: https://etreedb.org/shn/166364.

I hypothesize that this tape captures material from trying out / playing around with various keyboardists in January 1976. I think the need to summarize the ca. January 1976 keyboardist/repertoire options is what begat this tape --an artifact, emerging out of a distinct set of historical processes-- in the first place. It's a work tape.

I could be completely wrong about that. If you disagree, let me hear it! Tape is available to torrent from Lossless Legs (maybe be sub required).

Insofar as that's what's represented, then 

1) cool;

2) I was considerably wrong in my "Jerry's January 1976" post when I implied he was a slacker who settled for the most ready-to-hand keyboard player, Keith Godchaux;

3) I have additional material informing this idea of these as tryouts, which you'll be able to read about in Fate Music.

In the meantime, here are my very detailed listening notes, tracked differently (more baroquely) than Charlie's fileset.

Jerry Garcia Band
Probably His Master's Wheels
60 Brady Street
ca. 1976
85 minute 2 channel mono

--(20 tracks, 85:52)--
--fragment 1
t01. noisy noodle (1) [0:20] %
[MISSING: Tore Up Over You]

--fragment 2 (2 tracks,
t02. //untitled-197611xx-01-jam (2) [#21:12] %
t03. Magnificent Sanctuary Band Jam// [2:53#] %

--fragment 3 (2 tracks, 1 tune,
t04. //tape fragment// [#0:03#]
t05. //Tore Up Over You (3) [2:13] [0:06] %

--fragment 4 (3 tracks,
t06. //Freight Train [#2:47] %
t07. //Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie 1 [#5:56] (4) [0:03] %
t08. //Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie 2 [#4:30] [0:02] %

--fragment 5 (3 tracks,
t09. //Mystery Train// 1 [#7:04#] %
t10. (5) Mystery Train 2 [3:26] [0:16]
t11. Mystery Train 3 [7:09] (6) [0:09] %

--fragment 6 (5 tracks,
t12. I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch) [9:36] (7) [0:14]
t13. It's Too Late [0:30]
t14. (I'm A) Road Runner 1 flirt [0:47]
t15. (I'm A) Road Runner 2 fragment [0:14] (8) [0:18]
t16. (I'm A) Road Runner 3 [4:15] (9) [0:21] %

--fragment 7 (4 tracks,
t17. Hey Bo Diddley [7:13] ->
t18. Hideaway [3:02] (10) [0:14]
t19. (11) Maybellene [0:42] ->
t20. Thirty Days flirt (12) [0:24]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band Z
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - electric guitar;
! lineup: John Kahn - electric bass;
! lineup: Ron Tutt - drums;
! lineup: unnamed-19761xxx-01 - keyboards (tracks,
! lineup: unnamed-19761xxx-02 - keyboards (tracks,

JGMF:

! t01 JG cites Tore Up Over You before tape cut

! P: I have no idea what this is - but it's a B3 player who can play!

! t01 (1) the noisy noodle has a vaguely Halloweenish feel

! R: t02 jam is munching tape at the start, super warbly, eventually gets up to speed. Jerry higher up in the mix 1:30ff.  Bass more audible late in 1. Garcia's guitar distorted, probably everything distorted.

! P: t02 jam Very New Orleans feel, bright B3. Is that really KG on organ? It does not sound like him. The organ is much more Brother Jack McDuff-sounding than I ever recall Keith being. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_McDuff. JG Nice lick 1:45. Organ feature 3:05ff, Garcia comping, John walking, drummer swinging. Right at 4 again very avian big bright organ - Jimmy Smith Brother Jack McDuff. John is walking it just like James Jamerson all up in here. 4:50 Jerry takes another lead turn. 13 more walking bass line. @13:32 you can hear Jerry's fingers on the strings - he's letting it make itself heard, as an accent. Sounds amazing - super slow late 13 as gentle as fresh a wildflower! B3 is mellifluous 14ff. Gentle, sweet tunes. Still a B3 "feauture", but it is buried in the mix and sounds a little rudimentary to my ear. Still walking along for a while, easy as you please. Nice melody Jerry lands on in 15 - something almost recognizable at 15:51. Fuzz makes it sound a little saxophonish around 16:40. Even more at 17:35 - superfuzz for Jerry, Link Wray tone for a bit. JG takes some rounds 18:19 and the organist steps forward (recording, too, I think) - things are hotting up 18:45, B3 in the classic sound - hits high right at 19, again avian. Swinging on an R&B groove around 19:15 and a N'awlins descent at 19:30. Jerry starts winding it down like 20:30, but it's hard to pin a real ending, so I just time the whole track.

! t02 (2) Jerry hits "Tore Up Over You" just before the tape cuts out.

! P: t03 Magnificent Sanctuary Band Keith (I think) is leading this, the drum is very foot-pedal heavy, and this is just Keith and a drummer, with Garcia and Kahn sitting this one out. Both of the pianist's hands sound great. Probably just KG and RT.

! R: t03 MSB drop right before the end, real time

! P: t05 TUOY starts with organist back a little bit, Jerry up front. The, delightfully @ 0:29 JG starts comping, and at 0:36 the B3 comes in like a bird - exactly the same style as the earlier jam had been, same personnel. Around 1:15 or so Jerry starts singing the lyric, but without a vocal mic. The organist doing a straightforward accent on "tore up" - sounds like Jerry gets in front of a mic for the last lyric.

! t05 (3) JG: "aw fuck - I keep forgetting that thing"

! P: t06 Freight Train Jerry sounds almost acoustic. Drums just snare. Electric keyboard comes in @0:52. Jerry singing so high in the register, almost falsetto, can't quite reach the notes. Very peppy tempo. Lyrically, he sort of gets the first verse, does a couple of choruses. Beautiful swirly keys 1:25, like a carnival. 1:42 he sings the "when I die o bury me deep / down at the end of old Chestnut Street / so I can hear ol number 9 as she goes running by". Another chorus - he calls a note at 2:27 not sure "[D E G] again". Nice plucky tone against the swirly organ.

