Saxophone Somewhere Far Off Played: JGB at the Warfield, December 2, 1989

If you are following along, you might notice that I listened to a bunch of early December shows from various years, but am late in posting them. It's rare for me to get enough contiguous time to listen and note and post these days.

My notes on this show, from a soundboard tape (shnid-117562) and the balcony tape of the great and wonderful Marcus Buick (Campolindo HS '87) (shnid-81060), are pretty spare, and I don't particularly have tons to say here, so just a few comments.

First, Clarence Clemons is here this night, but was not present the night before. I raved about that show, in part because its Clarencelessness suits me. But he is good this night, and I just love how the crowd shows him and a knowing, careful Jerry some love on the "saxophone somewhere far off played" line of Dylan's "Simple Twist Of Fate".

Second, maybe not quite as strong as the night before, but this is a characteristically strong gig for the late '89 Jerry Band. Garcia sounds articulate, energetic, focused right out of the gate. He sings intentionally. He plays well.

Third, "Don't Let Go" is good, maybe even very good. It certainly makes I had been there with Bu, ogling (while guarding) those Brüel & Kjær 4011s.

I won't bother with a jump - listening notes follow.

~~~~~

LN jg1989-12-02.jgb.all.aud-buick.81060.flac1644

Jerry Garcia Band

Warfield Theater

982 Market Street

San Francisco, CA 94102

December 2, 1989 Saturday - 8 PM

Buick MAD shnid-81060

--set I (7 tracks, 57:25)--

s1t01. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [6:31] [1:05]

s1t02. They Love Each Other [7:38] [1:24]

s1t03. Simple Twist Of Fate [12:35] [1:08]

s1t04. Run For The Roses [5:35] [0:50]

s1t05. Like A Road Leading Home [8:35] [0:27]

s1t06. My Sisters And Brothers [4:22] ->

s1t07. Deal [7:01] [0:11]

--set II (7 tracks, 73:52)--

s2t01. [0:06] Harder They Come [11:34] [1:25]

s2t02. I Shall Be Released [11:45] [1:00]

s2t03. Someday Baby [7:07] [1:23]

s2t04. Waiting For A Miracle [5:49] [0:54]

s2t05. And It Stoned Me [7:42] [0:31]

s2t06. Don't Let Go [17:10] ->

s2t07. Midnight Moonlight [7:08] [0:15]

! ACT1: JGB #21b

! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;

! lineup: John Kahn - bass;

! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;

! lineup: David Kemper - drums;

! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - backing vocals;

! lineup: Gloria Jones - backing vocals;

! guest: Clarence Clemons - saxophone.

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/19891202-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/6310 (sbd shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/22513 (sbd shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/22514 (Schoeps shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/81060 (this fileset); https://etreedb.org/shn/117562 (sbd flac1644); https://etreedb.org/shn/123333 (Schoeps s2 flac1644)

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

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/ZW52vfHTbjs

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2013/02/warfield-982-market-street-san.html

! venue: http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2011/11/september-25-1980-fox-warfield-theater.html

! R: field recordist: Marcus Buick

! R: field recording gear: 2x Brüel & Kjær 4011 microphones (handheld) > Aerco PS @ 29.3dB > Panasonic SV-250

! R: field recording location: balcony seats 107-109 Row D,E

! R: lineage: master DAT > Sony PCM 601 > Sony SL-360 beta/0 > Sony SL-HF450 playback > Sony PCM-601 > Digital Domain VSP-P > Digital Audio Labs Card Deluxe soundcard > Cool Edit 2000 > flac encoding. Transfer by David "The Machine" Minches.

! R: s1t01 HSII fades in.

! P: s1t01 HSII great energy, especially at the end, Garcia giving extra oomph to the vocals.

! R: s1t02 TLEO digisnit @ 5:54.

! P: s1t03 STOF crowd gives a good knowing hand at the "saxophone somewhere far off played" line. Garcia is singing this with beautiful care. And I am enjoying Clarence's contributions this night, unusually. 8:45 or so some kind of hassle, maybe somebody objects to the taping, or is getting in the taping space ... But a really nice STOF.

