Donny's Debut: JGB at the Warfield, February 4, 1994

LN jg1994-02-04.jgb.all.aud-vasseur.146010.flac1644

Friday, February 4, 1994 through Sunday, February 6, 1994 are super interesting, for reasons that may not be independent. The amazing drummer David Kemper was let go at some point between the end of the fall '93 tour and the first night of this run, for reasons that seem unclear even to him. After over ten years in the chair, they didn't give him so much as an explanation. It is well established from the historical record, and has been repeatedly stated by those who knew him best -- I am not going to cite chapter and verse here, so if you want to imagine I am going beyond my paygrade, sure, fine, whatever -- that Garcia's greatest personal failing involved an unwillingness to tell (former) lovers and (former) bandmates that they were out. He seemed more inclined to have Big Steve deliver hard news. So, first, this inaugural set of 1994 shows featured the debut of Donny Baldwin, from the Starship orbit and also a veteran of the Elvin Bishop Group. I imagine, but don't have it pinned down, that this latter connection between Donny and Melvin facilitated the drummer's entry into the Garcia Band. Second, as astute student of the music Nick has framed it, the run provides "one last flash of greatness" for Jerry and friends. This is most obvious in the 2/6/94 "Don't Let Go", which my memory tells me is a true monster that stands up to any versions that Jerry ever played. I have found a lot to love in '94 and '95 Jerry Band over the last few years, but I agree that he never again played anything so great as that "Don't Let Go".

Indeed, I have often held February 14, 1994, eight days after that show, to augur Garcia's irreversible (though not monotonic) physical decline. The game of trying to pin such things too precisely doesn't get us very far. I might point to GD keyboardist Brent Mydland's passing on July 26, 1990 as signaling Garcia giving up the emotional ghost, and impresario Bill Graham's death on October 25, 1991, as removing all doubt. (See how this game works?) We can point to plenty of pictures from before Valentine's Day '94, the day on which Jerry married Deborah Koons, showing him looking haggard. But, after that day, he never looked anything but like a man shambling toward death's door. Deadheads held no love for Garcia's "Black Widow", who certainly treated the legendary Mountain Girl and all of the other women in Jerry's life very badly during the probate and other proceedings that followed his death, whose taste in music (no "Reuben And Cherise"??) and cover art (Shining Star - what in the almighty fuck?!??) affronted fan sensibilities, who allegedly either passively accepted or actively abetted Garcia's hard drug use, and whose love of tasteless licensing and merchandising strikes us, from the vantage of 2021, as decidedly Trumpian. Be all of that as it may, the observation I just cannot shake is that Garcia's decline accelerated markedly after those nuptials.

All of which makes the triumph of the February 4-6, 1994 shows so remarkable. Nick speculates that the band actually, y'know, rehearsed some with the new guy. The older pattern would have been to break him in on an off-night, off-the-beaten path, or both. Just about every new addition to the Garcia Band prior to Donny was afforded this possibility. So, they may or may not have gotten any rehearsal time, but they did get a gig. But, by 1994, as Bob Barsotti reported a few years later, "the only place [Garcia] could get it together physically to play with the Jerry Garcia Band was by getting in his car and driving for a half an hour to the Warfield" (Greenfield1996, 300, cited in context on my post on 3/4/95). So we might imagine that there were some rehearsals, and, indeed, as Nick points out, Jerry sounds generally together and the band sounds quite tight, consistent with some rehearsal. I have no data to that effect, but it seems likely.

So, onto my sense of Donny's Debut, 2/4/94. He's good, and it's good. Jerry sounds especially together in the first set, sprightly for the very common --indeed, statistically modal-- How Sweet -> Stop That Train opener, and working some great strong grunge into "Lay Down Sally". Nick elaborates:

The one major [2/4/94] high point is a steaming Lay Down Sally jam: Garcia's chugging along, sounding fine, and then decides to hit his distortion pedal and something clicks into place.  The audience feels it, Garcia responds, and you get one of those brief moments of aud-tape perfection as everything clicks into place.  Nice work, old man!