! R: t07 OBIANL ff recording has more high end, I think. Hissier for sure.

! P: t07 OBIANL beautiful just Jerry and John falsetto - out of his range I think. Drums enter at 2:00, now electric keys @ 2:08. This aggregation and keys in around 2:05 -5:55. Pretty keyboard in 5:30 range - he puts a Baby Blue riff on around 5:46.

! t07 (4) JG: "I don't know what ... I don't really know//". This sort of tails onto t08.

! P: t08 OBIANL take 2 - lovely gentle stuff. Drums enter around 0:40. Snare-led.

! R: t09 MT1 sounds better than the chunk with the Elizabeth Cotten material. More dynamic range, less hiss. drums and guitar L, synth keys R, voice center, bass L. Tune cuts in and cuts out on what was probably the last "took away my baby"

! P: t09 Mystery Train take 1 keys are synth right now - fascinating! Different player, too? Just not sure. 2:29ff electric keys/synth takes first feature. Jerry comping fantastically behind, like check out 2:49. Sounds like there's an organ on one hand, electric piano on the other hand? Jerry in a little feature ca. 3. Organ lead 3:39ff. Drummer hard in the pocket - high hat driven, super steady. More electric keys lead 4:25. JG lead 4:52

! t10 (5) song is ending, an English guy *not Nicky* says "too much". Then they roll into MT2. I normally might have tacked a second or so from the front here onto the previous track, but it's all good. Electric keys - Rhodes plus the three members Jerry, John and Tutt.

! P: t10 MT2 right around 2 there's some conversation while the beat rolls on. Can't make it out. Jerry steps up for a verse 2:30. Keys sound really nice, nice little flourish over the end of that verse. This sounds tight as hell.

! P: t11 Mystery Train take 3 is faster and drives harder.  This drives like a motherfucker. Drums ease in at 0:17, Garcia has a nice country twang going just before 30 seconds in, the synth is upfront. What is the technique he uses at 0:43 called? He plucks a single note that's not offkey, but it certainly offsets the straight vocal, punctuating. It's awesome. Sweet country sound - I wonder if he's playing a tele, almost? I highly doubt it, but it definitely has that feel. Bend at 2:04 that is definitely Bakersfield. Here in 4 the keys sound familiar. At first I thought Jimmy Warren, but maybe now it sounds like Ozzie Ahlers. I am not saying it is either of these guys - I don't think it's either one of them. But I am trying to pin some comps down. Now at 5:20 two keyboard sounds, I think it's one player with two hands going - left is like an electric piano and right is the synth. Truly glorious string scratches from Garcia right at the end, a little scrubby-dubby from 7:02-7:05. Gaaahhh.

! t11 (6) Tutt: "Ahhh, shit. [inaudible] to try another one like that." JG: "[inaudible] like that?" Somebody else (Kahn?): "It's got layers." As I will narrate in Fate Music in a heading titled "Cats in the Studio," in July 1977 Tutt and Garcia held a very similar exchange after a jam, with Ronnie saying stuff like "that'll work - we can take that wherever we want to", and Jerry concurring. Who cares? I do! Kahn gets all the credit as Garcia's band director, and he was. But Tutt was in a "musical director" space -- validated by Garcia -- in those July '77 jams, and here he is the prior year playing the same role. Very important little fragment right there.

! song: "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" (t12): Yes, the Four Tops Tune tune, Holland-Dozier-Holland on Motown! Singleton. 

! P: t12 Sugar Pie Honey Bunch - oh my God this is stunning. Drums, organ, electric guitar, Garcia playing in a style like I have never ever heard before. 1:46 is he playing a Strat? Wow, fuzzy 2:16 what is the name of that effect? Not sure I have heard bass in this. Just keys guitar drums. God, Tutt starts some hi-hatting at 3:12 that is IMPOSSIBLE it's so good. Organ player takes a lead 3:20ff or thereabouts. @ 3:42 Garcia singing unamplified, way high in his vocal range, but amazing. This is cooking so sweet and hot and it bounces incredibly well. Band playing really well together. No idea who this organist is - DEF not Keith. This is a B3 aficionado, someone tearing it up. Any chance this is Larry Knechtel? By 6 Jerry is in more recognizable sound, still not sure which guitar he's playing. But my God is this AMAZING. Slow it wayy down at 8:48, half time, quarter time, decay to gentle @ 9:07, there's John Kahn, Jerry noodling some stuff to wind it down.

! t12 (7) @ 9:41, good hearty Jerry laugh. Tutt: "What time is it?" JG: "Too late." Someone else, affirming: "too late". Naturally enough, this leads Jerry to strum the beautiful xxx notes xxx chord of "It's Too Late".

! P: t13 ITL falsetto!

! t15 (8) JK is quoting an Abbey Road sounding piece - maybe Come Together? Powerful, McCartney sounding. Jerry hits the Lennon twang. Not sure which tune, but a Beatles riff I think.

! P: IARR 3 he doesn't lead with the first verse, I don't think? This is the quartet playing. Jerry, John, Ronnie, and organ player. Tempo slows 2:48, now sounding more like '76 JGB (heh heh).

! t16 (9) @ 3:45 IARR sort of unraveled gradually. Tutt called out a '1' to take it from the top, but Jerry starts moaning "1", becoming "whaaaa??" It's "1" a second moan, he is joined in by John I think, also moaning "1????????" They pick it up pretty continuously until 4:15, when he drops it again, Tutt calls out '1' again, and they all riff on the same goof from 30 seconds before, moaning and cawing. @ 4:10 someone yells out "Christ!", and it sounds like an English voice to me. Again, NB re: Tutt leading musically. He's the drumer and he's just counting down the beat in this case, but it's still fun to see him focused and the rest of these weirdos being weird.

