Two Pauls in Boston

LN jg1974-11-14.jgms.early-1.aud-warburton.16461.shn2flac
LN jg1974-11-14.jgms.early.aud-alt.135968.flac1644

Garcia-Saunders, with Paul Humphrey drumming, Paul's Mall in Boston, late 1974. What's not to like?

Jimmy Warburton's tape (shnid-16461) blew my mind when it came out - a revelation. We were still erroneously calling "Valdez In The Country" "Bossa Martin", and wearing onions on our belts, which was the style at the time. "Just Kissed My Baby" caused me to spend some time with the Meters' Rejuvenation, for which I am eternally grateful. The tape captures the scene beautifully.

Recently an alternative master emerged, unattributed but nice-sounding and presumed complete, with an 18+ minute Harder They Come kicking the show off. Maybe part of the magic of the old tape was that it kicked right in with Favela, but obviously I am not complaining!

Nick has a great post on this show, LIA has posted the Howard and Gelzinis accounts after the first of the three-night, six-show run, and I have discussed the run in "'Secret' at Paul's Mall: see p. 27" and "Sole Star at Paul's Mall".

11/14/74 early show is still one of my favorites. Nick doesn't like it as much as I do, but DGNED. I probably need to soak with 11/27/74 and 11/28/74 more than I have.

Listening notes on both filesets follow.

LN jg1974-11-14.jgms.early-1.aud-warburton.16461.shn2flac

Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
Paul's Mall
733 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02116
November 14, 1974 (Thursday) - Early Show
Warburton MAC early-1 shnid-16461 shn2flac

--(9 tracks, 88:26, missing 1 tune)--
[MISSING: The Harder They Come]
t01. tuning [0:06]
t02. Favela [10:45] [0:07] % [0:22]
t03. [0:08] Let It Rock [6:27] [0:06] % [0:44]
t04. My Problems Got Problems [14:35] [0:27]
t05. Mystery Train (1) [13:51] [0:10]
t06. //My Funny Valentine [#14:33] ->
t07. People Make the World Go Round// [2:24#]
t08. Just Kissed My Baby [11:16] [0:32]
t09. Valdez In The Country [12:48] [0:07]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
! Lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! Lineup: Merl Saunders - keyboards, vocals;
! Lineup: Martin Fierro - saxophone, flute;
! Lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! Lineup: Paul Humphrey - drums.

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/19741114-01

! JGC: http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1974-11-14-pauls-mall-boston-ma/.

! db: shnid-135968 (alt AUD, complete); shnid-16461 (this fileset).

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/o8sMZHfMAou.

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/08/pauls-mall-733-boylston-street-boston-ma.html.

! ad: Boston Phoenix, November 5, 1974, sec. 2, p. 27.

! JGMF: "'Secret' at Paul's Mall: see p. 27," URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2012/12/ln-jg1974-11-13jgmslateaud.html.

! JGMF: "Sole Star at Paul's Mall," URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2015/05/sole-star-at-pauls-mall.html.

! seealso: Nick, "Garcia & Saunders, 11/14/74 Boston," URL https://deadthinking.blogspot.com/2016/05/garcia-saunders-111474-boston.html.

! historical: Ad in Boston Phoenix bills "Jerry Garcia" and doesn't mention early/late shows, but there were early and late. For the six shows, JGMS get $5,000 guarantee plus 70% gross receipts over $8,100. Tix $4.50, not sure of show times.

! personnel: Paul Humphrey on drums is totally distinctive. Really fast, lots of snare, great splashes, incredible.

! R: field recordist: Jimmy Warburton

! R: field recording gear: 1x Sony ECM-99 > Sony TC-152SD MAC (Dolby B)

! R: field recording location: left of center, 8' from stage, left-of-center, mics on a table

! R: transfer: Sony TC-152SD playback > Teac A2300SD 1st gen reel [Dolby B off] > Pioneer RT-701 playback > Teac AN-180 Dolby decoder > Fostex D5 DAT (A>D only) > Turtle Beach Montego II Digital I/O > shn (mkwACT) > wav (mkwACT) > tracking (CD Wave) > .shn (mkwACT). A > SHN by Noah Weiner, tracking by JJ.

! R: shn2flac jgmf 3/14/2015.

! R: seeder notes: "This is a nice recording of what is perhaps my (JJ's) favorite show of the 11/74 east coast Garcia/Saunders tour. Disc two [t06-t09], especially, is just wall-to-wall great stuff.

! P: t02 Favela is smokin' hot. Garcia solo late 3. Merl takes a turn late 5. Humphrey is splashing all over the place 6:15, so great.

! P: t05 Mystery Train a female audience member joins on vocals toward the end of the song

! R: t06 My Funny Valentine cuts in, probably not much missing

! R: t07 People Make the World Go 'Round cuts out, unknown missing.

LN jg1974-11-14.jgms.early.aud-alt.135968.flac1644

Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
Paul's Mall
733 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02116
November 14, 1974 (Thursday) - Early Show
shnid-135968

--(9 tracks, 108:24)--
t01. The Harder They Come [18:18] [0:02] %
t02. Favela [11:03] %
t03. [0:14] Let It Rock [6:32] %
t04. [0:07] My Problems Got Problems [14:41] %
t05. Mystery Train [13:14] [0:02] %
t06. My Funny Valentine [14:55] ->
t07. People Make The World Go Round [4:21] [0:03] %
t08. Just Kissed My Baby [11:23] [0:06] %
t09. [0:23] Valdez In The Country [12:53] [0:07] %

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
! Lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! Lineup: Merl Saunders - keyboards, vocals;
! Lineup: Martin Fierro - saxophone, flute;
! Lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! Lineup: Paul Humphrey - drums.

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.

! JGC: http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1974-11-14-pauls-mall-boston-ma/

! db: shnid-16461 (Jimmy Warburton MAC, shn, missing HTC)

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/o8sMZHfMAou

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/08/pauls-mall-733-boylston-street-boston-ma.html

! ad: Boston Phoenix, November 5, 1974, sec. 2, p. 27;

! seealso: JGMF, "Sole Star at Paul's Mall," URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2015/05/sole-star-at-pauls-mall.html.

! seealso: Nick, "Garcia & Saunders, 11/14/74 Boston," URL https://deadthinking.blogspot.com/2016/05/garcia-saunders-111474-boston.html.

! historical: Ad in Boston Phoenix bills "Jerry Garcia" and doesn't mention early/late shows, but there were early and late. For the six shows, JGMS get $5,000 guarantee plus 70% gross receipts over $8,100. Tix $4.50, not sure of show times.

! R: Source: AUD marked "1st Gen" rescued from ebay for coupla bucks.

! R: Transfer: XLII > Nakamichi CR-5A > Edirol FA-66 > Wavelab 2448 > R8Brain SRC > Wavelab (adding 16-bit patches) > CD-Wave > TLH > FLAC 1644 tagged. Transferred by Andrew F. 06/2016.

! R: Note: Recording does not match shnid-16461, Lucky us, now we have two! This one appears to be closer to the P.A. with lots of crowd chatter, has a real "you-are-there" sound. Also contains THTC and the complete PMTWGR. The tape was tightly edited with most songs clipped at start, THTC & MFV have a bit missing. Several patches from ID-16461 added to make the show as complete as possible; first 08 seconds Favela, first 21 seconds Let it Rock, first 07 seconds Problems, also in Problems 06 seconds starting at 10:29, first 16 seconds Mystery Train, first 08 seconds Just Kissed, and from 10:02 Just Kissed thru to end of show.

! R: this sounds very nice

! R: t03 LIR chatty nearby crowd guy might want to STFU and listen. @03:55 Jerry scrubs a thing that the audience really likes, then some glassy picking which, again, seems appreciated.

! P: t04 MPGP late 3 over 4 Garcia lays down some tasty licks. 8:45 ff Humphrey does a nice splashy little feature, still working it 9:14 behind Merl, but totally putting himself forward.

! P: t05 MT female audience member singing at end. She is not on the 1 with the band, Jerry is wrapping it up pretty fast.

