Jump to content
Jambands.ca

oh ya Phil close to toronto


PassedOutGuy

Recommended Posts

and another reason why everyone should go:

Then, last autumn, with Jimmy Herring (Allman Brothers, Aquarium Rescue Unit, Jazz is Dead) and Warren Haynes (Gov't Mule, Allman Brothers) on guitars, Rob Barraco (Zen Tricksters) on keyboards and John Molo (Bruce Hornsby and the Range) on drums, everything fell into place.

"Two hours into the first rehearsal, we played a jam that we still haven't surpassed. It was unbelievable!" says Lesh, almost giggling with excitement at the memory. "From the very beginning, I saw that these guys had a willingness to go beyond their comfort zones. And they innately grasped the concept of group improvisation, too.

"When I first get together with new musicians, I tell everyone, 'If you can't hear the whole band, then you're playing too loud or you're concentrating on yourself too much.' But I don't have to say that to this band. They play like they've been playing together for years, and move in and out of sonic structures like a single organism."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

another reason to go:

When Lesh invited jazz saxophonist Greg Osby to play with this new band one night, he didn't believe it either. Actually, Osby's incredulity started with the very notion that what he thought of as "hippie music" could engage him as a musician. "I'd never met Phil before, but was aware of him-mostly because my mother used to listen to the Grateful Dead," Osby says. "Then, in a Rolling Stone article, he mentioned one of my albums as being among his current favorites, and it came to pass that I was invited to come down and check them out. "I didn't really know the music, and was skeptical at first. I had these preconceived notions of it as folksy and simplistic. I had no idea that it was more rock-based, and that there were strong elements of free improvisation, and a lot of group improvisation." After some cajoling by his friend and publicist, a longtime Deadhead, Osby consented to jam with the band. As he puts it, he "was an instant convert," but as he praises Phil And Friends, Osby sounds more like an apostle. "The first thing I noticed was that Phil gave the members of the band free reign to express themselves," Osby says. "There were no musical muzzles. Phil was like, 'Do your thing. I hired you for a reason.' And they more than had the musicianship to respond to that. I was thoroughly impressed. Then, I began to realize to what extent these guys were improvising this stuff. They started in the middle of songs, with this other theme. Or, as opposed to restating the theme at the end, they modulated and segue-wayed into a completely different song. And the segue-way was sometimes longer than the song." Osby's real challenge came when Phil And Friends played jazz standards like "Blue Train" with a totally different treatment than he was used to. "That really checks your flexibility as a musician. It's so easy to get caught up in your own world. I like to always try to play outside myself, and Phil definitely provided me the opportunity to do that."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...