! song: "Hey Bo Diddley" (t17): https://jerrybase.com/songs/326.

! P: t17 Hey Bo Diddley starts off with cool John Kahn liquid weirdness, some big bottom of the sea low amplitude forms, first 30 seconds of the track. Organ arrives 0:54. Neat interplay JG and organ player 1:38, he scrubs for the three beats, real basic, and the organist puts some color on it. Right after 3 Jerry steps back to play his guitar, and it's hot and great. Killer fuzztone 4:35 - like fuzzier than you will ever hear him. Shreddy, weaving through, around, over, the organ's melody lines. Big fuzzy R&R guitar 5:18ff. Grungy. Late 5 he finds a defined melody of something that might be identifiable. Jerry audibly unpedals the fuzz @ 6:20 with a killer rock chord, and it's back cleanly into the Bo Diddley beat, Jerry with some chunky ... all through this there is a drum that sounds like a hand drum, e.g., 6:45 for awhile, but it perfectly accompanies the drum, so I think ...?

! P: t17-t18 Jerry lets it decay and the organist hits "Hideaway", but Jerry takes a bit to really embrace it. At 0:39 Garcia is playing "Hideaway" with a guitar that sounds really unfamiliar. Wow! Groovy as fuck at 1:32 when everyone is walking it for awhile, organist splashes other tones. 2:27ish Jerry tries to end it, but not one takes him up on it, trying again 10 and Tutt catches the cue perfectly!

! R: t18 Hideaway track some static for sure

! t18 (10) Jerry playing some blues lines, Tutt drums fast to them.

! t19 (11) I track Maybellene to where Tutt starts drumming the beat. Over the start of it, he says "That's that other [?another?] Freddie King tune". I think he's referring to the melody he just hinted at - see note 10. I don't recognize it. Maybellene, of course, was written by Chuck Barry, so maybe he was just having a stoner moment with it?

! P: t19 Maybellene Jerry does some of the rough and ready vamp singing he's been having fun with all night to start, but pretty quickly he gets a verse together, like ten seconds into the noodle. John walking *incredibly* late 0:16 range. This is a boogeying little thing they are doing,

! song: "Thirty Days" (t20): Chuck Berry. Like "Maybellene", a rock 'n' roll standard.

! t20 (12) there are a couple of "fuck it"s at the very end.

On Tours and Marketing Records

Over at Jerrybase, we have begun grouping events not only by "runs" (consecutive nights at the same venue), but also "tours". It turns out that the notion of a tour isn't quite as crystal clear as one might want it. I wanted it to be at least three out of town gigs in at least two rooms on a single outbound from San Francisco, but, especially in the Garciaverse, this ends up creating some "tours" that lack face validity as such.

Consider Jerry's March-April 1976. The decision rule above would produce the following "tours" that month:

1) Pacific Northwest (Eugene, Portland, Seattle), March 3-6 (3 cities, 3 shows in 4 nights)

2) Midwest College Towns (Evanston, Oberlin, Columbus), March 12-14 (3 cities, 5 shows in 3 nights)

3) Texas (Houston and Austin), March 18-21 (2 cities, 6 shows in 4 nights)

4) the "real" Spring Tour, March 26 - April 5th (9 cities, 13 shows in 11 nights)

My Jerrybase partners have suggested that's a little too granular, and I don't disagree. While they fit the operational definition I offered above, they lack verisimilitude. We'd welcome you to peruse Jerrybase's Tours Page to see what you think.

UPDATE 20220625: correspondent Matt Grady informs that musicians call this little not-quite-a-tour jaunts "runouts" - the perfect word! I am a big fan of words, and when they effectively classify a group of things that would otherwise leave me wordless, well, I like them even more. And, thank you Matt!

As it happens, this work also allows me to fill in a placeholder post I had been ignoring for awhile, centered on the following image:

Here we have an 8.5" x 11" promotional handbill listing some upcoming Jerry and Merl gigs in various cities in December 1974. I know there is a copy of this in Santa Cruz ("Business: RX-102 - Compliments of Garcia," Grateful Dead Archive, Special Collections, UC Santa Cruz, MS.332.ser. 2, box 17, folder 10), and I know this image is not from there. First, this one seems to have a crease, that one doesn't. Second, they don't allow posting of scans from the collection - a requirement which I respect and I think others do as well. I was about 99% sure I got this from GDAO, but I cannot find it there. So I can't recall how I came into this it. Anyway, I saw it in the GD Archive, and loved it, then found a copy out in the wild which I could reproduce.

Why do I love this?

First, because I love the music this band made. Go get thee to Garcia Live: Volume Three: December 14-15, 1974, Northwest Tour, Legion of Mary (ATO Records, 2013) if you want to hear why.

Second, who doesn't love beardless Jerry?

Third, this particular image of beardless Jerry was drawn by Victor Moscoso for the cover of Jerry's second record, Garcia (by which I mean it was his second record, and his second record with that very title), which we all know as Compliments (Round Records, RX-102, June 1974) and I have the very tall, full color poster of the album art at the framer's, and I can't wait to get that sucker up on the wall. It's a beaut.

Fourth, the handbill promotes JGMS gigs --note, still no public use of the moniker Legion of Mary known to me before January 1975-- at the Paramount Northwest in Seattle on December 13, 1974, at the Paramount in Portland on December 14, 1974, at the Ambassador in St. Louis on December 20, 1974, two nights at the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin on December 21-22, 1974, and then three nights, December 25-27, 1974, at the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach.