! R: MFV thought I heard a splice @ 1:15

! P: MFV 1:30 he gives it a "Red Clay" CTI thing. Humphrey splashes and hi-hats wonderfully here. 1:52ff guitar exploration. The talkative crowd reminds us it's not just the kids today who talk throught the show. Shhh! Some big Martin squawking melting in the 6:30ff range. 14:30 some big fluttery fanned chords by Garcia.

! P: t07 PMTWGR Garcia still doing some decayed stuff at start, eases into the tune, Merl still swirling so @ 0:40 Garcia gets out with a beautiful set of fanned chords. Flute jacks up his entry - c'mon Martin. Paul tries to follow Martin, but the band is not together.

! P: t08 JKMB there is some great stuff here. Everyone plays.

! P: t09 VITC Listen to Paul Humphrey bring the tune in, straight outta Brazil. Man. Merl misses the obvious starting point, comes back a four later, but it's all good. 4 min mark Paul H is amazing, crazed splash 4:38, another 4:43 to make sure everyone took note. What a drummer! This is really great. At 12:45 just scrubs to bring things to a close. Very, very good stuff.

During Gaylord's Second Stint: JGB at the Stone, October 14, 1985 (Monday)

These may be the shortest two JGB sets ever played. Gaylord Birch drumming.

See also "The December '85 Garcia Band Shows"

LN jg1985-10-14.jgb.all.aud.138028.flac1644

Jerry Garcia Band
The Stone
412 Broadway
San Francisco, CA 94133
October 14, 1985 (Monday)
CC shnid-138028

--set I (4 tracks, 34:48)--
s1t01. Cats Under The Stars [7:12] %
s1t02. When I Paint My Masterpiece [8:45] %
s1t03. That's What Love Will Make You Do [8:31] [0:04] %
s1t04. Tangled Up In Blue [10:15] %

--set II ( 4 tracks, 31:22)--
s2t01. Run For The Roses [4:54] %
s2t02. [0:20] Love In The Afternoon [9:22] %
s2t03. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [9:25] ->
s2t04. Midnight Moonlight [7:19] [0:02] %

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #22 (First show - October 7, 1985 Keystone Palo Alto; Last show - February 21, 1986)
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-guitar, vocals;
! lineup: Gloria Jones - vocals;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - vocals;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - organ;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! lineup: Gaylord Birch - drums.

JGMF:

! R: 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/19851014-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/138028 (this fileset).

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

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/07/stone-mothers-412-broadway-san.html

! band: http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html. This is ultrarare JGB #22, with Gaylord Birch drumming. This configuration debuted on a Monday-Tuesday, October 7th and 8th, 1985 in Palo Alto, then Sunday-Monday the next week in San Fran. Of those four shows, the last one, 10/14, is the only one to circulate as of March 2017. Four gigs in October, four in December (14-15 in SF, 21-22 in PA, weekend gigs, all in circulation), then one gig in February (2/21/86). These were the only JGB shows without stalwart drummer David Kemper between 7/20/83 and 11/19/93. We know so little about this period. Where was Kemper? Corry bands post: "I presume that Kemper had another commitment, and since Birch was an established quantity from his time in Reconstruction, he was a comfortable choice as a sub." Stylistically, I don't hear the kick bass as much with him, a lot more snare and high stuff. He remains probably the second snazziest drummer with whom Garcia ever played, after Paul Humphrey (1974).

! seealso: Arnold, Corry. 2012. Gaylord Birch – Drums. Hooterollin' Around, February 3, URL http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2012/02/gaylord-birch-drums.html, consulted 11/15/2014.

! R: source: AUD (marked 2nd Gen) kindly provided by wk & http://jgmf.blogspot.com/

! R: transfer: Maxell XLII > Nakamichi CR-5A > Edirol FA-66 > Wavelab 2448 > R8Brain > CD-Wave > TLH > FLAC 1644 tagged. Transfer by Andrew F. 03/2017.

! R: "Very tight edits thru-out, most songs cut in and out abruptly with bits missing." The vocals are deeply buried, the bass isn't particularly audible, guitar is at least pretty upfront. As I am in s1t03, I'd say the guitar sounds great, drums are OK, everything else (e.g., bass and keys) is buried.

! historical: These tapes are tightly edited, but 35 minutes and 31 minutes for the two sets, respectively, is far below the Minelli Line, below which a good square effort for the fans becomes a Cabaret Economics ripoff.

! P: s1t01 CUTS is actually surprisingly together. The December 14-15 shows are the only other late '85 Jerry Band tapes in circulation as of this writing (3/24/17), and I had thought that at least one of them opened with some real timing misfires between drums and band. They manage to wrap CUTS up pretty tightly, not doing that thing of not knowing how to end it.

! R: s1t01 CUTS 34-seconds blank tape, cross-faded out at 4:52.

! P: s1t02 WIPMM Gaylord doesn't catch the ending, it sort of fizzles and fazzles to a close.

! P: s1t03 TWLWMYD Birch is great on this, right from the get-go. He has an extra beat going that really works well, and he nicely accents behind Jerry's chorus vocal. This is cookin'!

! P: s1t04 TUIB it's too bad the vocals are so buried, because they sound reasonably strong. compare with GD 9/3/85, or the September Red Rocks shows, and he sounds much better here.

! s2t02 LITA I may have to retract my statement about the voice - maybe sounding a little more ragged here later in the evening.

! P: s2t03 TNTDODD I have been wavering on the vocals, and here they are not terrible at first ... then they get pretty bad by 3 minutes into the song.

Walkin' One and Only: JGMS backing Maria Muldaur, BCT, October 12, 1974

updated with newly-unearthed Phillip Elwood review

Well, well, well ... just found a review of a Maria Muldaur show at BCT on Saturday, October 12, 1974 in the Berkeley Barb (Wikarska 1974). Maria worked with three bands this night.

1) David Nichtern (I presume "and the Nocturnes"): Nichtern, Hank DeVito on steel, Larry Jones on bass, and Claude Pepper on drums. Nicolette Larson sang some.

2) Great American Music Band: Maria sang and played violin with the main band of Richard Greene (fiddle), David Grisman (mandolin), Ellen Kearney (rhythm guitar, vocals), John Carlini (guitar) and Joe Carroll. Martin Fierro sat in for a number with the GAMB!

3) Maria's band: Merle [sic] Saunders, Paul Humphrey, John Kahn, Jerry Garcia, Martin Fierro.

Beyond being new to The List, this is the earliest second-earliest confirmed Garcia-Humphrey shared stage event, supplanting the next night at the Santa Barbara County Bowl. Update: I now have confirmation that Humphrey drummed on 10/11/74 at the Chateau Liberté. Elwood's review provides the following songs from the JGMS set: "Gee Baby Ain't I Good To You," "Lover Man," "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," "Harder They Come," "Sitting In Limbo," and Dan Hicks's "Walkin' One And Only".

JGMS serving as Maria's backing band certainly tickles the imagination.

! review: Elwood, Phillip. 19741014. Goodtime Maria in a mellow mood. San Francisco Examiner, October 14, 1974, p. 23.

! review: Wikarska, Carol. 1974. Maria Muldaur's Body Song. Berkeley Barb, October 18-24, 14.

! seealso: JGMF, "Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You?", URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2017/04/gee-baby-aint-i-good-to-you.html.

LN jg1974-11-09.jgms.late.aud-slabicky.8661.shnf

I guess I'd say I see that as a rather loose and very good show, maybe above average for the time.

Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
Capitol Theatre
326 Monroe Street
Passaic, NJ 07055
November 9, 1974 - 11 PM Late Show
Slabicky shnid-8661 shn2flac

--(9 tracks, 85:20)--
l-t01. band introduction (1) [0:26]
l-t02. Harder They Come [15:21] % -16:53
l-t03. Favela [10:15] %
l-t04. /Let It Rock [#8:29] %
l-t05. //My Problems Got Problems [#10:37] [0:02] %
l-t06. //He Ain't Give You None [#11:24] [0:05]
l-t07. La-La [13:50] ->
l-t08. People Make the World Go 'Round [3:58] [0:02] %
l-t09. //How Sweet It Is [#9:11#] [0:07]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: Merl Saunders - keyboards, vocals;
! lineup: Martin Fierro - saxophone, flute;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! lineup: Paul Humphrey - drums.