Jerry fades pretty hard at the end of set I (Deal) and through much of set II, sundowning especially noticeably in "The Maker", where I swear he departs from the lyrics and sings @ 1:40 "cannot see for the pain in my life". "Don't Let Go" is the other relative highlight of the show. It's a compact version, 12 minutes, and you'd think they might have held off on it to let the new guy get up to speed. But Donny plays very strongly. True, Jerry does no vocal-instrumental doubling on either the front or the back end of the song, which could often provide him a rare opportunity to engage in true vocal improvisation. But, even listening for limitations, I find a lot to like in this version, and a foreshadowing of the monster that'd spring forth two nights later, before the tune mostly faded into a shadow of its former self in its remaining fourteen months.

All in all, then, a nice show from a characteristically gorgeous Janet and Chuck Vasseur aud pull with the vintage Neumanns. Check it out if you can. If you are feeling impatient, go straight to 2/6/94 - do not pass Go, do no collect $200. If it's as good as I remember it being, and as (more reliably) Nick says it us, you can thank us later.

Oh yeah, one more thing: Melvin Seals sounds awesome this night, all big loud joyful swirly energy.

Listening notes follow.

Jerry Garcia Band
The Warfield
982 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
February 4, 1994 (Friday)
Vasseur shnid-146010

--set I (7 tracks, 53:29)--
s1t01. [0:05] How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) [6:00] [1:04]
s1t02. Stop That Train [7:11] [1:16]
s1t03. You Never Can Tell [6:41] [0:08]
s1t04. Lay Down Sally [10:01] (1) [1:39]
s1t05. Struggling Man [6:25] [0:42]
s1t06. My Sisters And Brothers [3:56] ->
s1t07. Deal [8:11] (2) [0:09]

--set II (7 tracks, 61:16)--
s2t01. Shining Star [15:24] [0:13]
s2t02. Money Honey [6:31] [0:13]
s2t03. Wonderful World [4:29] [0:15]
s2t04. The Maker [7:10] [0:11]
s2t05. Don't Let Go [11:45] [0:15]
s2t06. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down [8:41] ->
s2t07. Midnight Moonlight [6:04] (2) [0:07]

! ACT1: JGB #23
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, v;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! lineup: Donny Baldwin - 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/19940204-01

! db: https://etreedb.org/shn/15602; https://etreedb.org/shn/94747; https://etreedb.org/shn/95234; https://etreedb.org/shn/146010 (this fileset). Every one of these derives from the Vasseur master.

! band: JGB #23 (http://lostlivedead.blogspot.com/2012/01/jerry-garcia-band-personnel-1975-1995.html)

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

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

! ref: Nick, "Feb 94 JGB: one last flash of greatness", URL https://deadthinking.blogspot.com/2017/11/feb-94-jgb.html.

! personnel: Donny Baldwin's first show in the drum chair, succeeding the impossible-to-replace David Kemper. I am typing this listening to Don't Let Go - you have to give the guy his due, because this cannot have been easy.

! R: field recordist: Janet and Chuck Vasseur

! R: field recording gear: 2x Neumann KM54 > DAT

! R: transfer: DAT Master > CDR (Kyle Porter); extract: CDR clone > EAC > WAV > FLAC16 (Bill Shaw aka Shark)

! R: Source Notes: Sometime in the early 2000's, Chuck loaned Kyle all of his 92-95 JGB masters to transfer to CDR. Kyle "mastered" the DATs to CDR, fading in/out as needed, adjusting levels (as needed) and tracking. Kyle then gave Chuck his masters back, with nice CDR copies of all of it. Chuck offered to clone the entire set for me, so I gave him a spool of 100 blank MITSUI CDRs and the next time I saw him, he gave them back to me, filled with his JGB recordings. Many of the Chuck V. JGB recordings do circulate already, but probably not all of them, and those that do may not be the Kyle Porter transfers. So, Here they are! --Shark

! P: s1t01 HSII Jerry sounds stoked. Melvin swirls up huge peaky feature late 3.

! P: s1t01 STT everyone sounds good. Donny hits nicely. Jerry bending some pitch.

! P: s1t03 YNCT Melvin, 3:30 I am typing, is on fire this night. He really sounds enthusiastic.

! P: s1t04 LDS oh man, what a killer grungy tone on LDS in the 7 range. A little modal, very firey. Nick: "The one major high point is a steaming Lay Down Sally jam:  Garcia's chugging along, sounding fine, and then decides to hit his distortion pedal and something clicks into place.  The audience feels it, Garcia responds, and you get one of those brief moments of aud-tape perfection as everything clicks into place.  Nice work, old man!"