Four-A, I love the Pacific Northwest. Four-B, these PNW theaters hosted some killer GD and Jerry over the years. Four-C, the Ambassador, a "landmark of rococo 1920s theater design"? Yes, please. Four-D, I have an original poster from the Armadillo gigs, and it is allegedly the very copy that was hung in the 'dillo lobby at the time of the show. So, there's that. Four-E, the Golden Bear - again, yes, please and thank you. We don't list capacity for it at JB - anyone know? Four-F, the Golden Bear hosted one of my favorite shows from the last eight months of the Garcia-Saunders band, 12/29/74b, partly because of the amazing tape pulled by "Flashback" Charlie Disalvo and partly because I want that version of "Expressway (To Your Heart)" to be my walk-off music as I leave behind my earthly existence. It KILLS.

Fifth, another one of my longtime favorite Garcia-Saunders shows, 12/15/74 in the EMU Ballroom at the University of Oregon, is *not* listed on this handbill, which gives me a sense that it was booked rather later than the others. Who cares? I kind of do, to tell you the truth.

But the BIG takeaway is, Six-A, that I don't know of any other Round promotions for live gigs. Jerry went to NYC on July 1-3, 1974, to play the Bottom Line just a few days after the record came out. The shows sold out in a minute without advertising, but, of course, the record company could also, y'know, have promoted the record. Same goes with the November '74 tour, Jerry and Merl and crew with Martin blowing and the great Paul Humphrey on the drums - no advertising needed for the gigs, but what about cross-promotion with the vinyl? (Yes, I know the record wasn't JGMS. But if we held strict to that, it'd rule out the hints we do have here of a tie between the record and these gigs.)

So, here we have the imagery from Moscoso's cover art, the same lettering on 'GARCIA', and the Round Records logo. But, - Six-B - there is no evidence of the record besides this. No title. No note that there even is a record. It doesn't say "buy the new record, and come see the show", or, "come see the show and, if you dig it, buy the record. Oh yeah - tell your friends!" Instead, we see allusions to Compliments, but no direct mention of it. The Jerry heads would already have recognized some of this, of course, but mostly because they probably already had the record or, as Jerryheads, didn't need to be marketed to buy tickets to see Jerry. Maybe your average head would go to the show, and Round man Steve Brown would ply them with the advertising cards, maybe a "Here Now" poster --already framed and on my wall--

or  some other schwag, so maybe that was the idea. Maybe Anton Round was signing autographs.

I guess it just seems like a little bit of a missed opportunity. Oh yeah, one last thing, in full-circle mode: those March '76 jaunts were almost certainly "behind" Jerry's third record, Reflections (Round Records, RX-107, February 1976) - maybe by then the tie-ins were being made more explicit. But, then again, that'd redound to the benefit of United Artists, since Round, as such, had gone belly-up. I wonder why?

What It Is All About: Jerry Band Monday at the Keystone, August 16, 1976

I love love love the mid-1976 versions of "After Midnight", with Donna seconding on "what it is all about". (Happy 73rd birthday to DJG the day of this post, BTW!) I also like the "Stop That Train"s from this era, both imprinted on my brain from some tape I played the hell out of. This show, Monday 8/16/76 at Keystone, is solid. Maria Muldaur harmonizes some in "Ride Mighty High", this now being her earliest verified (by me) appearance with the Garcia Band (next known to me is 9/12/76).

I had thought of naming the post "Do Me A Favor? Open the Door and Let 'Em In", imaging McCartneyesque Jesus to Gabriel after 17 syrupy minutes of JGB "Knockin' On Heaven's Door". I have a rule, induced after listening to 3/12/76: any version of ‘Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door’ exceeding 17 minutes in length is too long. But I didn't think that set the right tone for a post about a show which I enjoy, despite the serious issues with this particular warbling tape.

Jerry Garcia Band
Keystone
2119 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94704
August 16, 1976 (Monday)
sbd shnid-13041 shn2flac rename to sets

--set I (7 tracks, 86:09)--
s1t01. ambience [0:59], They Love Each Other [7:05] [0:21]
s1t02. [0:12] %% [0:12] After Midnight [14:00] [0:14]
s1t03. [3:50] Stop That Train [13:40] % [0:05]
s1t04. [0:05] Midnight // Moonlight [8:#06] [0:18]
s1t05. [1:32] How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [9:09] [0:31]
s1t06. [0:50] Knockin' On Heaven's Door [17:45] [0:09] % dead air [0:10]
s1t07. The Way You Do The Things You Do [6:43] (1) [0:07]

--set II (5 tracks, 49:56)--
s2t01. //Mission In The Rain [#9:36] [0:03] %
s2t02. [0:30] He Ain't Give You None [11:51] [0:08] %
s2t03. [0:29] Tore Up Over You [11:20] [0:04] %
s2t04. Strange Man 6:58 [0:04] % [0:03]
s2t05. [0:14] Ride Mighty High :15-8:30 (xx)

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #3
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: Keith Godchaux - piano, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-b;
! lineup: Ron Tutt - drums, vocals;
! lineup: Donna Godchaux - vocals;
! guest: Maria Muldaur - vocals (s2t05 only).

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [m:ss] = recorded event time. The recorded event time immediately after the song or item name is an attempt at getting the "real" time of the event. So, a timing of [m:ss] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19760816-02

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/13041 (this fileset)

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/LDc43

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/02/keystone-2119-university-avenue.html;

! venue: URL http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/12/2119-university-avenue-berkeley-ca.html; URL http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2011/01/jerry-garcia-and-keystone-shows.html.

! band: JGB #3 (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html)

! ad: SFSECDB19760808p39; SFSECDB19760815p43

! listing: SFSECDB19760815p07

! notes: JGB played Keystone Berkeley Wed 8/11, Mon 8/16 and Sat-Sun 8/21-22 - four shows in ten days, three of them on somewhat atypical nights. He was also at Elliot Mazer's studio working, I guess, on JGB tunes to sell to Arista, including "Ride Mighty High". Very long first set here.

! personnel: Maria Muldaur comes in and adds some "ride mighty high"s to the mix in the 6-minute range. As of 8/22/2020, this is her earliest known JGB sit-in, next one coming 9/12/76.