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/19741109-02

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/8661 (this fileset). Note that the 11/9/74 early show is MIA - no known recordings

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/GSy7A

! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/09/capitol-theater-monroe-st-and-central.html

! R: field recordist: Ihor Slabicky

! R: field recording gear: 2x AKG d190e > Sony TC-152sd

! R: field recording media: Ampex 90min High Frequency Cassette)

! R: transfer: playback on a Nakamichi CR-3A > Lucid AD9624 24-bit A/D converter (44.1kHz) > DAT (Sony R500) > CD. Extraction via EAC, re-tracking via WavMerge and CD Wave, and .shn encoding via mkwACT.

! l-t01 (1) John Scher: "OK, here we go. On saxophone, Martin Fierro. The drummer is Paul Humphries [sic], on bass John Kahn, on keyboards Merl Saunders, on guitar Jerry Garcia. Please welcome [inaudible]."

! P: l-t02 HTC Paul Humphrey is incredible! The vibe of this HTC is fantastically warm, up through 10, come to verse 11:15 and that was a really nice passage. This might have gone a time or two around longer than it needed to, but still in 14 there's lots of really good energy and playing.

! P: l-t03 Favela starts off really hot. Garcia takes a real nice turn 4ff while the band absolutely cooks. This is great stuff. Merl nice turn 7. Things get a little loose 8:45, maybe Martin's fault, not sure, but they right the ship for a bit. Looking ahead, I see the track only times to 10:15 - looks like they're gonna bail out. But here at 9:36 it's still cooking along nicely, down to a tight close - all right, then.

! R: l-t04 Let it Rock cuts in;

! P: l-t04 LIR in the first minute, now continuing 1:14 is playing some great decaying stuff, very country for awhile there. The band is not entirely together at all times.

! R: l-t05 Problems Got Problems cuts in;

! P: l-t05 MPGP in 2 Jerry is playing some very nice bluesy stuff. This band isn't always together, but this is a case where it just sounds wonderful. Jerry's guitar playing is unrushed, expressive, exploratory, soft edges around deep grooves. Merl's long swirls runs in 8 are excellent. He sounds great this night, moaning and growling about how his problems got problems.

! R: l-t06 HAGYN cuts in;

! P: l-t06 HAGYN more really nice playing by Garcia in the 8-minute mark of this song. He sounds great.

l-t09 How Sweet cuts in

Jim Nelson on the Drums and Several Great Rarities: JGMS at Keystone, October 4, 1974

LN jg1974-10-04.jgms.all.aud-falanga.8649.shn2flac

This is great to hear.

Three points of historical interest.

1) Louis Falanga's onstage audience tapes are great documents.

2) Lots of interesting material including, here, some great jazz ("Valdez In The Country", "People Make The World Go Round", "Freedom Jazz Dance"), and a great rare (in the Garciaverse) Motown, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough".

3) personnel: Bill Kreutzmann had been drumming with JGMS since about November 1973, by my reckoning, and then, after 9/2/74, JGMS goes in another direction. Here we have Jim Nelson on a tryout, it would seem. Paul Humphrey would be present in Santa Cruz on the 11th and Santa Barbara on the 13th, and is presumed to continue through October. I think it's pretty well established that he was drumming for the Fall 1974 East Coast tour, though truth be told I have never seen a shred of hard contemporary evidence for that. It's "understood". I don't doubt it, but wouldn't it be funny if Jim Nelson were really the drummer in some of these slots?

Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
Keystone
2119 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94704
October 4, 1974 (Friday)
Falanga-Menke shnid-8649 retrack shn2flac

--set I (6 tracks, 58:27)--
s1t01. //That's What Love Will Make You Do [13:43] % [1:43]
s1t02. Valdez In The Country [12:56] ->
s1t03. Space [1:54] ->
s1t04. People Make The World Go// Round [4:#10] [0:33] % [0:32]
s1t05. (I'm A) Road Runner [10:59] (1) [0:40]
s1t06. /It Ain't No Use [11:01#] (2) [0:16]

--set II (6 tracks, 54:07)--
s2t01. tuning [0:57]
s2t02. Tough Mama [7:34] [1:00]
s2t03. Freedom Jazz Dance [14:42] [1:22]
s2t04. Sitting In Limbo [11:41] [0:09] % [0:30]
s2t05. Ain't No Mountain High Enough [6:26] ->
s2t06. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [9:37] [0:08]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! lineup: Merl Saunders - keyboards;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! lineup: Jim Nelson - drums.

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/19741004-01

! JGC: https://jerrygarcia.com/show/1974-10-04-keystone-berkeley-ca/

! db: shnid-8649 (this fileset).

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

! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/02/keystone-2119-university-avenue.html | http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2010/12/2119-university-avenue-berkeley-ca.html | http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2011/01/jerry-garcia-and-keystone-shows.html.

! ad: SFSECDB19740922p31

! listing: SFSECDB19740929p05

! ad: SFSECDB19740929p31

! listing: San Francisco Examiner, October 3, 1974, p. 35

! listing: Hayward Daily Review, October 4, 1974, p. 28

! seealso:  JGMF, "Finders Keepers: JGMS with Jim Nelson on Drums, Keystone, October 5, 1974."

! historical: Three points of historical interest. 1) Louis Falanga's onstage audience tapes are great documents. 2) Lots of interesting material including, here, some great jazz ("Valdez In The Country", "People Make The World Go Round", "Freedom Jazz Dance", and great rare (in the Garciaverse) Motown, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". 3) personnel: Bill Kreutzmann had been drumming with JGMS since about November 1973, by my reckoning, and then, after 9/2/74, JGMS goes in another direction. Here we have Jim Nelson on a tryout, it would seem. Paul Humphrey would be present in Santa Cruz on the 11th, BCT on the 12th, and Santa Barbara on the 13th, and is presumed to continue through October. I think it's pretty well established that he was drumming for the Fall 1974 East Coast tour, though truth be told I have never seen a shred of hard contemporary evidence for that. It's "understood".

! personnel: Betty's reel notes that this is Jim Nelson on drums! I note lots of hi-hat, lots of quick stuff, and find that in general this guy is great, even as the group tries to learn how to play together. It's not entirely successful, but it is super-interesting.

! R: field recordist: Louis Falanga (?and Bob Menke?)

! R: field recording gear: 1x Sony ECM-70 + 1 x Sony ECM-250 Sony TC-152

! R: field recording location: onstage from stage left/house right. The sought-for setup would have been seated at Garcia's feet, one mic pointed into his stage monitor and one mic aimed at the rest of the band.

! R: lineage: unknown cassette master transfer by Bob Menke, ca. late 1990s, unknown process to CDx (Jim Powell) > CDx (Jack Warner) > CDx; re-tracked, shortened, and seeded by jupillej@mediaone.net.

! R: Utterly breathtaking. The vocals are nearly inaudible. We are getting them direct from Jerry's mouth from about 8-10 feet away or whatever, with no amplification. But Garcia's guitar is crystal-clear: this is the best example so far of the technique that Falanga and/or Menke used for these tapes, which was to directly mic Jerry's stage monitor and point another mic toward the center of the stage soundfield. His guitar has incredible tone and volume. The bass is also pretty loud and direct-sounding. Is it possible that what we are hearing is a kind of monitor mix for Jerry? Sorry, summing up: guitar and bass crystal clear and loud, drums real nicely present, keys and horns real low in the mix.

! R: s1t01 TWLWMYD cuts in; drums come up a little @ 9:20

! setlist: s1t02 "Valdez In The Country" originally given as "Boss Martin", per old Jerry Site nomenclature, changed 9/13/2009.

! P: s1t02 VITC Martin takes the first solo, and he is blowing beautifully. This song really suits him. Do we know whether it was him who brought it in to the band? The little thing Jerry and the drummer get together in the 11-min mark is really interesting. The drummer is doing some syncopated percussive stuff with one hand and a nice tight snare in the other. And Jerry really seems to respond. He's noodling low, but check right at the start of the 11-minute mark for some really, really gorgeous musical ideas from the Great Barcia.

