"If you tell the Truth, you don't have to remember anything"
-Mark Twain
"You realize, of course, that everything I say is horseshit." -Kurt Vonnegut

Sunday, September 22, 2013

For The Price Of A Taxi Ride

Today we go back 20 years to a Garden show with two special guest. The first is the jazz saxophone extradionary David Murray and the second is blues harmonica player James Cotton. Don't let the stigmatism of the fact that this is a 1993 show prevent you from downloading this Soundboard HERE and HERE
They open with "Help/Slip/Franks" and this one is like the perfect tomato sauce, just the right amount of salt and sugar. The "Franklin's" is really hot even though, Jerry sings the "God save that child" verse twice. I guess it makes it twice as nice. Then there is a spicy "Minglewood." The "Ramble On Rose" is just like New York City, and the Garden crowd appreciate the shout out. David Murray joins the band for the set closer "Bird Song." This version and his horn playing really takes the music into the abstract. The deep horn playing, Garcia's fluttering guitar and Vince's dark phasing are spectacular parts of this "Bird Song."
Someone told me that they thought that this "Easy Answers" was the best one ever. I'm not gonna touch that one, just putting it out there. I will venture to say that this is the best "Lazy River Road" ever. Despite Jerry flubbing the lyrics, the sweet horn playing ranks this one right at the top. The sad horn notes at the end, get to me every time. The now standard "Estimated/Dark Star" for guest appearances by a horn player, leads them into "Drums/Space." This collaboration made such an impact on David Murray that after Jerry passed, he decided to record a tribute album to the band. The album called DARK STAR: the music of the Grateful Dead was released in 1996 and the centerpiece of the album is the "Estimated/Dark Star" combo. "Wharf Rat" is pieced together out of "Space" and is truly an eloquent version. James Cotton emerges to play harp at the end of "Throwing Stones" and blows it down on "Lovelight." 
Both the images for this blog were taken by Lazy Lightning 55, whom you can find on Twitter and who post the best fan video's in the world on YouTube. Now I'm going to go listen to that "Lazy River Road" again.
I: Help, Slip, Franks, Minglewood, Ramble, Masterpiece, Bird Song*
II: Easy Answers, Lazy River Road*, Estimated*, Dark Star*, Drums, Space*, Wharf Rat*, T Stones**, Lovelight** E: I Fought The Law
*With David Murray **Also James Cotton

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