Phil Lesh and the Terrapin Family Band Capitol
Phil Lesh | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Philip Chapman Lesh |
Built-in | (1940-03-15) March xv, 1940 Berkeley, California |
Genres |
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Occupation(south) | Musician, songwriter |
Instruments |
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Years active | 1961–present |
Labels |
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Associated acts |
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Website | www |
Philip Chapman Lesh (born March xv, 1940)[1] is an American musician and a founding member of the Grateful Dead, with whom he played bass guitar throughout their 30-year career.
After the band's disbanding in 1995, Lesh continued the tradition of Grateful Dead family music with side projection Phil Lesh and Friends, which paid homage to the Dead's music by playing their originals, common covers, and the songs of the members of his band. Lesh operates a music venue called Terrapin Crossroads. He scaled back his touring regimen in 2014 but continues to perform with Phil Lesh & Friends at select venues. From 2009 to 2014, he performed in Furthur aslope former Grateful Dead bandmate Bob Weir.
Background [edit]
Lesh was born in Berkeley, California, United States,[1] and started out as a violin player. While enrolled at Berkeley High School he switched to trumpet and participated in all of the schoolhouse'due south music-related extracurricular activities. Studying the instrument under Bob Hansen, usher of the symphonic Gold Gate Park Band, he developed a groovy involvement in advanced classical music and gratuitous jazz. After attention San Francisco Land University for a semester, Lesh was unable to secure a favorable position in the school's band or orchestra and determined that he was not ready to pursue a college teaching. Upon dropping out, he successfully auditioned for the renowned 6th Army Ring (then stationed at the Presidio of San Francisco) with the assistance of Hansen, merely was ultimately determined to be unfit for military service.
Before long thereafter, he enrolled at the Higher of San Mateo, where he wrote charts for the community college's well-regarded big band and ascended to the first trumpet chair. (A snippet of tape of Lesh on trumpet at CSM can be heard on "Born Cross-Eyed" from the Grateful Dead'south 1968 release Anthem of the Sun.) After transferring with sophomore standing to the University of California, Berkeley in 1961, he befriended future Grateful Expressionless keyboardist Tom Constanten before dropping out again after less than a semester. At the behest of Constanten, he studied under the Italian modernist Luciano Berio in a graduate-level grade at Mills College in the spring of 1962; their classmates included Steve Reich and Stanford University cross-registrant John Chowning.[2]
While volunteering for KPFA as a recording engineer during this period, he met bluegrass banjo player Jerry Garcia. Despite seemingly opposite musical interests, they soon formed a friendship. Following a brief period as a Post Role Department employee and keno marker in Las Vegas (initially rooming with Constanten, who soon departed to study under Berio and other members of the Darmstadt School in Europe); a second stint with the Post Part in San Francisco; and a collaboration with the likes of Reich, Jon Gibson and Constanten upon the latter'due south return from Europe under the auspices of the San Francisco Mime Troupe, Lesh was talked into condign the bassist for Garcia'southward new rock grouping (then known every bit The Warlocks) in the fall of 1964. This was a peculiar turn of events, as Lesh had never played bass before. According to Lesh, the first vocal he rehearsed with the band was "I Know Yous Rider".[2] He joined them for their third or fourth gig (memories vary) and stayed until the end.
Since Lesh had never played bass, it meant that to a great extent he learned "on the job", yet it also meant he had no preconceived attitudes about the musical instrument's traditional rhythm section role. In his autobiography, he credits Jack Casady (who was playing with Jefferson Aeroplane) as a confirming influence on the management his instincts were leading him into.[2] While he has said that his playing style was influenced more than by Bach counterpoint than by contemporaneous rock and soul bass players, 1 tin can besides hear the fluidity and ability of a jazz bassist such as Charles Mingus or Jimmy Garrison in Lesh'south work, along with stylistic allusions to Casady.[3] Lesh has also cited Jack Bruce of Foam as an influence.[iv]
Music [edit]
Lesh was an innovator in the new function that the electrical bass developed during the mid-1960s. Contemporaries such as Casady, Bruce, James Jamerson and Paul McCartney adopted a more melodic, contrapuntal approach to the musical instrument; earlier this, bass players in rock had generally played a conventional timekeeping function inside the shell of the vocal, and within (or underpinning) the song's harmonic or chord construction. While not abandoning these aspects, Lesh took his own improvised excursions during a song or instrumental. This was a characteristic attribute of the then-called San Francisco Sound in the new rock music. In many Dead jams, Lesh'southward bass is, in essence, as much a lead musical instrument as Garcia's guitar.