! setlist: s1t03 Space is well-placed here. This is completely unmoored from the song, Valdez In The Country, out of which it oozed.

! s1t04 PMTWGR This version is absolutely classic, just how you want it to be: Kahn announces and starts it. Garcia swoops in @ 0:48 with the roundabout strumming he does in this tune ... but Merl wants to keep it spaced out for awhile, and I gotta say the drummer is right there with him. And who is Garcia to say no to some noodly weirdness? Thet let it bounce around for a minute or so, Garcia coming back to his strum @ 1:48, then Merl joins in with the melody. It's really, really nice because it's still really echoey and vibey, Merl using lots of reverb patience. Then the splice, though, and we are winding up. And we don't know what we are missing. Could have been legendary!

! R: s1t04 PMTWGR splice @ 2:29

! s1t05 Road Runner again shows the distinctive style of the drummer, Jim Nelson. Not so much high-hat here, but lots of quick, tight rolls. Guy can hit, all right, and these Holland/Dozier/Holland rollers are presumably pretty well encoded in all the players' respective hardwiring.

! s1t05 (1) @ 11:29 Nelson (presumed): "You guys are treating me rough, man." I think that's Jim Nelson speaking, and he's probably referring to them throwing him out there with a bunch of songs and just telling him to keep up! That's how it sounds to me, anyway.

! setlist: s1t06 "It Ain't No Use" previously known as "It's No Use", changed 9/3/2011.

! R: s1t06 IANU cuts in

! s1t06 (2) JG: "Thanks a lot. We're gonna take a great for a little while. We'll be back pretty soon."

! R: s1t08 there may be a brief splice during the tuning @ 4:28. Then the clear splice @ 4:43

! P: s2t02 There is some really grungy stuff happening off the keyboards, or is it saxophone? at the start of Tough Mama. Can't tell if someone's trying to get some of that, or if it's a bad cable somewhere. Goes away by 1:20. Jerry's vocals are also more audible on the tape here than they had been at the start of set I. Tough Mama gets a little loose for awhile toward the end. They are working on it.

! P: s2t03 old note: "I think they keep trying to end FJD, but they keep forgetting to tell the drummer." new note: That said, this FJD is profoundly interesting to me. I think this is outstanding. Yes, they should have ended it at 12:04. Everything from that point is a little wonky. Though the drummer is super-interesting, they just are not together 12:04ff. Try to end again 12:50, he misses it. OK! They all decide to do some stuff, Jerry playing some realyl plucky 13, Merl does a real nice run 13:08ff, very nice job Merl! Goes high 13:25, Jerry glassy sraping chunking behind him, Merl swirling up some goodies 13:45. Martin adding percussion 14:01. Then they hit it 14:42, so it was just those two misses in the 12 minute range, and then they made some lemonade with them in any case. Very good.

! R: s2t05 Ain't No Mountain High Enough static blip @ 2:40

! P: s2t05 ANMHE amazing to hear this. Great energy. Martin misses once early on, things are a little loose in terms of arrangement, but this has a great groove! 4:30 it is driving beautifully and Garcia does some incredible guitar work, splashy long threads on top of some killer rhythm with an amazing piece of American music at his fingertips. Great. Listen to Nelson drum 5:38! They pull a little minor decay to signal end ... I could have stood for it to go a little longer ... they let it melt and decay, lots of reverb, echoey space, closes to the echo that becomes HSII. Nice!

Grandma said, 'Boy, go and follow your heart': JGMS at Keystone Berkeley, November 27, 1974

LN jg1974-11-27.jgms.106mins.sbd-GEMS.91343.flac1644

Just a few quick notes.

1) Paul Humphrey drumming. The drummer is fast and great. He is noted in Rex's handwriting on the box for reel #3.

2) Some of this material is just amazing. "Valdez In The Country" and "Freedom Jazz Dance" should make us very Grateful that Merl was there to challenge Garcia with some serious jazz instrumentals. "Going, Going, Gone" is also just such a wonderful tune. If I had more time, I'd write up song notes on these three tunes.

• One subpoint. There are those who suggest that the demise of the Garcia-Saunders relationship (and of the band LOM) in 1975) primarily reflected musical issues. Hypothesis 1: Garcia just couldn't hang with the deep jazz and funk that Merl and, e.g., Aunt Monk (could play); Hypothesis 2: "musical differences", in the sense that Jerry wanted to move to more white standards (boogie-woogie stuff with Nicky, southern white gospel stuff [really black, of course] with Keith, Donna and Tutt). Either way, what the jazz instrumental here recall for me is the extent to which Garcia really was challenged to play out with some of the this JGMS (and, to a lesser extent, LOM) material.

• OK, a second subpoint: "Going, Going, Gone"

Grandma said, “Boy, go and follow your heart
And you’ll be fine at the end of the line
All that’s gold isn’t meant to shine
Don’t you and your one true love ever part”

3) The performance is top-shelf. I can see why these guys thought this was a band with a future (as they head toward the apparently greater intended permanence of Legion of Mary, a band with a name). Everybody is great here. Merl is great. Martin is great. Garcia is great. John Kahn is great. Humphrey is great. I don't know why things started getting so sluggish in 1975 --well, I have some ideas-- but this tape reveals a band full of pros who are drinking deeply from the well of American music.

4) I have corrected my understanding of the Betty tapes. There are three bunches. This is from "Bunch 1".

Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
Keystone
2119 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94704
November 27, 1974 (Wednesday)
106 min "Bunch One" Betty Cantor-Jackson soundboard

--set I (4 tracks, 52:52, probably incomplete)
s1t01. //Valdez In The Country [#15:05] [0:24] %
s1t02. //You Can Leave Your Hat On [#13:35] [0:18] %
s1t03. //Going, Going, Gone// [#12:56#] %
s1t04. //Mystery Train [#10:18] (1) [0:16]

--Set II (4 tracks, 53:23)--
s2t01. [0:04] He Ain't Give You None [12:56] [0:09] % [0:33]
s2t02. Freedom Jazz Dance [14:05] % [1:10]
s2t03. Someday // Baby [9:#24] [1:09]
s2t04. I Second That Emotion [13:41] [0:12] (2)

! Band: Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
! Lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! Lineup: Merl Saunders - keyboards, vocals;
! Lineup: Martin Fierro - saxophone, flute;
! Lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! Lineup: Paul Humphrey - drums.

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/19741127-02

! db: shnid-89216 (less complete, deprecated); shnid-91343 (more complete, this fileset).

! ACT2: Paul Pena

! setlist: There may have been a song before Valdez In The Country (which would have been a strange opener).

! personnel: this is right on the cusp of the transition between Paul Humphrey and Ronnie Tutt. Paul is really active, light on the kick pedal but snappy on the snare.

! R: I will take the liberty of reconstructing the GEMS notes for my own purposes. So this is a compilation of two CD sources which had some common ancestors but diverged somewhere along the way. The primary source came to GEMS via Zack Tucker, with lineage MSR > P > D > CD. Source 1 provides all except first 1:30 of Valdez and last two songs, and was previously circulated as shnid 89216. Source 2 has precisely the same lineage, but came to GEMS via jjoops and the Tupperware of Treasures. Both sets of CDs were extracted and processed by Jamie Waddell on the **GEMS** Edit Station (primary software Wavelab 6.0) and circulated as a **GEMS** Production at Lossless Legs, ca. April 11, 2008.