~~~~~

LN jg1989-12-02.jgb.all.sbd-arf.117562.flac1644

Jerry Garcia Band

The Warfield

982 Market Street

San Francisco, CA 94102

December 2, 1989 (Saturday)

sbd shnid-117562

--set I (7 tracks, 55:36)--

s1t01. //How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [#6:13] [1:04]

s1t02. They Love Each Other [7:30] [1:22]

s1t03. Simple Twist Of Fate [12:15] [1:07]

s1t04. Run For The Roses [5:28] [0:50]

s1t05. Like A Road Leading Home [8:22] [0:05] %

s1t06. My Sisters And Brothers [4:21] ->

s1t07. Deal [6:55] (1) [0:06]

--set II (7 tracks, 69:59)--

s2t01. Harder They Come [11:21] [1:22]

s2t02. I Shall Be Released [11:31] [0:08] %

s2t03. Someday Baby [7:01] %

s2t04. Waiting For A Miracle [5:51] [0:52]

s2t05. And It Stoned Me [7:40] % [0:08]

s2t06. Don't Let Go [16:58] ->

s2t07. Midnight Moonlight [7:04] (2) [0:04]

! ACT1: JGB #21b

! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;

! lineup: John Kahn - bass;

! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;

! lineup: David Kemper - drums;

! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - backing vocals;

! lineup: Gloria Jones - backing vocals;

! guest: Clarence Clemons - saxophone.

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [mm: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 [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/19891202-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/6310 (sbd shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/22513 (sbd shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/22514 (Schoeps shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/81060 (this fileset); https://etreedb.org/shn/117562 (sbd flac1644); https://etreedb.org/shn/123333 (Schoeps s2 flac1644)

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

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/ZW52vfHTbjs

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2013/02/warfield-982-market-street-san.html

! venue: http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2011/11/september-25-1980-fox-warfield-theater.html

! R: source: Soundboard > ? > 2C (three tape sides, unknown generation)

! R: lineage: trade cassettes (Dolby B) > Harmon Kardon TD 302 (Dolby B on, heads aligned to each tape side) > Zoom H2 @16/44.1 > SDHC card > PC > tracked & edited with wavepad > flac level 8 & checksums with traderslittlehelper. Transfer by arfarf, December 9, 2011.

! R: seeder notes: Additional tape edits on the source recording are ...at the start of s2t03, and at 07:40 of s2t05

! R: s1t01 HSII cuts in

! P: s1t01 HSII JG sounds amazingly articulate, focused, energized right out of the gate.

! s1t03 STOF bass feature 6:25ff-8:25ish.

! s1t07 (1) JG: "Thanks a lot. We'll be back in a few minutes."

! P: s2t06 DLG nice. Garcia steps up the pace around 11:30, and it's nice.

! s2t07 (2) JG: "Thanks a lot, everybody. See y'all later."

At Wolfgang's Orpheum: JGB with Clarence Clemons, March 3, 1989

The success of the Dead's Touch of Grey didn't only limit that band's venue (and even city) options. It also impacted ol' Midas's bar band. Freddie Herrera's last remaining club, the 700-seat Stone on Broadway, didn't stand a chance, and a four-night Garcia Band run on May 27-28 and 30-31, 1987 brought the curtain down on Jerry and Freddie's professional relationship. It's hard to know how Jerry felt about moving up in the world and bringing his solo band's gigs into Bill Graham's orbit - maybe it was a mixture of pride at his success and chagrin at having to cut Freddie loose, or maybe it was one, the other, or neither.

Regardless, from 1987 to the end, Bill was Jerry's local promoter, starting with the direct-from-Broadway acoustic-electric shows at the Warfield just after Thanksgiving of that year. And, again, from 1990 to the end Garcia Band services were held there, at 982 Market, 3,000 congregants at a time getting some rel'g'n in between Dead shows at the Coliseum and Shoreline. In between times, though, Bill undertook major renovations at homefield, and Jerry's relatively infrequent local gigs in 1988 and 1989 happened in other spaces, most commonly the Orpheum Theatre a little ways down the street at 1192 Market. It was a great room, and the Orpheum gigs all have that nice, clean feel present throughout the period, with a healthy, happy Jerry doing his low-key R&B, Beatles, Dylan, and Garcia-Hunter material in tasty spaces with the super-consonant supporting cast of JGB #21b - THE Jerry Garcia Band. With all involved at least "tryin' to have a reasonably good time", as ol' Jer put it, and mostly succeeding, it's never a bad instinct to call up one of these Orpheum gigs and hit play.