! R: SBD R/? > CDR > shn; shn2flac jgmf 8/2020.

! R: hissy, running fast, with lots and lots of warble, especially in KOHD, TWYDTTYD, & MITR (especially, especially the last one.

! R: I have flac files dated 10/17/2010, but don't have the original shns. So this was labeled as a .shnf folder, but I am changing it to a .shn2flac.

! P: s1t02 AM In the cassette days I had a tape of 7/9/76, I think, or maybe it was this show or 7/8/76, and I just love the AMs of this era. The vibe is just right, the way Donna adds her "what it is all about" refrain just smites me.

! R: s1t04 Mid Moon cut in Midnight Moonlight at 1:09

! P: s1t06 KOHD this version violates my red-line rule, first articulated in connection with 3/12/76, that "any version of ‘Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door’ exceeding 17 minutes in length is too long". And Jesus to Gabriel, pace Paul McCartney and Wings: "Do me a favor - open the door and let 'em in."

! s1t07 (1) JG: "We're gonna take a break for a little while. We'll be back a little bit later on."

! R: s2t01 MITR cuts in

! s2t01 at the wind-down of MITR, it sure sounds like Keith is noodling around with the chords of "Positively 4th Street", but maybe I am hearing things.

! P: s2t04 ASM very slow and gentle to start, but Donna really oversings as it develops.

! P: s2t05 RMH huge grand finish

! s2t05 (2) JG: "thanks a lot. We'll see y'all later on."

What is the Opposite of a Bat Outta Hell? JGB at Keystone, September 10-12, 1976

I am not a huge fan of the syrupy tempos of 1976 JGB, the ultimate comfort band for Our Hero. There are some great sounding tapes, the occasional killer show (4/3/76b), and some spectacular specific songs ("Right Mighty High", "Moonlight Mile", "Who Was John" and others are some of my faves), but the overall vibe is just too laid back for me. It has been intimated that I lack the patience and sophistication to appreciate this stuff, which is like fine wine or something. Maybe so.

I have been particularly indifferent to the September performances. The Pirates' Ball on 9/15/76 is certainly fun, holds a lot of curb appeal, but the music wasn't the thing for me. The Astor Theatre may have been a deco masterpiece, but Garcia's one show there on 9/20/76 was dull as day-old dishwater. And so on. I haven't felt particularly differently about the hometown weekend on September 10-12 at the Keystone Berkeley. The thing that most interests me is the provenance of the board tapes. They look like Betty Board lineage, but they are not among the tapes lassoed together by the ABCD crew. I suspect that Latvala spun copies for Alligator or Kingbee and they entered the world via those benefactors, but I can't be sure.

Anyway, below I post my listening notes for the three hometown nights, September 10-12, the first of which took place only 5 days after Rex Jackson's passing. Here is the thumbnail.

Friday 9/10

• Nick The Greek opened. He'd do so again on 11/15/76 and then he and Jerry wouldn't share a bill, so far as I know, until the 3/18/87 Artists' Rights Today benefit at the Old Fillmore.
• Reinhart Hohlwein (sp?) pulled a stunning tape.
• "My Sisters And Brothers" grooves low and slinky.
• I liked "After Midnight" and this very long version of "I'll Take A Melody".
• Mighty High has great energy, but it's a little off-kilter here and there.

Saturday 9/11

• Beautiful Betty Board
• Sugaree: what is the opposite of a bat out of hell? Whatever it is, that's how they come in on Sugaree. Sloooowww.

Sunday 9/12

• Short second set at only 40 minutes. Jerry strums HSII, but it either wasn't taped or it was closing time and it didn't happen.
• Maria Muldaur joins along. I need to check, but I think this is my earliest documented case of her joining the JGB. Sociometrists, take note.

Listening notes below the fold.

Tighten Up

The "Tighten Up" jam has always been a favorite. I am partial to the 1/2/70 and 10/31/71 versions, always wondered where the heck that last one came from since it's so well-developed while not having been played in well over a year (and never before with Keith, AFAIK).

Just here to note that the wonderful jam out of the wonderful 7/17/76 Comes A Time has a little Tighten Up feel to my ears. It never really lands on it, but it sure sounds similar. Very nice.

https://archive.org/details/gd1976-07-17.141966.ecm270.menke-miller.flac1644

! seealso: LIA

Linear Dead Listening

I am a bicycle commuter (19 miles a day), and I generally listen to Dead shows while pedaling.

Awhile back, I did the whole E72 tour consecutively. Earlier this year, I ran sequentially through 1974. So much good music. I don't really retain too many specific memories, so just a few observations.

The February Winterland shows are uneven. 2/22 is the best of the bunch, IIRC, 2/23 has that nice Here Comes Sunshine (last one?), and 2/24 was weak. At least that's how I remember it. Maybe it was the other way around. ;-)

May and June - hamina hamina. So much good stuff. I didn't do the Pacific Northwest shows through the official release, which I wish I had. But there's just loads and loads of great music here.

"Money Money" is a great tune. I don't blame those who objected to its misogyny for doing so, but man do I wish they could have just done it with Bob's vocal mic turned down, because the music gets me tapping my toe.

July also strong, unsurprisingly. I seem to recall that the one show without a big jam (Roanoke?) actually had a great PITB. One of these shows really did, anyway.

August 4-5-6 also awesome.

E74? Yeesh, not so good, is my impression. There was a good Dark Star or two, 9/10 for sure, some other moments.

I thought I had recalled Phil saying he did a "Firebombing of Dresden" type assault somewhere in the Munich, maybe in Seastones, but I didn't hear it. I was ready.

The Last Ones, or whatever they were called? Blech. I know there are better tapes now than there used to be, but for some of these shows I still only managed to get the ones with the old reverbing out-of-sync crowd clapping, the booming room sound, etc. The 10/19 Caution Jam was pretty legit, wonder why they didn't do that more. They seemed to be trying hard, the shows had their moments, but mostly I found them to be a letdown.