! R: Genealogy: The common ancestry of the source CDs here is MSR > P > D > CD. These are "Bunch One" Betty Boards. For background, here's WBOTB co-conspirator Blake Gilpin's post to DNC on 7/28/98: "As far as I know, there were three bunches of "Betty Boards" that left The auction. Bunch One was the largest, purchased by a guy named Don, who knew the Sale was about to happen because his wife worked in the mortgage industry and saw the paperwork. Bunch One was the largest, purchased by a guy named Don, who knew the Sale was about to happen because his wife worked in the mortgage industry and saw the paperwork. This is the most commonly known and cataloged set of which the *reels only* were spun to PCM / Beta and most were circulated. The cassettes were not spun to digital. Some of the PCM-0 betas, specifically the Garcia Saunders material and others have not been circulated beyond Menke or possibly Dougal. ... The list of uncirculated material from Bunch One is below. (I fell into Don's and apparently Dougal's disfavor by letting a neighbor, who was an employee of the band, know what tapes we had. I had not been asked to keep these secret and I still maintain that it was the proper thing to do, if only as a courtesy. Probably just bad timing.)" These Bunch One Betties were later merged with Bunch Two (mostly comprised of Fall 1977 GD tapes, apparently), and I have traditionally (and perhaps mistakenly, or at least misleadingly) referred to these as "Second Batch" Betty tapes. I'll try to go back to original and standard usage, and to be more careful. (In my defense, Rob Eaton himself initially called these "the fourth box" until he concluded that these, which he restored in ca. 1995-1996, a.k.a. the water-damaged tapes, were one and the same.)

! setlist: seeder notes "The compilation of these two sources completes this show, minus a few missing moments in Bossa Martin [sic: Valdez In The Country], which started in late, and Someday Baby, which had a reel flip, and no patch source exists yet." I am not so sure. I think there's probably a song or two before VITC.

! R: s1t01 Valdez In The Country cuts in on a Martin solo. Things are cookin'! Unknown amount missing.

! P: s1t01 VITC is incredible. Martin is on fire, working with some great weird reverb. Merl's long electric-piano feature in the 6-7 minute mark is light and groovy and hot. @ 7:49 Garcia starts doing some syncopated off-key chordings, and then early in the 8-minute he alights with flowing fingers, so measured and controlled and so many things to say as we approach the 9-minute mark. Late in the 11-minute mark they start spacing out, really fantastic lunar-orbiter sounds from Merl, Jerry moaning around behind, the drums just gorgeous, and Martin maybe playing a little percussion, but very tastefully (cf. 11/2/74). Merl is having one of his finest performances here, as he and Jerry collaboratively pour some honey down the ol' rabbit hole. It's keeping a real nice beat, keeping the Brazilian rhythms, Martin, satisfied, picks up his horn early in the 14-minute mark, Jerry starts lettin' it roll down that same ol' rabbit hole (he's decided to follow it down, naturally), Martin takes the cue

! R: s1t01 VITC zipper @ 1:22

! R: s1t02 YCLYHO cuts in on "//take off your dress."

! P: s1t02 YCLYHO JG is doing some nice long pulling in the 6-7 minute mark, then quickens the pace with a solo that has some of the feel of what the GD would do in those long, pre-"Fire On The Mountain" versions of "Scarlet Begonias", ca. 1976. In late 8 and into 9-minute mark, Kahn starts really asserting himself with some beautiful, hefty descending blues bass lines. Descending from already down in the bottom, that is. Merl plays more electric piano over the 10-minute mark, while John is still really playing beefy, Jerry comping behind, Merl groaning as he floats over the keys, just a righty for awhile, drops some heavier and double-time left-hand around 11:00. The drop really, really cleanly into the melody again just at the 12-minute mark. Fixing up the tempo a little bit, readjusting the ass in the drummer's chair, and Merl returns to his lament about suspicious minds a' talkin' round the neighborhood.

! R: this is clearly a Betty Board. Listen to that drum tone! She has got it locked in.

! P: s1t03 GGG this is some of the straight-churchiest organ playing you will ever hear from Merl Saunders. The B-3's lament to God, and while silent prayers seem sometimes to fall on deaf ears, how could He not hear this call? Martin's flute is real gentle behind. "Grandma said 'Boy, go and follow your heart'," what a gorgeous line. Dylan. Man oh man.

! R: s1t03 Merl's organ comes into R-speaker around 0:22.

! P: s1t04 Mystery Train is not one that usually moves me, but this is just good, hot music. The drummer is locked right the fuck in, the rhythm is in a Brink's truck. Jerry's vocals are energetic. Kahn strands bass lines together like a pretzel maker right across the 9-minute mark, feels like he must have had both hands (and the bass, of course) up under his chin, wiggling his fingers across those thick strings. Nice.

! s1t04 (1) JG: "Thanks. We're gonna take a break for a little while. We'll be back a little bit later."

! P: s2t01 HAGYN listen to how distinctive the drummer sounds as he comes in!  Jerry blowing some glass 4:30ish, goes 'round again over the 5-min mark.

! personnel: again, when I listen to the start of Freedom Jazz Dance, Humphrey sounds totally distinctive, and is hot as hell, by the way.

! R: s2t03 SB reel splice @ 6:25

! R: there's a high-pitched whine in the "source 2" material, beginning @ end s2t02 and continuing.

! R: s2t04 drops @ 0:14-0:26, 0:40-0:44, 1:22, 1:33, 1:44, 6:44, 8:35-8:36.

! s2t04 (2) JG: "Thanks a lot. Looks like they're tryin' to close the bar. See you all later on."

The Tutt Rule: JGMS at the Keystone, June 22, 1975

LN jg1975-06-22.jgms.all.aud-menke-falanga-motb-0048.87236.flac1644

Update: 4/20/2020: I now refer to this as JGMS, because Ron Tutt is not drumming, and Greg Errico is. Less importantly, but not unimportantly, while all of the external materials refer to the group as Legion of Mary, Rex Jackson labeled his tape boxes Jerry & Merl.

Sometimes I have a modest tendency to read too much into too little. Ya think? So you’ll discount appropriately if I say that the above calendar is a gift from the data gods, not to mention whoever had it printed on that attractive blue paper. Working from the edges in toward the center, at least a local center, of my chosen topic of Garcia On The Side, we can begin with some of the obscure Bay Area bands, vintage summer 1975. I’ll let you determine for themselves which those are. Then we can look at some of the not-too-obscure ones … hello, Freddie King! Yes, I do feel the blues, thank you for asking.

Kingfish, with Garcia’s once and future bandmates Bob Weir and Dave Torbert, play a Thursday-Friday (19-20), while Keith and Donna Band played the previous weekend, Friday, June 13 and Saturday, June 14, 1975. We know Jerry was out of town on that Saturday (Legion of Mary, 6/14/75, Fox Theatre, Venice, CA), but we are given to wonder whether he tried his luck Friday with Keith, Donna, Billy K. and the gang.

Anyway, the most striking feature about this calendar as it relates directly to my engagement with GOTS is the duplicity of billings for Garcia’s June 1975 gigs with Merl. On Tuesday-Wednesday June 3-4, 1975, and again on Wednesday June 11, they are billed as “Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders”, or “Garcia and Saunders”. I will refer to this, as usual, as JGMS. On Saturday-Sunday, June 21-22, 1975, they are billed as Legion of Mary, LOM. June 1975 in general (beyond the Keystone) features a more or less even split between the two billings. (update: actually, June was 10-3 in favor of JGMS, by my count as of 4/20/2020.) Since we know of many, many LOM-billed gigs between the name’s ca. March 1, 1975 “official” debut and June, the old idea that there was a linear progression from JGMS to LOM, with a clean, speciating break between them, is untenable.

So, what’s going on? First is the “Tutt Rule”, which comes to us via recollections by Bob Menke and others: “If Ron Tutt was there, it was Legion of Mary.” Tutt was necessary and sufficient to the LOM designation (insofar as Jerry-Merl bands go). For example, a note in the MOTB 0045 seed of the June 3, 1975 show [16 bit: shnid 87198; 24 bit: shnid 87217] explains that “This is listed as Garcia and Saunders since it has been confirmed Ron Tutt did not play drums at this show” (see also the June 4, 1975 MOTB 0046 seeds [16 bit: shnid 87204; 24 bit: shnid 87234]). Cryptdev, who was also around and attending shows, shares this understanding of arrangements (i.e., that Tutt=LOM).