The Friday, March 3, 1989 Garcia Band gig fits the bill just fine. There's nothing bad here, and there's plenty of good stuff, for me especially in Deal and Harder They Come. Clarence Clemons mostly bores me (when not annoying), and for the life of me I can't figure out why Jerry liked having him along for most of the year. I just don't love the Illinois Jacquet-established R&B sax style, I guess (blasphemy alert). Blair wrote up a short review in the Golden Road that raved, and you should certainly trust his judgment over mine, but on this listen (following partial listens at least in 2011 and 2014, according to my notes), the show didn't absolutely slay me. It was good and solid and fun, and Taz Yamaguchi (like Bill Reutelhuber) pulled a great tape, but the show never achieved escape velocity, for me. YMMV.

Jerry Garcia Band

Orpheum Theatre

1192 Market Street

San Francisco, CA 94102

March 3, 1989 (Friday) - 8 PM

Taz MAC shnid-94638

--set I (8 tracks, 56:36)--

s1t01. ... Let's Spend The Night Together [#6:19] (1) [0:32]

s1t02. Stop That Train [6:45] [0:18]

s1t03. Forever Young [8:35] [0:04]

s1t04. Run For The Roses [5:34] [0:16]

s1t05. Like A Road Leading Home [7:45] [0:05] % [0:08]

s1t06. (2) That's What Love Will Make You Do [8:27] [0:08] % [0:05]

s1t07. I Hope It Won't Be This Way Always [4:38] ->  

s1t08. Deal [6:52] [0:06]

--set II (8 tracks, 75:39)--

s2t01. The Harder They Come [11:39] (3) [0:48]

s2t02. Waiting For A Miracle [5:44] [1:06]

s2t03. Someday Baby [[6:39] [1:12]

s2t04. And It Stoned Me [7:16] % [0:17]

s2t05. Evangeline [4:25] [0:04] %

s2t06. Don't Let Go [15:01] [0:23]

s2t07. That Lucky Old Sun [9:52] ->

s2t08. Tangled Up In Blue [10:52] (4) [0:22]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia Band #21b

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

! lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;

! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;

! lineup: David Kemper - drums;

! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - vocals;

! lineup: Gloria Jones - vocals;

! guest: Clarence Clemons - saxophone.

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // = cut song; ... = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [x:xx] = 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/19890303-01

! JGC: https://jerrygarcia.com/1989-03-03

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/17554 (Schoeps CMC 34shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/21091 (Bill Reutelhuber shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/86325 (Schoeps CMC34 flac1644); https://etreedb.org/shn/94638 (this fileset).

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/mr3oJuLND6u

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2012/08/orpheum-theatre-1192-market-street.html

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

! review: [positive] Golden Road no. 19 (Spring 1989), p. 10. Blair loved the show, and said "Jerry looked like he was in heaven all night." I don't love it as much as Blair did.

! historical: $18.50. Garcia played the Orpheum for Wolfgang in '88 and '89, while the Warfield was in renovations. Specific dates: 5/7/88, 12/2-3/88, 1/27-28/89, and 3/3-4/89. He'd enter the Warfield in December '89 and stay there until the end.

! seealso: JGMF, "Mahalo, Jer," URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2014/05/ln-jg1989-01-27jgballsbd.html; JGMF: "'We're Having a Reasonably Good Time Here' (LN jg1989-01-28.jgb.all.sbd-goetz-retracked.28352.shn2flac)," URL http://jgmf.blogspot.com/2014/06/ln-jg1989-01-28jgballsbd-goetz.html

! R: field recordist: Tazuo Yamaguchi

! R: field recording gear: 2x Nakamichi 700/CP701 (in hat) > Reutelhuber P/S -> dbx type II Encoder -> Sony TCD5M

! R: field recording location: FOB, Row L

! R: Transfer and FLAC encoding by David Minches: Master played back on Nak Dragon > Grace Lunatec V3 (24/96) > Digital Audio Labs Card Deluxe> Adobe Audition 2.0 > (dither/downsample) > FLAC encoding

! R: sounds pretty good to me.