Lesh was not a prolific composer or singer with the Grateful Dead, although some of the songs he contributed or co-wrote (including "New Potato Caboose", "Box of Rain", "Truckin'", "Unbroken Chain" and "Pride of Cucamonga") are amidst the best known in the ring'south repertoire. Lesh'southward high tenor voice contributed to the Grateful Dead's iii-part harmony sections in their grouping vocals in the early on days of the band, until he largely relinquished singing high parts to Donna Godchaux (and thence Brent Mydland and Vince Welnick) in 1976 due to song cord damage from improper singing technique. In 1985, he resumed singing lead vocals on select songs as a baritone. Throughout the Grateful Dead's career, his interest in avant-garde music remained a crucial influence on the group.
In 1994, he was inducted into The Rock and Scroll Hall of Fame as a member of the Grateful Dead.[5]
Postal service-Grateful Dead [edit]
Afterwards the disbanding of the Grateful Dead, Lesh connected to play with its offshoots The Other Ones and The Expressionless, besides as performing with his own band, Phil Lesh and Friends.[six] In 1999, he co-headlined a tour with Bob Dylan.[7]
Additionally, Lesh and his wife Jill administer their charitable organization, the Unbroken Concatenation Foundation. The couple have two children together, Grahame and Brian. Both Grahame and Brian follow in their father's musical footsteps. The three frequently play together both publicly and privately, for example in an annual benefit concert grouping known equally Philharmonia, dating to 1997, most recently on Dec 18, 2011 at a Christmas gig including Bob Weir and Jackie Greene at the Tenderloin Middle School deli attended by 250 people.[8]
In 1998, Lesh underwent a liver transplant as a result of chronic hepatitis C infection; since then, he has get an outspoken advocate for organ donor programs and when performing regularly encourages members of the audience to get organ donors (tracks identified as the "donor rap" on the alive recordings of his various performances).
In April 2005, Lesh'due south book Searching for the Sound: My Life with the Grateful Dead (ISBN 0-316-00998-9) was published. The volume takes its name from the lyrics of a Grateful Expressionless vocal titled "Unbroken Chain," from their album From the Mars Hotel. "Unbroken Chain" is 1 of the few songs Lesh sings. This was the only book about the Grateful Expressionless written by a member of the band until 2015, when Nib Kreutzmann released his memoir, Bargain: My Three Decades of Drumming, Dreams and Drugs with the Grateful Dead.
On Oct 26, 2006, Lesh released a statement on his official website, revealing that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer—the illness that killed his male parent—and would be undergoing an operation in December 2006 to accept it removed.[ix] On December seven, 2006, Lesh released a argument stating that he had undergone prostate surgery with the cancer beingness removed.[10]
In 2009, Lesh went back on tour with the remaining members of the Grateful Expressionless. Post-obit the 2009 summer tour Lesh proceeded to found a new band with Bob Weir named Furthur, which debuted in September 2009.[11]
In 2012, Lesh founded a music venue called Terrapin Crossroads, in San Rafael, California. The venue officially opened on March 8, 2012, with a start of a run of twelve concerts by Phil Lesh and Friends.[12] [13] When not on tour, Lesh's sons, Grahame and Brian, serve as the house band at Terrapin Crossroads[fourteen] In improver to songs from the Dead itemize, Lesh played material by Mumford & Sons, Zac Brown Ring and other contemporary acts with his sons.[15]
Lesh began performing again with Phil Lesh and Friends in 2012. Furthur disbanded in early on 2014 and, at age 74, Lesh ceased touring full fourth dimension. Since then he has performed regularly at Terrapin Crossroads with various Phil Lesh and Friends line-ups as well as with the Terrapin Family Band. He also performs select show at venues throughout the United states, notably the Capitol Theatre, as well as at festivals.