The Tutt Rule holds up well, on its face, against the evidence of the June 1975 Keystone billings. Ron Tutt was drumming with Elvis at the start of the month (helpfully extracted by Corry from the quite extraordinary site http://www.elvisconcerts.com): every night from May 30-June 10, inclusive. Those shows are billed as JGMS. We also know that Tutt was not drumming at El Camino Park on June 8, 1975, as established in cryptdev’s comments to Corry’s Paul Humphrey post (note cryptdev mistakenly calls it June 7). So far, so good.

There is also a second rule of thumb, slightly more elaborate, which I’ll call the alternation rule. According to received understandings, the Garcia/Saunders/Kahn/Fierro outfit used Paul Humphrey on the weeknights (because of his weekend obligations filming Lawrence Welk) and Tutt on the weekends (because he played with Elvis during the week). This one also helps to make sense of the June 1975 billings: all three JGMS listings fall on weeknights, and both LOM listings fall on weekend nights (if Sunday counts that way). Over at Hooterollin’ Around, for example, commenter Keats relays a conversation with Merl in which he recalls that “Humphrey would show up to play in his monochromatic leisure suits from the Welk show.” While Corry’s courageous research into the Lawrence Welk TV show suggests that Humphrey didn’t start that until 1976, the year after JGMS/LOM ended, he notes that it could well have been some other show filmed in Burbank or wherever. So we might imagine that the June 3-4 and 11 shows feature Paul Humphrey on drums.

But we just don’t know. Leaving aside the question of the overall contours of Humphrey’s playing with JGMS, it remains unknown whether he played at these June ’75 shows. I will be revisiting June 3-4 as soon as I can. We know that the El Camino Park drummer (June 8) was black, but cryptdev doubts it was Mr. Humphrey. What we really need is someone with great ears to check this stuff out and make stylistic notes on the drummers – while I will give it a go, it’s really beyond what my ears can detect.

Whatever the case, the show at Keystone Berkeley, 2119 University Avenue, Berkeley, CA, 94107 on Sunday, June 22, 1975 falls foul of the Tutt rule and belies any assumption we might make about Humphrey being there when Tutt was not. An unimpeachable but unnameable source identifies the drummer at this show as “Gregg Ricero”, a misspelled first name and anagrammatic rearrangement of the last name of Greg Errico. And, as is so often the case, the tape gives us a confirmatory piece of evidence when, after the first song, a crowd member yells “That drummer’s outta site!” Errico is not identified by name, but I am constantly amazed by how knowledgeable Garcia audiences were, even at this relatively early date. The attendee just sounds like he’s making special note of a drummer he hasn’t seen before. When I put these two facts together, I can only conclude that, notwithstanding the Legion of Mary billing, the drummer this night is Greg Errico. This further makes me wonder about the rest of the month, and whether we might not have an opportunity to scrutinize the alternation rule more closely, e.g., by comparing Errico’s drumming here with the drumming on June 3, 4 and 21, among others.

The show is a little sluggish to my ears, but I love it. No one song or passage really stood out for me as particularly great or particularly off. Within about two weeks, Legion of Mary would be no more.

Listening notes follow …

Legion of Mary

Keystone

2119 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94704

June 22, 1975 (Sunday)

--Set I (6 tracks, 80:10)--

d1t01. //Think [#8:14] (1) [0:19] % [0:16]

d1t02. Favela [17:07] [0:14] % [0:33]

d1t03. Last Train From Poor Valley [12:12] [0:54]

d1t04. [0:25] I Feel Like Dynamite [12:25] [0:21]

d1t05. I Second That Emotion [14:52] [0:17] %

d1t06. That's Alright, Mama [11:55] (1) [0:15]

--Set II (5 tracks, 72:20)--

d2t01. After Midnight [15:40] [0:25] % [0:27]

d2t02. Wondering Why [23:10] [0:26]

d2t03. Tough Mama [8:16] [0:17] % [1:34]

d2t04. My Problems Got Problems [12:54] [0:27]

d2t05. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [8:38] (2) [0:03]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
! lineup: ! lineup: Jerry Garcia – el-guitar, vocals;

! lineup: Merl Saunders - keyboards, vocals;

! lineup: John Kahn – el-bass;

! lineup: Martin Fierro - saxophone, flute;

! lineup: Greg Errico - drums.

MOTB:

MOTB: MOTB Release: 0048 16/44.1

Release Date: 09/14/2007

Band: Legion Of Mary

Date: 06/22/1975. Sunday

Venue: Keystone

Location: Berkeley, CA

Source: Audience FOB Recording

Media: Maxell UD90

Lineage: Sony ECM-270 and ECM-250 [Positioned Onstage] > Sony TC-152 > MAC

Transfer: MAC > Nak Dragon > LynxTWO-B > WaveLab 5.0 > HD 24/96 WAV

Taper: Bob Menke and Louis Falanga

Transfer: Bob Menke

Mastering: Derek McCabe

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.

! TJS: http://www.thejerrysite.com/shows/show/1178

! db: http://db.etree.org/shn/87236 (this fileset); http://db.etree.org/shn/87237 (same tape and transfer, preserve at 24bit/96kHz); http://db.etree.org/shn/12558 (deprecated copy of same master); http://db.etree.org/shn/103435 (deprecated copy of same master, misidentified as a soundboard).

! R: this is one of the great set of audience recordings ever made, the 1974-1976 recordings made by Louis Falanga and Bob Menke of Bay Area Jerry Garcia shows. These guys came into the bar, went to the front, grabbed the table at Jerry's feet (right of center from the audience perspective) as soon as the doors opened. As the evening progressed, they would prepare cassette decks (e.g., this Sony TC-152), presumably complete with fresh batteries. Cassettes would be opened, maybe labeled, made ready (e.g., these Maxell UD90s). Two separate microphones, a Sony ECM-250 and (I presume) a newer Sony ECM-270, probably discrete while the lights are up, I figure? Lights go down, mics come out and are, apparently, placed onstage right in front of Garcia, one of them pointing into his stage monitor and the rest angled stage-center to catch the other players. You can hear the clinking of glasses, the low talk of the players onstage, the beautiful fuzz around the monitored guitar … so very much. Wonderful.

! R: The vocals are low ... persistent buzzing, especially set II?

! R: d1t01 Think enters in progress, maybe 30 seconds missing.

! P: d1t01 Martin does a Lonely Avenue quote about 5-minutes in.

! d1t01 (1) @ 8:23 crowd guy yells "That drummer's outta site." Someone on stage: "Really?"

! P d1t01-d1t02 both of these opening numbers are a little sluggish.

! P: d1t06 TAM they don't quite know how to start, consistent with this being a less acclimated drummer.

! d1t06 (1) JG: "We're gonna take a break for a little while. We'll be back a little bit later."

! P: I find the performance sluggish. Nothing really takes off in Set I.

! P: d2t01 After Midnight is plodding

! d2t01 @ 16:01 chick asks for "Sing Me A Rainbow" ... odd. Wasn't that a NRPS tune?

! R: d2t02 the buzzing is really bad in WW. It's a monitor buzz. Really bad in Tough Mama, down @ 0:27, back up.

! d2t05 (2) JG: "Thank you."

Where Was Paul Humphrey on June 5-6, 1974?

Ad for Lawrence Welk and his Champagne Music, Oakland Coliseum, June 4, 1974. Hayward Daily Review, May 24, 1974, p. 38.

Lawrence Welk and His Champagne Music, "With All 40 T.V. Stars!", appeared On Stage! In Person! at the Oakland Coliseum on June 4, 1974.

I wonder if Paul Humphrey was with them? By October, for sure, Paul Humphrey is in the JGMS drummer's chair, which he occupies for these guys' first-ever east coast tour in November. Exactly who is drumming on which dates throughout 1974 seems quite arbitrary. Who knows, maybe he drummed the next night or the night after his Welk gig with Jerry and Merl? (I can't get enough of these shifts, from Champagne Music to whatever the hell you'd call JGMS of the June 1974 vintage.) I.e., titularly, Where Was Paul Humphrey on June 5-6, 1974?