! P: old notes: Set I is lackluster.

! R: s1t01 LSTNT first 2 minutes patched from SHNID-21091 (same recording equipment, processed by Bill Reutelhuber and Charlie Miller)

! P: s1t01 LSTNT guitar comes in @ 1:17, nicely. I can already tell that I am not a fan of CC's work. JG steps back for some nice big guitar work late 3 over 4. They end it in lieu of something else.

! s1t01 (1) JG: "Thank you very much."

! P: s1t05 LARLH CC's entrance is not graceful. Lyric flub 3- mark. Very nice soaring guitar solo ca. over 4, soaring again 4:33, but I wish it were a little louder in the mix.

! P: s1t06 TWLWMYD (2) false start, sort of, first 0:12. CC lead turn 4:30ish ff, still going over 5 - this is good. Some big drum part 5:33ish. Melvin takes a lead 5:44ff. Outstanding guitar grab right after 7-min mark, singing enthusiastically. In 2011 I had said this didn't light me up. Right now (6/6/2014), I am loving it.

! P: s1t08 Deal big guitar starts at 3:30. Old notes say "it is smokin' hot - wow. 5:38 is just one reference." And, again, 10 years later (!), I went to start typing when Jerry was shredding, and it was at 5:38. Not sure this whole version smokes, per se, but that peak is a good one. Pretty short version.

! P: s2t01 HTC outstanding. Garcia is growling 10 minute mark, really giving it a lot of oomph. Nice!

! s2t01 (3) JG: "I'd like to thank Clarence Clemons for sittin' in with us tonight."

! P: s2t06 DLG CC is very repetitive for awhile in 7. 8:13 JG breaks out of the rhythm. Clean return to song at 13:10.

! s2t08 (4) JG: "Thanks a lot. See ya later."

Last Show at Alpine Valley: JGB, September 15, 1989

Jerry smiling at Clarence Clemons, Alpine Valley, 9/15/89. Photo credit: Todd Darrow.

The Dead played this space all (and very often well) throughout the 80s. Garcia played it once, and it was his last time there. There must have been plenty of room to boogie on this night, as the place was half-full, but Jerry sounds great and the show, as most of its tourmates were, is strong throughout. This is the penultimate show of  twelve in the two-week tour. Nice closing with a good, relatively long and weird "Don't Let Go" and the briefly-revived "Lonesome And A Long Way From Home", which never gets out like it used to be still comes off well. Bonnie Bramlett and Leon Russell wrote this great road tripper. Garcia's version followed Delaney and Bonnie's more country arrangement than Clapton's earlier-recorded R&B take, but Jerry took it out into some weird places, with some 70s versions clocking in at well over 20 minutes. After getting tons of play with the Keith and Donna era Jerry Bands (with both Tutt and Buzz Buchanan drumming), it reappeared twice in '81 (7/26/81, 8/20/81), then made five appearances on this tour (9/3/89, 9/5/89, 9/9/89, 9/11/89, 9/15/89) before being shelved for good.

Clarence accompanies the proceedings well enough, and it sounds like a good ol' time.

Jerry Garcia Band
Alpine Valley Music Theatre
2699 Highway D
East Troy, WI 53120
September 15, 1989 (DOW)
SJ MAC all-1 shnid-118330

--set I (7 tracks, 6 tunes, missing one song, 48:42)--
[MISSING: How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)]
s1t01. crowd and tuning [0:50]
s1t02. Stop That Train [8:00] [1:15]
s1t03. Forever Young [8:34] [1:02]
s1t04. Run For The Roses [5:36] [0:34]
s1t05. Like A Road Leading Home [8:35] [0:06]
s1t06. My Sisters And Brothers [4:11] ->
s1t07. Deal [9:#46] (1) [0:14]

--set II (9 tracks, 7 tunes, 79:53)--
s2t01. crowd and tuning [1:01]
s2t02. Harder They Come [11:16] [1:33]
s2t03. Mission In The Rain [1:17] [0:33]
s2t04. That's What Love Will Make You Do [9:56] %
s2t05. crowd and tuning [1:04]
s2t06. I Second That Emotion
s2t07. Waiting For A Miracle [6:36] [0:20]
s2t08. Don't Let Go/ [20:44#] %
s2t09. Lonesome And A Long Way From Home [5:54] (2) [0:02]

! ACT1: JGB #21b (THE Jerry Garcia Band)
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! lineup: David Kemper - drums;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - backing vocals;
! lineup: Gloria Jones - backing vocals;
! guest: Clarence Clemons - saxophone.

