Home » Jazz Articles » Grateful Dead
Jazz Articles about Grateful Dead
About Grateful Dead
Instrument: Band / ensemble / orchestra
No Simple Highway: A Cultural History of the Grateful Dead
by Doug Collette
No Simple Highway: A Cultural History of the Grateful Dead Peter Richardson 384 Pages ISBN: # 1250010624 St. Martin's Press 2015 The declarative tone Peter Richardson adopts and maintains throughout No Simple Highway renders his depiction of the evolution of the Grateful Dead seem like nothing less than destiny. In fact, the way this erudite writer follows the evolution of the band, it's as if any story of modern American culture would be ...
Continue ReadingGrateful Dead: Dave's Picks Volume 17 - Selland Arena, Fresno, CA 7/19/1974
by Doug Collette
The debate is ongoing and will certainly remain so, but with each Grateful Dead archive release from the “Wall of Sound" era, the 1973-4 phase of the iconic band's history rises further in prestige. And it should hardly be surprising, given that the impeccable sound translates through recording and Jeffrey Norman's remastering. On this title, that uncanny clarity allowed the group to play at an elevated level precisely because they could hear themselves so well, individually and collectively.
Continue ReadingGrateful Dead: Dick's Picks Volume Two: Columbus, Ohio 10/31/1971
by Doug Collette
As Real Gone Music winds down its the four-year long reissue campaign devoted to the Grateful Dead's 'Dick's Picks' o the label presents one of the most distinctive titles in the archive series. recorded on Halloween night in 1971 at the Ohio Theatre in Columbus, Ohio. In a single cd, the only one of its kind the late Latvala curated, the album consists of the second set of the concert, comprising of a remarkable cross section of material culled from ...
Continue ReadingFare Thee Well: Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Grateful Dead
by Doug Collette
Fare Thee Well: Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Grateful Dead Jay Blakesberg 208 Pages ISBN: #0984463089 Rock out Books 2015 Jay Blakesberg's photographic documentary of summer 2015's 'Fare Thee Well' shows “Celebrating Fifty years of the Grateful Dead" is remarkable enough for the nuanced clarity and color his camera(s) captured in Santa Clara and Chicago. But it's actually startling to follow all the shots that fill the 12x10" hardcover book and ...
Continue ReadingGrateful Dead: Dick's Pick's Volume Three: Pembroke Pines, Florida 5/22/77
by Doug Collette
Given what's ensued--beyond the scope of the band itself-in the wake of the Grateful Dead's very first archive series, 'Dick's Picks,' it's hard to believe but well to remember this ongoing project had comparatively modest, humble beginnings. An offhanded conversation between bassist Phil Lesh and ultra-fan Dick Latvala let to an eventual total of thirty-six titles, this installment, Volume 3, taken from the now-historic spring 1977 tour. Minimal and generic graphics, a la bootlegs of the time, combined ...
Continue ReadingGrateful Dead – Dick's Picks Volume Four: Fillmore East 2/13-14/70
by Doug Collette
Quite apart from the the scintillating performances spread over (the first ever release of) three CD's on the Grateful Dead's Dick's Picks Volume 4, this title has all the earmarks of a classic entry into this seminal archive series. It was recorded at the fabled Fillmore East, the now defunct New York City venue operated by the late rock impresario Bill Graham and was recorded by Owsley Stanley, aka Bear, the early mentor of the band who helped usher in ...
Continue ReadingDave's Picks Volume 15 & Dick's Picks Volume 5
by Doug Collette
It's been said before but it's worth saying again: if the coincidental Grateful Dead archive releases on Real Gone Music and Rhino Records are meant to complement each or not, they end up doing so. Significant changes in the band's personnel took place in the fifteen months between the April 22, 1978 show captured on Dave's Picks Volume 15 and and Dick's Pick's Volume Five comprised of 12/26/79. it'd be just another instance of innovative marketing arising from the grateful ...
Continue Reading