These June 4-5-6, 1974 shows are out of pattern in a lot of ways. First, that's Tuesday-Thursday, which is really unusual at this point. Second, these (4th and 5th; 6th was at Keystone, Berkeley) are among the last times that Garcia would play the Lion's Share, I think. He spent a lot of time there from about 1971-1974. Third, there are several setlist oddities from this three day period: Alice Coltrane's "Ptah, the El Daoud" (4th and 6th, only two known versions), a loping "All Blues" from the 4th (singleton), "New York City Blues" on the 4th (singleton) and "Kansas City Blues" on the 5th (singleton). Fourth, probably not unrelated, there is personnel fluidity: Alice Stuart guests on the 4th and 5th, while a pretty credible source puts Tony Saunders on bass on at least the 5th.

I don't know if there's any connection, but this particular moment is a fluid one, as my discussion of the Aunt Monk listings from a week earlier engages at a little greater length. In many ways, this window feels like a last hurrah for the loose, I-can-play-any-club-any-night-of-the-week period of Garcia's life. I'll add June 4 and 6 to the To Listen To Pile to see if I can hear about who is drumming, though my ears for drummers are bad. What a grind, anyway. :)

Recently added to TJS, Saunders images

I am sure everyone who reads here knows one can follow changes at The Jerry Site (there's also an RSS feed). TJS admin slip_not has been adding some nice data from poster and handbill images shared at the Merl Saunders Facebook page.

Since these photos are shared intentionally downloadable from Facebook, and acting on the We Are All The Vault principle of crowdsource redundant storage, I'll repost here. Thanks to Merl Saunders, Jr. for sharing the pics and to slip_not for gathering 'em up and adding them to The List. I may have renamed them according to my own organizational schema. This post will just summarize some of this great stuff and elaborate as I can.

1.     JGMS: January 23-24-25 (Tuesday-Thursday), Boarding House, 960 Bush Street, San Francisco, CA, 94109

What a find!

Handbill for the Boarding House, January 16-28, 1973. Scan courtesy of Merl Saunders Facebook page.

“Jerry Garcia, Merl Saunders & Tom Fogerty” are billed at the Boarding House on a “special engagement: 3 nights: tue-wed-thu”, following the Herbie Hancock Septet (maybe working on some of the extremely heavy Sextant material?) and preceding Harry Chapin, every night’s menu featuring some kind of meat. Mmmm, yeah.

There are a few other bits and pieces in the evidentiary record around these gigs.

First, at least 1/23 and 1/24 were listed in the Berkeley Barb’s “Scenedrome” calendar (January 19-25, 1973, p. 28). Also, and I think somewhat unusually, there was a line ad in the San Francisco Chronicle/Examiner Datebook (January 21, 1973, p. 25). I don’t think it was that common for such ads to appear, but maybe I am wrong about that. I suspect that this “special engagement” was expected to generate some big nights (at least for midweek) for the Boarding House. I’ll ask again: does anyone know anyone who was involved with running the Boarding House during this time period? Or even know who it was?

Ad for Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders at the Boarding House, 960 Bush Street, San Francisco, CA, 94109, Tues-Thurs January 23-25, 1973. Source: San Francisco Chronicle/Examiner Datebook, January 21, 1973, p. 25.

 There are also Betty Cantor-Jackson tapes known to exist and/or in circulation from this January 23-25 run at the Boarding House. All three dates were transferred by Rob Eaton from the “third batch” of Betty tapes which came to light in late 1995. Update: I think 1/23/73 actually came to RE from the Garcia Vault, via Dick L. The other two shows were definitely Betty tapes. At least one track from 1/23/73 has been officially released (“It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry,” track 1 of Jerry Garcia—Garcia Plays Dylan [Rhino R2 73263, 2005]). Material from the 24^th (shnid 4492, “early show” | shnid 9783, “late show” | shnid 100216, early and late) and 25^th (shnid 7670, “early” and “late” shows) circulated very early among collectors. They appear to have traveled several paths to the lossless era. Some of them are from DAT copies given by Eaton to Ryan Shriver, many of which were converted to CD and thence to .shn by D. Metz (e.g., shnid 4492). Others alleged to have PCM gens or cassette gens or whatever. A little hard to piece together all of it. The tapes are special because they are among the few that capture the mysterious Sarah Fulcher, singing her heart out.

The Jerry Site notes that Tom Fogerty was not present for the shows on the 24^th and 25^th, and he is not credited on the one released track from 1/23/73. I need to revisit the tapes, but I am pretty sure they’ll show that there’s no rhythm guitarist. SteveSw has written nice reviews of the 1/24/73 and 1/25/73 tapes at Workingman's Tracker. 

Anyway, this wonderful new-to-me handbill leads me to make a few points about the associated and related Listings.

First, unless it was understood that there were two shows nightly at the Boarding House, I don’t see any evidence in advertisements and such for early and late show designations. My assumption is that this makes it less likely that there were actually two (separately-ticketed) shows, but I am prepared to be set straight. Betty’s tapes said early and late, but maybe those temporal terms modified “set” rather than “show”? I don’t know. Anyway, I have been contemplating whether the early-late show listings should be merged on my lists … thoughts?

Second, there have long been tapes in circulation as “Boarding House, 1/26/73”, but all copies I have seen turn out to be the same as 1/24/73, which of course has more credible provenance. Anyway, again, I am preparing to consider 1/26/73 a spurious listing, but I’d like some feedback. (I am also thinking that 1/16/73 is spurious.)

2.     JGMS: May 4-5, 1973 (Friday-Saturday), Homer’s Warehouse, 79 Homer Lane, Palo Alto, CA

Handbill for Homer's Warehouse, early May 1973. Photo courtesy of Merl Saunders Facebook page.

We knew about these shows from inter alia amazing tapes, but this handbill is a great artifact. Nice little sketch of Jerry and Merl, representing a “moment” that only one who had watched them having one could capture.

Just a few small notes. First, probably doesn’t matter, but I am always interested when I see Merl’s name first-billed. A nice project would be to go back and measure the frequency with which one or the other was listed first. I’d bet it was at least 80-20 Jerry, for the obvious reasons. Second, the address given on the handbill, 79 Homer Avenue, is incorrect: according to Corry, it’s 79 Homer Lane. Note to Corry: Google Earth returns a search on “79 Homer Lane, Palo Alto, CA” with “79 Homer Lane, Menlo Park, CA, 94025”). Is that the same place on earth as where Homer’s Warehouse stood?

Note that these shows have been discussed a fair amount at Workingman's Tracker (that was 5/4; see also 5/5/73, and that it appears George Tickner is the second guitarist present.

3.     JGMS: October 20, 1973, Fieldhouse, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA (UPDATE: DID NOT HAPPEN)

Poster for Merl Saunders, Bill Kreutzmann, Jerry Garcia gig at University of Iowa Fieldhouse, Iowa City, IA, October 20, 1973. Photo courtesy of Merl Saunders Facebook page.

What the fuck?

Wow.

OK. Here’s a poster that bills “Merl Saunders, Jerry Garcia, Bill Kreutzmann”, plus Mike Bloomfield and Band and Stoneground, at the University of Iowa Fieldhouse on October 20, 1973. The Grateful Dead had played Oklahoma City on 10/19 and would be in Omaha on 10/21, so Iowa City is only 250 miles out of the way. But, wow.

I notice the sketches of Jerry and especially Merl are nearly identical to the Homer’s Warehouse handbill sketches. Anyone know who drew these? Otherwise, is there any chance this is a forgery?

If not, we have here a real revelation. This would be only the third JGMS show outside of the state of California, after the September 5-6, 1973 gigs out east. And it’s pretty darn random, I have to say, though of course stranger things could certainly have happened. An off-night in a just-starting GD tour, you head out to Iowa City, Iowa for a gig in the college fieldhouse? Looks a little like the structure of the 11/18/73 San Diego show, I guess … could there possibly be others like this? Again: thoughts?

Update 20111119: thanks to intrepid research by Corry, we now know the story behind the poster: Liza Minelli left U of I out to dry three weeks before homecoming, Roberta Flack and Van Morrison couldn't be arranged to sub, and it sounds like the effort to get JGMS was extremely last minute. Most interesting is the argument in the relevant article from the student paper (Hawkins, Chuck, and George Shirk. 1973. Problems plague major concert bids. Daily Iowan, October 30, 1973, p. 3) that it was the Grateful Dead who nixed this particular Garcia side trip.