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/19890915-01

! JGC: http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1989-09-15

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/8295 (MAC shnf); MAC (shnf); https://etreedb.org/shn/84359 (Holtz Mac); https://etreedb.org/shn/99084 (Holtz MAC); https://etreedb.org/shn/118330 (this fileset);  https://etreedb.org/shn/141680 (Markson s2 flac24); https://etreedb.org/shn/141874 (Markson s2 flac16); https://etreedb.org/shn/142021 (Ted C. and Nat F.).

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

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/DDSYmjCX2F22

! JGBP: https://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2011/09/alpine-valley-theater-2699-highway-d.html. The Dead played this space a ton throughout the 1980s. This was Jerry's only show there, and his last time overall.

! listing: Milwaukee Sentinel, September 15, 1989, p. unk;

! ref: Billboard, October 7, 1989, p. 45. Show grossed $237,517 on 13,946 tickets sold. Venue held 25,000. The band got a $60k guarantee earlier on tour in Hartford, so it was probably in that range.

! historical: Bob Weir and Rob Wasserman acoustic duo opened.

! R: field recordist: SJ

! R: field recording gear: 2x Audio Technica 2-ATR-35 > Sony PC-39 > Sony WM-D6C

! R: field recording media: 2x Maxell MX-90

! R: Transfer: Harmon Kardon TD-302 playback (heads aligned to tape) >
Zoom H2 wav recorder @16/44.1 > SDHD > tracking and editing w/ wavepad > flac and checksums w/ traderslittlehelper, analog > digital transfer by arfarf on July 8, 2011.

! R: this isn't the greatest tape in the world, but it's totally fine and captures the vibe really well - the taper and his/her friends seem to be having a great time.

! P: s1t02 Jerry sounds very lively.

! P: s1t03 FY very good

! P: s1t05 LARLH so nice!

! P: s1t07 Deal gets pretty hot

! R: s1t07 Deal tape flip @ 8:41

! s1t07 (1) JG: "Thanks a lot. We'll be back in a few minutes. Thank you." Then the taper notes about his tape flip, correctly: "I never would have made it."

! P: s2t04 TWLWMYD features great guitar work, totally characteristic of the period. Check out the tones he works with in the 4-5 range, on top of totally fluid picking. Really nice.

! P: s2t08 DLG man JG just sounds so great here. By 9, things start getting weird.

! song: "Lonesome And A Long Way From Home" (s2t09). Bonnie Bramlett and Leon Russell wrote this great road tripper. Garcia's version followed Delaney and Bonnie's more country arrangement than Clapton's earlier-recorded R&B take, but Jerry took it out into some weird places, with some 70s versions clocking in at well over 20 minutes. After getting tons of play with the Keith and Donna era Jerry Bands (with both Tutt and Buzz Buchanan drumming), it reappeared twice in '81 (7/26/81, 8/20/81), then made five appearances on this tour (9/3/89, 9/5/89, 9/9/89, 9/11/89, 9/15/89) before being shelved for good.

! s2t09 (2) JG: "Thanks a lot. See y'all later on. Bye bye."

The Reedman vs. The Gunslinger: JGB with David Murray, Madison Square Garden, November 12, 1993

LN jg1993-11-12.jgb.all.aud-brennecke-litzenburger-GEMS.91812.flac1644
LN jg1993-11-12.jgb.s2.aud-gastwirt.139507.flac1648

The man had conceived the band bearing his name as a way to scratch some musical itches, play some mostly consonant music with mostly-simpatico (or at least deferential) people, and make a little bit of walking around money. The Jerry Garcia Band provided its namesake with a comfortable and, eventually, highly lucrative musical diversion which allowed him to be himself, do most of the soloing, not have to figure out where Mickey Hart put the one, and maybe share some laughs (among other things that release endorphins, kill pain, and produce euphoria [Dunbar et al. 2012]) with his ol' buddy John Kahn.