! s1t04 (1) JG: "The new guy is, uhh, Donnie Baldwin. Playin' drums."

! P: s1t05 Struggling Man is done peppy - very good. Late 1 it slows down a little bit.

! P: s1t07 Deal a number of lyrical miscues. He is sounding a little tired.

! s1t07 (2) JG: "... take a break for a little bit ..."

! P: s2t04 The Maker he sounds pretty wobbly on the lyrics. @ 1:25 trying to get to second verse, mumbles. @ 1:40 sounds like he says "cannot see for the pain in my life". Goes across the great divide to Jean-Baptiste here early on. @ 2:09 "Body | is bent and broken". Donny nicely triggers Garcia's feature at 3ff.

! P: s2t05 DLG he doesn't do any vocal doubling at all. So by 3:15 he has already stepped back and away from the mic. But I confess that this is just perfectly good Jerry Garcia guitar work happening, e.g., around 6:30, when it has a real edge. I think I came into this listen of this wanting to hear its limitations. They're there, because this is not Eden. And I keep looking at the clock realizing that this is only going to run 12 minutes. But the quality is high. He strums it without quite such thick effects, Melvin swirly, Donny nicely picks up the pace. 8:15 Jerry definitely signals a connection to the tune. 9:20 assertively back to the tune, Donny be damned. Fully back to tun 10:12, no doubling.

! s2t14 (2) JG: "See y'all later."

LN jg1995-01-13.jgb.s2.aud-sisler-goodbear.79638.flac1648

update 5/17: I have revisited this date, with rather contrasting perceptions.

Needless to say, I don't get out to 1995 very much. I enjoyed this, overall. It was not a ripoff.

Jerry's guitar play is fine, if mixed very low. The arrangements are pretty interesting, but the execution suffers without David Kemper in the chair. Garcia is flubbing like 50% of the lyrics, and there are a few moments where he seems completely to lose himself.

"Positively 4th Street" is a tune Jerry loved, played here for the first time since 4/24/93.

Jerry Garcia Band
The Warfield
982 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
January 13, 1995 (Friday) - set II
s2 Schoeps MK4 via Goodbear flac1648 shnid-79638

--set II (7 tracks, 64:00)--
s2t01. crowd and tuning [0:17], The Harder They Come [10:21] [0:15]
s2t02. And It Stoned Me [8:48] [0:24]
s2t03. [0:41] Evangeline [5:44] [0:07]
s2t04. Don't Let Go [14:09] [0:12]
s2t05. Lazy Bones [8:38] ->
s2t06. Positively 4th Street [8:04] ->
s2t07. Midnight Moonlight [6:03] (1)

! ACT1: JGB #23
! lineup: Jerry Garcia - el-g, v;
! lineup: John Kahn - el-bass;
! lineup: Melvin Seals - keyboards;
! lineup: Donny Baldwin - drums;
! lineup: Jacklyn LaBranch - backing vocals;
! lineup: Gloria Jones - backing vocals.

JGMF:

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19950113-01

! historical: First shows of 1995, let's see how ol' Jer sounds.

! JGC: http://jerrygarcia.com/show/1995-01-13-the-warfield-san-francisco-ca/
! venue: http://jerrygarciasbrokendownpalaces.blogspot.com/2013/02/warfield-982-market-street-san.html

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

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/21484 (Vasseur, shnf); http://etreedb.org/shn/79638 (this fileset)

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

! R: field recordist: unknown

! R: field recording gear: 2x Schoeps CMC-MK4 > Reutelheuber power supply ("Billbox") > Denon DTR80p > Sony D7 [patch deck]

! R: transfer: Sony D7 master > ? > 48k wav > CDWave > FLAC. Dan Sisler supplied the DATs in 10/2006 to Teddy Goodbear, seeded 11/2006.

! R: seeder notes: "Thanks go out to Dan Sisler for sending me the DATs in 10/2006!"

! R: seeder notes: "Seeded 11/2006 by Teddy "GoodBear" Selby [http://www.goodbear.com :wave:"

! R: who knows which DAT Brat :) recorded this? I assume this is from the drink rail, though it's pretty spacious. What makes it hard for me to tell is that Garcia's guitar stays pretty muffled.