4.     JGMS: October 13, 1974, Santa Barbara County Bowl, Santa Barbara, CA

From L: Merl Saunders (keyboards), Paul Humphrey (drums), Jerry Garcia (electric guitar), John Kahn (electric bass), Martin Fierro (saxophone), Santa Barbara County Bowl, Sunday, October 13, 1974. Photo courtesy of Merl Saunders Facebook page.

Ain't life grand? We were just discussing Paul Humphrey at Hooterollin' Around, and up pops the only known-to-me live image of the Garcia-Saunders-Humphrey-Kahn-Fierro quintet. (update: here's another, showing Paul Humphrey!!) This is a known show Sunday, October 13, 1974 at the beautiful Santa Barbara County Bowl in Santa Barbara, CA. I can't tell if it's overcast, but I am imagining a sunny fall day. And if you ever spent a sunny fall day in Santa Barbara in roughly that that spot in roughly the frame of mind that might have been generated by this particular concert, you know what I mean to say: A glimpse of life's deepest beauties for five bucks.

This gig has been known back to the time of the McNally-Arnold JG List, the oldest continuous piece of The JG List in the manuscript tradition (Yeah, lots of grandiosity there, I know. But I have to say it and I'll get to it.) That list's entry was dated 10/13/74 and had the personnel correctly listed, but the venue was given as Santa Barbara County Fairgrounds. I see that this misstatement continued through to Deadbase IX (not surprising, since it was based on Corry's copy of the McNally-Arnold JG List). This continued into The Jerry Site's entry, which was corrected in 2008 by the great Ryan Shriver.

I am presuming this long entry derived from the following backstage pass, which is generously hosted at psilo.net:

Backstage pass for “Jerry Garcia/Merl Saunders and friends” with the Sons of Champlin and Etta James, Sunday, October 13, 1974, Santa Barbara Count Bowl, Santa Barbara, CA. Image courtesy of psilo.net.

There has never been a tape of the show, billed as “Their First Southern California Solo Appearance, Direct From San Francisco and the Grateful Dead”. I don’t actually think that’s true. They (JGMS) had played the Ash Grove in LA on May 29-30, 1973. (A planned show at San Diego State University on November 18, 1973 was rained out.) But, I queeble. They weren’t getting out on the road much in those days, and it orta’h’ve been a fun old time. And, what a great picture!

Summary

Thanks to the proprietors of the Merl Saunders Facebook page, and to slip_not of The Jerry Site, for bringing these wonderful historical materials forward. Here’s hoping there’s lots more where that came from!

REFERENCE:

(1) Scott, John W., Mike Dolgushkin, and Stu Nixon. 1995. Deadbase IX: The Complete Guide to Grateful Dead Songlists.

Humphrey's Last Hometown Warmup: JGMS at Keystone, November 2, 1974

LN jg1974-11-02.jgms.148mins.aud-castelli-motb-0158.111191.flac2496

Update 12/27/2012: This is, indeed, Paul Humphrey drumming.

The Mouth of the Beast crowd, led by the inimitable Bob Menke, recently dropped Robert Castelli's master audience cassette recording of November 2, 1974 on an unsuspecting world. I foreshadowed this a little bit in a previous post. I have a few observations, and then reproduce my listening notes below.

1. The tape is listenable. I am sure the MOTB folks did incredible work with it. Thank you, gentlemen!
2. The show is pretty darn sloppy. Hate to bring it up, but anyone know anything specific about Merl's history with substances? Some of these Keystone tapes have a real heroin vibe to them.
3. Fierro plays maracas or the twisty rhythm instrument at turns when he's not blowing. He sounds like he's having fun, but it makes me want to fling myself off the nearest tall building.
4. This the last show before the east coast tour, breaking Paul Humphrey in.
5. update: the actual setlist differs from what's on the tape. I reproduce the real deal in comments below.

Anyway, notes below.

MOTB Release: 0158 16/44.1
Release Date: 2010-11-03
Band: Jerry Garcia Band [sic]
Date: 1974-11-02 (Saturday) [Note: was given as Wednesday]
Venue: Keystone
Location: Berkley, CA
Analog Audience Source: FOB Master Cassettes (MAC)
Medium Stock Brands: MAC = 2 x Maxell UD C-90
Analog Lineage: 1 x Sony ECM 270 >> Sony TC 110 >> MAC
Analog Sound Preservation: MAC >> Nakamichi CR7a => Korg MR-1000 >> DSF [1-bit 5.6448 MHz Stereo] >> Korg MR-1000 => Korg AudioGate >> WAV [24/96]
Taped By: Robert Castelli
Transfer By: Bob Menke
Mastering By: Derek McCabe

--set I (6 tracks, 63:24)--
s1t01: /Neighbor, Neighbor [10:#24] [0:10] %
s1t02: [0:23] Valdez In The Country// [10:40]#
s1t03: Freedom Jazz Dance [10:46] [0:13]
s1t04: % Tough Mama [9:30] [0:04] %
s1t05: [0:33] You Can Leave Your Hat On [11:25] [0:09]
s1t06: % That's A Touch I Like [9:02] (1) [0:05]

--set II (6 tracks, 84:59)--
s2t01: Wondering Why [20:52] ->
s2t02: People Make The World Go Round [3:35] [0:14]
s2t03: % Mystery Train [13:47] [0:03]
s2t04: % /It Ain't No Use [12:#06] [0:07]
s2t05: Favela [19:24]
s2t06: % /Boogie On Reggae Woman// % [#14:51]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
! Lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, vocals;
! Lineup: Merl Saunders - keyboards, vocals;
! Lineup: Martin Fierro - saxophone, flute, percussion;
! Lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! Lineup: Paul Humphrey - drums.

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/19741102-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/110552 (this fileset, 16/44); http://etreedb.org/shn/111191 (this fileset, 24/96).

! R: Seed Notes: There are many areas where the mics get overloaded and the sound gets distorted.

! R: s1t01 NN enters a few notes in

! P: s1t02 VITC: it takes Merl about 40 seconds to come in with his introductory keyboard part. Needs to tighten up a little bit, though Humphrey is awesome.

! P: s1t02 VITC @ 6-min mark, second percussionist comes in ... maraca or one of those twisty rhythm instruments. @ 8:52 Merl is doing a recognizable riff

! R: s1t02 VITC @ 10:22 SQ change, then return; cuts out

! P: s1t03 FJD ca. 4:20 drop into a little theme, had a chance to do something interesting @ 5:20, but JG comes back to FJD theme. JG is getting nicely out into a GD-ish vibe around 7:30

! P: s1t05 YCLYHO start Merl has some seriously funky synth working ... or is it clarinet? I am confused about what I am hearing. It is unique and very weird

! R: s1t05 skip/glitch @ 2:30; Martin comes in @ 6:29

! s1t05 (1) JG: "We're gonna take a little break for awhile. We'll be back in a few minutes."

! R: s2t04 IANU clips in, missing first five notes or so.

! song: s2t04 was given as "It's Too Late", but it is "It Ain't No Use".

! P: s2t05 Favela maraca player comes back in @ 5:56-6:19, 6:34-9:08. Doesn't sound like much of a player to my ears ... Comes back on cowbell @ 9:20, better, until 13:21.

! R: s2t05 Favela SQ degradation @ 16:10, half signal or something.

! P: s2t05 Favela ends with a nice space-out

! R: s2t06 BORW clips in, not much missing.

! P: s2t06 BORW is a trainwreck at the start. Merl sounds wrecked. Maraca is back in 4-min mark. Is this Martin? Not sure it ever happens when he's blowing. Switches to conga @ 5:14. Horn @ 8-min mark preceded by end of conga playing. Merl really isn't bringing it. Maracas back in @ 10:37 ..., BAD maraca playing .... - 13:00, then the horn comes back.

! R: s2t06 BORW cuts out

! I infer from the patterns that the maraca (or whatever) is Fierro, when he's not blowing.