One obvious conclusion from my '74 listening: Friend of the Devil should always, only, ever have been played upbeat. Another: I do love me some Spanish Jam.

I even listened to some Seastones, and it was often diverting.

Spoiler alert: Mickey Hart returns, and a drummer who doesn't really keep time just muddies the waters, IMO.

Now, I have started in on 1976. Some good stuff here the first few dates, though nothing that really destroys me. 1976 is often considered a relatively slow and sleepy year, and nothing I have heard so far dissuades me from that view. Might As Well is nice, The Music Never Stopped is nice, Help > Slip > Franklin's is nice, Crazy Fingers is nice, Lazy > Supp is fun, Cosmic Charlie is lame. The PITBs start off short, and the one I heard a few days ago sounded like it wanted to go into Dancin' In The Street, before it reprised. Today I was with the 6/10 version and, indeed, it segues nicely into DITS.

I seem to have skipped 6/9 II, so no Stephen yet, but I expect to be underwhelmed.

Interesting that Jerry hasn't figured out the wailing approach to Samson that he'd develop. I look forward to hearing that song develop over the course of the year.

I have been trying not to FF>> too much. For '74, It Must Have Been The Roses was my biggest challenge, Ship Of Fools not far behind. (Interesting these are Jerry tunes.) For '76, I WILL NOT listen to Looks Like Rain, and you can't make me do it. What a turd. I see now that it was on the shelf all through 1974, another point in that great year's favor.

So, there you have it.

Keystone Hardware, ca. 1976

For the gearheads out there.

Billboard, March 13, 1976, p. SF-19, via http://americanradiohistory.com/.

Oh yeah, the idea of a 15 minute drive from the City to Berkeley, at anything other than the dead of night, sure sounds quaint!

Dull as Dishwater in a Classic Art Deco Movie Palace: JGB, Astor Theatre, Reading, PA, September 20, 1976 late show

zzzzz

LN jg1976-09-20.jgb.late.aud-peters.138205.flac1644

The rooms sounds fantastic, but the show bores me to tears, except for some nice flowing guitar work in "Catfish John". My copy of the band itinerary lacks the pages after Ithaca College (9/18), but for that gig they flew in and out of Teterboro, coming back to the St. Moritz and New York City. Not sure if they would have flown or taken limos two-and-a-half hours to Reading, but either way I am sure John Scher took care of it, and a good time was had by all.

Jerry Garcia Band
Astor Theatre
734 Penn Street
Reading, PA 19602
September 20, 1976 (Monday) - 11 PM (late show)
Peters MAC flac1644 shnid-138205

--complete show (9 tracks, 85:58)--
t01. //The Way You Do The Things You Do [#7:19] %
t02. //Catfish John [#10:29] % [0:08]
t03. Sugaree [10:27] %
t04. Knockin On Heaven's Door [13:49] %
t05. Mystery Train [9:57] %
t06. Tore Up Over You [8:58] [0:07] %% [0:04]
t07. Mission In The Rain [8:27] ->
t08. My Sisters And Brothers [7:13] [0:04] %
t09. //Ride Mighty High [#7:18] [0:04] %

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #3
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - bass;
! lineup: Ron Tutt - drums, vocals;
! lineup: Keith Godchaux - keyboards, vocals;
! lineup: Donna Godchaux - vocals..

JGMF:

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19760920-02

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/18745 (early and late MAC shnf); this fileset.

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/nfCnX1tMVAU2

! venue: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astor_Theater_%28Reading,_Pennsylvania%29; http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/9140.

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/09/astor-theater-730-42-penn-st-reading-pa.html.

! ad: Mercury (??? city ???), September 16, 1976, p. 22.

! R: field recordist: Dave Peters

! R: field recording gear: Sony F99S microphone > Sony TC-126

! R: field recording media: 1x? TDK-D90

! R: transfer: JVC TD-R462 > Audacity > TLH Flac8

! R: seeder notes: "Tape paused between some tracks. NO ISSUES."

! R: tape genealogy: "So the story goes: I answered an ad on Craigslist for 500 free Grateful Dead tapes. On picking them up from the taper, I'm also informed he and a friend recorded other bands through the 70's. These were never circulated, and deemed inferior in quality. When I inquired about digitizing his masters, he laughingly obliged. Most of the old Ampex and BASF tapes are in poor shape, several completely off the spool, and many squealing badly, these will be baked in an attempt to salvage them. I will be presenting the ones of superior quality only. I do believe these shows will be lovingly embraced by the Dime community, and will be shared here exclusively. Zombiwoof to Dime 2017 series."

! R: t01 TWYDTTYD cuts in

! P: t02 CJ this version gets some extension at the end, and 8:30ff Garcia's guitar work flows like a river.

! P: t05 MT some nice bendy notes 7:45 ish.

! P: t07-t08 true segue

! R: t09 RMH cuts in

GarciaLive 7: JGB from Sophie's, 11/8/76

Fresh tape.

Tracklist, via Nick: http://www.jambase.com/article/donna-jean-godchaux-find-leads-garcialive-volume-seven
Sneak preview of one track via David Browne: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/premieres/hear-jerry-garcia-bands-jubliant-live-mighty-high-from-1976-w431440.

At dead.net. a commenter says

In today's Relix magazine they interview Donna Jean who found some more tapes in a box in one of the Godchaux houses. It's a Betty board. This is November 8th 1976 at Sophie's in Palo Alto. Band was Jerry, Keith & Donna, John Kahn and Ron Tutt. Comes out August 19th. Not seeing it on www.jerrygarcia.com or amazon as advertised. Songs include 'Ride Mighty High' and 'Mission In The Rain'

http://www.dead.net/store/1970s/daves-picks-volume-19#comment-851376

Very cool - looking forward to it.