! R: s2t02 AISM overload @ 0:49

! P: s2t02 This ancient, dying Jerry picks his material so nicely. Of course, he'd been doing the Van classic for nine years, tackling it night after night with the Garcia Band in that whole period between near-death  (the 1986 coma) and the thing itself.

! P: s2t01. HTC Baldwin has to really hit hard to keep the band on pace, because Jerry is a little hesitant, and quite lost on the lyrics. DB is no David Kemper, and I actually don't love how he's playing the verse parts, but ahe seems to be giving it his all. Melvin and the ladies are pure pros on it. I haven't heard a note of John Kahn yet is he even here? ;-) Now I heard him 3:45. There could clearly be PA issues here vocals are mixed low --there's John again with a scale @ 4:10, so PA issues-- drums are nice, keyboards forward, vocals real low so far. Tempo is quite peppy, and now the mix is settling in 5:35 Melvin swirly while Jerry comps, now Jerry a nice descending, much more wah pedal on this, almost Shakedown-era. 6:08 Jerry steps up for a turn a register up his guitar playing sounds fine. 6:56 his lyrics fumble, he starts with the response and just the call entirely. The GD were using teleprompters at this time, he could sure use one here!

! personnel: this is Donny Baldwin drumming. HTC he has to dig in real hard to set the song's whole tempo, and we see how important time is going to be to play these songs when the singer can't remember any of the words.

! P: s2t03 Evangeline

! R: s2t03 more bass overload when JK audibilizes himself.

! R: s2t04 more static. Bass still overloading.

! P: s2t04 DLG Jerry sounds peppy. Let me embed a general comment about song tempo and set pacing - they are nice. I can see that this set will end up not super-long. Each song is done on the fast side of its historical tempo, and that's all to the good. We get a nice, peppy 64 minute set - nothing wrong with that. 2:57 Jerry digs down for a growl on "hold me tight". Does he hang a vocal there about 3:10? This is so interesting. Garcia is missing this next verse, but he's making up for it with some vocal improv, more or less. He's not even playing his guitar at periods. He or someone hangs another something 4:05 - is that John? 4:15 goes on down to a deep and careful "don't let go". 4:25 he starts trying on the a few measure of vocal-guitar, vocal-guitar call and response, now late 4 he's got the wah pedal working a little. Things are not entirely together with Baldwin and Jerry. I miss Kemper, no offense. John tickles some spacy stuff 5:39, Melvin starts rounding out the fill, John a few picks late 5 as Jerry. Late 6 Jerry gives a nice cranky washboard, now 7:18 steps up the register to play some Jerry Garcia guitar, totally unmistakeable (for better and for worse), stepping up the pace 7:49, quotes DLG a touch. I don't want to be critical, but I feel like Baldwin is not with it. 8:15 Jerry. Garcia some very inventive lines. 8:30ff I love what Jerry is going here. He is still full of ideas, still able to draw from a lifetime of sitting around with a guitar in his hand, cigarettes and coffee and picking and strumming. He's got a big triumphal thing playing mid 9, states a bluesy tone, the band doing almost a little marshal thing, Jerry has picked up his tempo and is playing super energetically, a little clunky second half of 10, 10:54, first nod back to DLG, now 11:05 he's back in tone, digging in for it, Baldwin on it by 11:20, they are understanding each other, 11:42 Jerry steps up to "hound dog barking upside the hill", which will lead him back to "I'd be barkin' and hollerin' too," which we already heard. Anyway. The song was nicely played, but it just didn't deliver that much punch. Maybe the guitar is just too far back in the mix.

! P: s2t05 LB 5:25 Jerry sounds lost, and this is not good. Something that almost never happened with Kemper - the band sounded lost, too. 

! R: s2t06 overloading - dreadful!

! P: s2t06 Jerry can't sing 4th Street if he can't remember the lyrics.

! song: Positively 4th Street (s2t06): 2/23/80, then 3/1/91, 4/18/93, 4/24/93, 1/13/95. Jerry had to reach up to the top shelf to grab Dylan's snide and splenetic rant - I hadn't been aware when it started that it had become such a rarity. He'd try it again on March 4 and April 15, 1995 - I'd like to check those out (update: done! 3/4, 4/15). Positively 4th Street is one of those that Garcia loved and never gave up on - Tough Mama being a 70s Dylan analog.

! s2t07 (1) JG: "See y'all later, thank you." Almost sounds a little slurry, certainly his voice a little weak, il manque d'haleine.