Yet, Jerry was Jerry, with all that implied. Like Midas, everything he touched turned to gold, and that included his bar band, half of whose members played for free in Oakland churches on Sundays. By contrast, on Friday, November 12, 1993, this group sold out Madison Square Garden, grossing almost half a million as part of its twenty night, fifteen gig swing through the eastern time zone, its last real tour. Unlike a decade earlier, a relatively punishing bus tour with Garcia deep in heroin haze, this one was first class all the way, with the band staying in New York City and flying in and out of Teterboro, while battalions of squeaks (sound techs) and squints (light techs) did the heavy lifting. It seems like only half the gigs sold out, but these were mostly good-sized rinks and arenas with five-figure capacities, the kinds of places the Dead had been playing only a few years earlier.

The Garcia band's cozy sociality also meant that guest shots became scarce once the years' third digits turned to nines. The E Street Band's good-time "Big Man" Clarence Clemons sat in once in 1990, reprising his steady gigging with the JGB from late 1989, and banjo wiz Béla Fleck joined in on a couple of numbers at the Greek Theater in Berkeley two months later, in the dark early weeks following Brent Mydland's passing. As good as Fleck is, he played in a decidedly consonant mode, picking some pretty accompaniment to Pete Rowan's "Midnight Moonlight" and, doubly improbably, some mandolinish lead reggae banjo on "Harder They Come". The next fall, while still a member of the Dead, the great Bruce Hornsby sat in with Jerry in Hampton, Virginia, on the decade's other east coast swing, in November of 1991.

Hornsby certainly had the chops and the chutzpah to challenge Garcia, and he did so regularly in the Dead before stepping back off the scene to pursue his own extremely successful career, and perhaps to ward off the curse of the Dead's keyboard players. The one guy to really push Jerry around on his own stage was hotshot jazz saxophonist David Murray, who showed up two years after Hornsby's visit, and six weeks after sitting in with the Dead, at the aforementioned Madison Square Garden gig. The man BLEW, which is to have been expected. As Dead family insider Gary Lambert put it, "expecting a force of nature like David to function as a 'sideman' for the JGB (or any band) is kind of like saying to Jackson Pollock, 'Gee, I really admire your work. Now, could you paint me a nice Andrew Wyeth?'"

The reedman put some air into a number of very sharp notes, with a Garcia Band that was mostly soft, cottony round edges by this point in time. Garcia appears to have taken notice. Attendee Eric Pooley recalls that "Murray was in Garcia's face a little more than Garcia would have liked: [he] attacked, and Garcia retreated into shoetop space", chin on chest. Jim Powell observed that "Murray cut Jerry to shreds at that MSG Jerry Band show - maybe the only time old gunslinger Garcia ever came out on the short end." But the evidence of the night's "Lay Down Sally", normally a smooth, easy, good-time roller hewing closely to Clapton's original, belies this perspective, with all due respect to the poet and Macarthur Genius grantee who proffered it.

Segueing out of the churchy "My Sisters And Brothers", Garcia displayed little Christian charity in first feinting at the Stones' "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love", then shifting into "Lay Down Sally", taking a couple of extra measures at the start to let Murray his footing and thus making it, if not quite a fair fight, at least an honorable one. Typically, in the Garcia Band, Jerry gets the first solo (and usually the second, third and fourth). Here, Murray challenges the old fella in the light purple shirt right out of the gate, and they step on each other for a minute or two before Jerry lets him have his say, comprised of some sharp, loud bursts that might have blown back his shock-white mane. After that, still only fifty-one despite the white hair and haggard mien, the gunslinger drops the hammer, pursuing a million aggressive leads, syncopating some minor chords, and generally, all due apologies, not taking "no" for Sally's answer. Clocking in at over sixteen minutes, and finishing with an emphatic strum over the setbreak announcement, the "Lay Down Sally" from November 12, 1993 provides one of the finest musical displays of Garcia's late solo career, proving that he could still rise to a challenge when the occasion called for it.

