Jazz Odyssey

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Looks like archive.org got the greenlight to begin hosting live shows from Phil Lesh & Friends in lossless FLAC and SHN formats as well as MP3 and Ogg.

For those who have been out of touch with the activities of the surviving members of the Grateful Dead, bassist Phil Lesh began playing a few one-off shows with some of his favorite musicians in early 1998. These early Phil & Friends shows had some great moments (I encourage you to download the soundboard of the 8/8/98 show which some call the best performance of Grateful Dead music since Jerry Garcia’s death) but 1999 was really the year that Phil & Friends found their muse. Phil underwent a liver transplant in December 1998, and his first public shows in 1999 were in April at the Warfield Theater where he joined forces with guitarist Trey Anasatio & keyboardist Page McConnell (both of the band Phish), guitarist Steve Kimock and drummer John Molo for 3 nights that remain favorites of many Dead and Phish fans. All three of these shows are available for free download in *STELLAR* sound quality (pristine digital soundboards) and all are essential listening.

Phil’s would go on to change his friends over the course of 1999, with a rotating cast of musicians that included Hot Tuna’s Jorma Kaukonen (guitar), String Cheese Incident’s Kyle Hollingsworth (keys) and Michael Kang (electric mandolin and violin), moe.’s Al Schiner (guitar), and Warren Haynes (guitar). Phil made it a policy of not announcing which Friends would be playing at which shows which made for a series of surprises and a great run of summer shows, particularly the 8/17-8/22 run. The 3 shows in early October 10/7-10/9 were among the best of the year and are also worth hearing.

After this set of shows, guitarist Steve Kimock left (Kimock had been the one constant in every Phil & Friends shows) and Phil reinvented the group in 2000. He played at his own 60th birthday party in a Phil & Friends lineup that included guitarist Robben Ford and then in the fall emerged with a lineup that remained consistent for the next 3 years. That lineup included Rob Barracco (keys), Warren Haynes (guitar), Jimmy Herring (guitar) and drummer John Molo. This quintent was a force to be reckoned with….almost like the genetic fusion of the Grateful Dead circa 1974 with Return to Forever. Stellar improv played with a musical verbosity that the Dead never engaged in (perhaps "indulged in" is a better choice of words). Many of these shows were released through the Internet by Phil himself who had them mixed from the soundboard and put on a series of FTP servers. Many of the shows this lineup played are worth having (11/30/03 and the 9/25-9/27/03 run in particular) and it look like more shows are being queued up for inclusion in the archive.

Back in the old days, analog cassettes of live Grateful Dead shows were traded through the mail. Soundboard recordings were few and far between, and quality audience recordings were difficult to come by. Analog generations as cassettes were dubbed over and over again diluted the quality pool even further. Things have come a long way…..