JGB at Freeborn Hall, November 12, 1976

Sometime in the afternoon or thereabouts of Friday, November 12, 1976, Garcia, John Kahn, Keith and Donna Jean Godchaux, probably Richard Loren hopped into sedans being driven by monitor mixer Harry Popick and roadie Bill 'Kidd' Candelario to Davis, California, about a hundred miles east of San Francisco on I-80. Thus began a little weekend jaunt that strikes me as more pleasant than one they'd do in August '81 (billed as the "1^st Northern California Tour"), if only because the latter passed through Stockton in August, while this one offers foggier temperatures and a cooler implicit psychology.

It had already been a busy week, Sunday-Monday for Freddie Herrera in Berkeley and Palo Alto (I don't think a note of these shows circulates among collectors), then Tuesday through Thursday at Elliot Mazer's His Master's Wheels studio, in the space formerly operated by, variously, Pacific High Recorders and Alembic. The band gives every appearance of trying to use these sessions to work up some old favorites, sort of like a second version of Compliments, a few more fonky gospel numbers, maybe a few not so fonky, but a nice eclectic mix, for some ready-to-sell vinyl. This is the...

 ... Abortive 1976 Garcia Band album

At His Master's Wheels (HMW) Elliot Mazer had put together a space that Garcia really liked, singling it out when asked about the tastiest rooms in the Bay Area in June of 1974, right after recording Compliments (mostly at Columbia) and using it for Reflections, recorded second half 1975 and released early 1976, itself involving some abortive components (see Corry). That involved the payoff of the summer 1975 United Artists bailout. In late 76, Jerry played for Clive, and Arista paid the HMW studio time, as Davis, Garcia, Weir and the Grateful Dead (the latter three not at all the same thing as these men make their respective journeys) enter into a deal to further find fates. It’s impossible to say whether Davis fronted the studio time as an act of good faith, or whether, more likely, the time would eventually come out of Garcia’s advance. Despite its aesthetic promise, I can't say why this project gwas shelved. Eventually, after long battles with demons in the studio --recorded in earnest August-November 1977 and released around April 1, 1978-- Cats Under The Stars replaced it as the first, and in many ways the only, Jerry Garcia Band studio album.

The Abortive 1976 Jerry Garcia Band Album would differ from its predecessors, not a Jerry Garcia record, but a Jerry Garcia Band one, a false step in the institutionalization of Jerry Garcia. Bringing Nicky on board in summer 1975 was certainly a touring proposition - Nicky is contractually obligated to mention his 1975 Mercury record No More Changes (see my WIP "Hiatus Garcianomics"), and the band took xx tours (involving out of town flights) in its three-and-a-half months together. But having the Session Man in the house was almost certainly also a recording proposition: the timing with the recording Compliments is too strong suggestive. But it fell apart, for reasons unknown, and became a little bit of a Garcia-GD Frankenstein, incoherent even if it has its moments.

After August 1976 sessions paid by Round Records - perhaps the last good checks that outfit ever wrote, if they didn't bounce, October and November found Arista paying the bills, leaked to the cognoscenti no later than November 20^th.[i] Conceptually, take 2 of the first JGB album resonated with the "Americana Jerry likes" feel of Compliments, but with the band of Garcia-Kahn-Tutt-Godchaux (Keith) and at least some of the material drawing from cooler, stiller depths. Garcia tried Elizabeth Cotten's "Freight Train" and "Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie" on for size for the project, about which I wrote at some length, noting that the ancient songstress found pulp-and-glue permanence in the New Lost City Ramblers Songbook (1964), through which, I surmise, Garcia might have learned the tunes. An undated OBIANL features on All Good Things, disc 3, track 11.

The Band also drew heavily from the gospel well with which Jerry, Keith, Donna and the rest had spent so much time in the Godchaux's living room in 1975 (for Keith and Donna), sometimes quite literally accompanied by a Samarian woman and a "Strange Man".  telling her every sinful thing she'd done, and setting her free. After a shambolic January, the bicentennial live act came to feature more upbeat gospel, as well, from the celestial choir of  “My Sisters And Brothers” to the hot-to-trot show closer “Ride Mighty High”. (Another angelic boogie, “Magnificent Sanctuary Band” [released on the 2004 box set All Good Things] never made it out of Stinson.)

Beyond gospel we find a Dylan (“Visions Of Johanna”, on the bonus disc All Good Things Redux), some black--and-white rockers “Bo Diddley” and “Not Fade Away” (11/9/76), a little R&B on November 10th (“Don’t Let Go”, “The Way You Do The Things You Do”), "The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise" (11/10/76), “Matilda” (calypso on both 11/10/76 and 11/11/76!) and the pure train “Streamlined Cannonball” (11/11/76). To travel to the places to which these various tunes were established, among the people who established them, would drive across every route and byway east of the Mississippi, lots of cities and hollers and plains, and a few on the other side; to do so by the means that conveyed them would bring you to ambient voice, boat, ship, raft, rail and automobile. Aesthetically, the collection would make a fine record.

The Weekend "Tour"

After laying down some tracks, the tour looks take draw a long, deep, weekend breath through some gigging and green spaces, the late Friday night show in Davis, it culminated in a pair of Saturday night shows at verdant Humboldt State.

Table xxx.

I have notes from the front end below. In terms of the back end of the "tour", Jerry has some land up in Mendocino, that Laird Grant lives on - maybe Garcia checked in, said hello and stocked up on the local fare --still autumn, harvest season-- for the rides back home.

Garcia at Freeborn

Depending on where they were coming from, this crew crossed a bridge (Richmond-San Rafael from Marin, or the Bay Bridge from the City), hooked up with I-80 east bound, crossed another bridge (over the Carquinez Strait), went up over the coastal ridge and dropped into the Great Central Valley. "Jerry Garcia has always liked this town," wrote the California Aggie reviewer about Davis. Campus gym Freeborn Hall would have been a drafty, smelly basketball arena at this time, all echo, but the college kids, many of them from the Bay Area, were enthusiastic, and the show shimmered. "Never before," wrote his seasoned reviewer, "have I seen Garcia dance, nor have I ever seen him smile so much".