I picked and chose from the two filesets named at the top, so some sketchy listening notes follow the fold. "Shining Star" also illustrates the reedman and the gunslinger trading blows, and both "The Maker" and "Don't Let Go" from the 86-minute second set are outstanding and worth your time.

June 1990 at the Warfield

The post-coma Garcia Band was getting hotter and hotter from 1987-1989, in my view, and somewhere along the line two kinds of business/money decisions were made. First, it'd start regularly playing the Warfield, which I think had been recently renovated, for Wolfgang.  JGB played fifteen gigs at 982 Market in 1990 --February 2-4, March 1-2, April 13-15, June 12-13, August 7-9, and November 20-21. Second, for the first time since Old And In The Way, Garcia On The Side would tape itself and release a live record.

These came together, of course: all of the material from the 2 LP Jerry Garcia Band Arista release (hitting shelves on 8/25/91) and the posthumous (1997) How Sweet It Is came from 1990 Warfield shows. If you look closely, you'll notice that only the April and August shows supplied released material, something I have wondered about over the years.

As I listed to some newly-circulating transfers of June 1990 DAT audience masters --as far as I can tell on a cursory glance, other transcriptions of these same masters have been in lossless circulation for a long time-- I was guessing that the reason no material from this Tuesday-Wednesday tandem had been released is that these shows just aren't very good. I stand by the quality assessment. Garcia sounds exhausted, coming right off three nights with the Dead at Cal Expo and heading into another weekend --not very good either, by my recollection-- at Shoreline. The first night is especially ragged, but the 13th isn't great either (IMO, YMMV).

Whatever your view, or mine, or Jerry's/Kahn's/Cutler's on that question, not releasing these shows seems to have been overdetermined. Why? Because, as it happens, only the April and August shows were recorded for release. I had never realized that until prompted to dig through my massive stash of squirreled-away, generally forgotten and largely useless GOTS trivia. But, while the February, March, June and November shows were recorded to two-track DAT, only the A's got the full treatment, with 5000 feet of 2 inch Ampex 456 Grand Master spinning at 15 ips and magnetizing 24 tracks of Jerry, John, David, Melvin, Jacklyn and Gloria for posterity. I don't know why, but it seems to be a fact.

Anyway, with respect to these June shows, they didn't miss much, so it's fine. There are a few good moments, but not that much to show the band at its best to the record-buying public. Clarence Clemons comes in the second night, and contributes nothing of note, to my ears, though I am sure he was fun to party with.

Some listening notes follow, for what they're worth.

~~6/12/90 set II "Rick" MAD shnid-141471--

Jerry Garcia Band
The Warfield
982 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
June 12, 1990 (Tuesday)
s2 Rick MAD flac1648 shnid-141471

-- set II (7 tracks, 73:25)--
s2t01. The Way You Do The Things You Do [12:38] [0:26]
s2t02. [0:12] Mission In The Rain [9:06] [0:26]
s2t03. Dear Prudence [12:52] [1:21]
s2t04. [0:11] Russian Lullaby [11:09] [0:15]
s2t05. Think [8:04] [0:58]
s2t06. Gomorrah [6:32] ->
s2t07. Midnight Moonlight [8:03] (1) [0:12]

! ACT1: JGB #21b (THE Jerry Garcia Band)
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! lineup: David Kemper - drums;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - backing vocals;
! lineup: Gloria Jones - backing 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/19900612-01

! JGC: http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1990-06-12

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/11365 (shnf); http://db.etree.org/shn/108908 (Reutelhuber s2 flac); http://etreedb.org/shn/141471 (this fileset). I haven't compared to see if the Bill R. and the Rick tapes are the same, which one might suspect since both are only set II.

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

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/ZW52vfHTbjs

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2013/02/warfield-982-market-street-san.html

! venue: http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2011/11/september-25-1980-fox-warfield-theater.html

! R: source: DAT Audience Recording attributed to "Rick"

! R: lineage: DAT Archived and Transferred By Stuccoholmes 2018; Edited and Mastered by Jamie Waddell in Wavelab 7.2, 16bit 48kHz FLAC Level8 in TLH

! R: seeder comment: "clear, balanced sound, minimal crowd intrusion, gets an A from me"

! P: s2t01 TWYDTTYD sounds low energy to me.