He took part in the 2015 Fare Thee Well concerts, and a short Due north American tour with Bob Weir in the spring of 2018.
In October 2015, Lesh announced that he had float cancer surgery. He stated that his prognosis was practiced and that he expected to make a total recovery.[xvi]
In August 2019, Lesh announced that he had to undergo back surgery, in which he and his band had to cancel upcoming engagements at the Outlaw Music Festival, Telluride Dejection & Brews Festival, and Dirt Farmers Festival. He is expected to make a total recovery.[17]
Discography [edit]
The Other Ones:
- The Foreign Remain (1999)
Phil Lesh and Friends:
- Honey Will Run across You Through (1999)
- There and Back Again (2002)
- Live at the Warfield (2006)
Notes [edit]
- ^ a b Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. pp. 1464/5. ISBN0-85112-939-0.
- ^ a b c Lesh, Phil (2005). Searching for the Sound: My Life with the Grateful Dead. New York: Little, Dark-brown and Company. ISBN 0-316-00998-nine.
- ^ Jackson, Blair (1999). Garcia: An American Life. Penguin Books. p. 74. ISBN0-fourteen-029199-vii.
- ^ Ferris, Jedd (Baronial 23, 2017). "A quick chat with Phil Lesh: Grateful Dead bassist talks Lockn' return and missing Jerry". C-VILLE.
- ^ List of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees
- ^ Sullivan, James. "Phil's New Zone", San Francisco Chronicle, April 13, 1999
- ^ Juanis, J.C. (December vii, 2012). "Watching The River Flow: On Tour With Phil Lesh And Bob Dylan (Autumn 1999)". Relix.com.
- ^ "Philharmonia 2011: Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Jackie Greene and More". Jambands.com. November 28, 2011. Retrieved September 26, 2021.
- ^ Vaziri, Aidin (Oct 29, 2006). "Grateful Dead Founder Lesh Contesting Prostate Cancer", SFGate. Retrieved Oct 17, 2015.
- ^ "Phil Lesh Doing Well", JamBase, December 8, 2006. Retrieved Oct 17, 2015.
- ^ "Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Joe Russo, Jay Lane, Jeff Chimenti and John Kadlecik Form New Band 'Furthur', Set Dates For September", JamBase, Baronial 14, 2009
- ^ [1] [ permanent dead link ]
- ^ Oksenhorn, Stewart (February ten, 2012). "With Phil & Friends, the Dead Live On", Aspen Times. Retrieved February 26, 2012.
- ^ "Grahame Lesh's Family Values". Jambands.com. March thirty, 2013. Retrieved September 26, 2021.
- ^ "Phil at 80: Phil Lesh Talks Terrapin Crossroads in 2012". Relix.com. March fourteen, 2020. Retrieved September 26, 2021.
- ^ Kreps, Daniel (October 17, 2015). "Grateful Dead's Phil Lesh Reveals Bladder Cancer Battle", Rolling Stone. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
- ^ "Phil Lesh - This past weekend we learned that Phil needs to have a minor back surgery. Per his Doctor's orders, he will need some time to rest and rehabilitate. Accordingly, and with deep regret, we must announce that Phil's upcoming performances Outlaw Festival September seventh and 8th, Dirt Farmers Festival and Telluride Dejection and Brews Festival must be cancelled. A full and complete recovery is expected. Phil looks frontwards to performing and doing what he loves nearly for anybody very before long". Facebook.com. Archived from the original on February 26, 2022. Retrieved September 26, 2021.
References [edit]
- Philzone.com—Phil Lesh and Friends fan site
- Parker, T. Virgil. "Phil Lesh: All in the Music", College Crier
- Phil Lesh and Friends at archive.org
- Lesh, Phil (2005). Searching for the Sound: My Life with the Grateful Expressionless . New York: Trivial, Chocolate-brown and Visitor. ISBN0-316-00998-9.
External links [edit]
Wikimedia Eatables has media related to Phil Lesh. |
- Phil Lesh and Friends official website
- Terrapin Crossroads—Phil Lesh's new music and dining venue in San Rafael, CA (Marin County)
- Phil Lesh on the Grateful Expressionless'due south Official Site
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Lesh
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