Table xxx.

So nice to hear. In terms not of the visuals of Jerry (and Donna) swaying in a sweet groove, but of the audio, we are blessed to have Betty Cantor Jackson's 4^th reel of the night (reels 1-3 are AWOL, and may have returned do dust), and it holds just a 30 minute "Don't Let Go" and a show-closing "Might High", the crème de la crème of 1976 JGB repertoire, just about (LAALWFH wants a word with me).

LN jg1976-11-12.jgb.s2p-end.sbd-wise.132401.flac1648

A few highlights of the Davis show, based on the tape evidence.

John Kahn does a bass feature in DLG, which is actually interesting, not his usual feathery fluttery tickling thing – actual bass playing. He could do this in earlier years, and occasionally later on, but to hear John Kahn play with some power in November 1976 is a revelation.

Keith is noodling around some classical tunes after DLG.

"Mighty High" is nothing short of amazing. I love Donna Jean Godchaux.

Jerry Garcia Band

Freeborn Hall, University of California

Davis, CA 95616

November 12, 1976 (Friday) - 8 PM

BCJ reel #4 wise DAT flac1648 shnid-132401

--end of show (3 tracks, 2 songs, 38:17)--

reel04-t01. crowd and tuning [0:19]

reel04-t02. Don't Let Go [28:53] (1) [2:46]

reel04-t03. Mighty High// [6:19#]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #3

! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-guitar, vocals;

! lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;

! lineup: Keith Godchaux - piano, vocals;

! lineup: Donna Jean Godchaux - vocals;

! lineup: Ron Tutt - drums, vocals.

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [ ] = recorded event time. The recorded event time immediately after the song or item name is an attempt at getting the "real" time of the event. So, a timing of [x:xx] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song really was, as represented on this recording.

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19761112-03

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/15850 (same source reel, probably different source DAT and definitely more primitive DAT > CD transfer - deprecated); http://etreedb.org/shn/132401 (this fileset - best source).

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/wuV67V7hENM2

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/12/freeborn-hall-uc-davis-104-freeborn.html

! band: http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html

! review: Krane, Matt. 1976. Garcia & Company: Phenomenal Crowd Pleasers. California Aggie, November 15, 1976, p. 3. positive review of 11/12/76. Under subtitle "Fabulous Crowd Pleasers" starts by getting out his Webster's: "mellifluous (me-lif-loo-es, adj. (L. /mellifluus: mel, mellis-honey, fluete-to flow), flowing sweetly and smoothly; honeyed; said of words, sounds, etc. … Jerry Garcia has always liked this town, Davis", gave a memorable performance. Not's the JGB has played Crabshaw Corner in Sacto. Freeborn  Freeborn usually sounds like ass, but the reviewer says the band's gear sounded great." Kane praises "Garcia's magnificently mellow, fluid blues progressions". "Never before have I seen Garcia dance, nor have I ever seen him smile so much. But he had a lot to smile about, and so did a crowded Freeborn." "He appeared very warm and comfortable. His music was doubly so."

! R: recordist: Betty Cantor-Jackson

! R: media: 7" reel master @ 7.5ips 1/2 track (reel #4 only). As far as I know, reels 1-3 are not in the Garcia Vault, which might mean they are still out in the world somewhere. They are known not to be among the Betty Boards (TM). Given the water damage to this reel, though, it's strongly possible that the first three reels were among the miles of rotted spaghetti and distingrated vinyl and oxide, silt and pulp and goat piss. As of this writing (3/24/2016), my best sense is that they are gone forever, but that could be wrong.

! R: gear: Betty's Nagra reel to reel deck (serial #SL11183)

! R: lineage: Playback on Otari MX5050-Meyer VX-1 signal processor-Sony PCM R-700 DAT @ 48KHz (circa 1999). Original zero gen DAT played back on a Sony PCM R-500-Digital Audio Labs Card deluxe-16 bit 48KHz. Editing (Adobe Audition CC) - Mastering & Processing (iZotope Ozone 6) - FLAC encoding (dBpoweramp) - Tagging (Tag & Re-name - Digital Transfer, Editing & Processing By JW:February 2015.

! R: note: 16 bit 48Khz file set formatted for music servers"

! R: note: "This reel was old & brittle and there is some tape squeal present."

! R: reel04-t02 DLG @ 15:43 ran past a place where the oxide wasn't, some squeal. Again late 22, ca. 22:50.

! P: reel-04-t02 DLG 12ff John Kahn is taking a bass solo, and for 20 seconds he's on it, a little too fluttery at 12:20, some great bass soloing by John Kahn -- yeah, I said it. @ 14:43 the band comes back, John gets a nice round of applause from the crowd. This is building to a very nice crescendo, all involved, Garcia high up 15:18, all the rest is percussion, now he puts some blue on it 15:39. Garcia in a very interesting space 16:13, a little more speed. 25ff is Garcia's vocale-guitar duetting, some good moaning and scowling. Jerry gets real strong wid it to come to an end, everyone lands right.

! reel04-t02 (1) Keith is playing a classical piece late 29. 29:49 - sounds like something definable. 30:20 for sure, that Parisian Waltz. more at 30:35. another quote 30:53, more than a quote. He wants to play it. Garcia strums for Mighty High @ 31:04.

! P: reel04-t03 Mighty High is incredible. Donna is bringing it early 5ff, everyone singing hard, she is belting! You guy, girl! Even Keith is yelling, in his nasally way, making the tape squeal. Man, that is some good time music for the Aggies!

! R: reel04-t03 squeal somewhere in 4. 5:38 squeal. Reel ends, maybe 30 seconds of music missing.

---

[i] McDonough 1976 11/20/76.