! P: s2t02 MITR JG sounds a little unsure of himself.

! P: s2t03 DP very good, excellent guitar work throughout. 8 min exemplary playing. At the end, Melvin holds onto it too long, and JG needs to walk it down for an emergency landing.

! P: s2t04 RL JG sounds tired. JK's feature get completely off any known beat at some point. Again, Garcia sounds exhausted.

! s2t07 (1) JG: "Thanks a lot. See y'all later."

~~6/13/90 "Rick" shnid-141472--

Jerry Garcia Band
The Warfield
982 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
June 13, 1990 (Wednesday)
Rick MAD flac1648 shnid-141472

--set I (7 tracks, 65:02)--
s1t01. Cats Under The Stars [8:34] [0:07] % [0:29]
s1t02. They Love Each Other [7:55] [0:39] %
s1t03. [0:13] Knockin' On Heaven's Door [11:08] [0:03] % [0:53]
s1t04. That's What Love Will Make You Do [8:39] [0:58]
s1t05. Like A Road Leading Home [8:55] [0:14]
s1t06. My Sisters And Brothers [4:24] [0:17]
s1t07. Let's Spend The Night Together [11:31] (1) [0:02]

--set II (10 tracks, 8 tunes, 77:07)--
s2t08. Second That Emotion
s2t09. [0:30] And It Stoned Me :31-7:36 - 7:54
s2t10. Tears Of Rage [10:10] [0:07]
s2t11. crowd and tuning [1:28]
s2t12. Reuben And Cérise [7:56] [0:10]
s2t13. crowd and tuning [1:05]
s2t14. Waiting For A Miracle
s2t15. Tore Up Over You [7:24] [0:12]
s2t16. That Lucky Old Sun [11:17] ->
s2t17. Tangled Up In Blue [12:10] (3) [0:17]

! ACT1: JGB #21b (THE Jerry Garcia Band)
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - guitar, vocals;
! lineup: John Kahn - bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! lineup: David Kemper - drums;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - backing vocals;
! lineup: Gloria Jones - backing vocals;
! guest: Clarence Clemons - saxophone.

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/19900612-01

! JGC: http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1990-06-12

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/11366 (unknown MAD, shnf); http://etreedb.org/shn/85819 (mixed sources [Bu & Rick set I, Schoeps CMC 521s set II] flac); http://etreedb.org/shn/141472 (this fileset). I am pretty sure we will find that 85819 and this tape match, but I haven't verified.

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

! map: https://goo.gl/maps/ZW52vfHTbjs

! JGBP: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2013/02/warfield-982-market-street-san.html

! venue: http://hooterollin.blogspot.com/2011/11/september-25-1980-fox-warfield-theater.html

! P: Overall, this is stronger than the prior night (IMO), when Jer sounded really fatigued, but he still sounds a little down and it doesn't knock me out.

! R: DAT Audience attributed to "Rick". DAT Archived and Transferred By Stuccoholmes 2018
Edited and Mastered by Jamie Waddell in Wavelab 7.2, 16bit 48kHz FLAC Level8 in TLH.

! R: seeder notes: clear, balanced sound, minimal crowd intrusion, gets an A from me"

! personnel: Clarence enters about 2 minutes into TLEO.

! historical: Per seeder, "John Kahn's Birthday, crowd sings to him set2". A group wishes him HBD again at the very start of Luck Ol' Sun.

! s1t01 @ about 27 seconds in, someone close to mic says "OK if you move it".

! P: s1t01 CUTS Garcia sounds tired.

! P: s1t03 KOHD was very sweet.

! P: s1t04 TWLWMYD gets nice and  grungy late 6 into 7.

! s1t07 (1) JG: "We'll be back in a little while. Thanks a lot."

! song: R&C (s2t12): this was last played 12/1/89. Not forever, but it just wasn't always played in this period.

! s2t13 (2) female taper's friend: "This is a test of the emergency Jerry system. This is only a test."

! P: s2t17 TUIB JG sounds vocally tired. The playing is fine, but it never really achieves escape velocity.

! s2t17 (3) JG: "See y'all later. Thanks a lot."