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Jazz Is Dead
Jazz is Dead is an instrumental Grateful Dead cover band that interprets classic Dead songs with jazzy influences instrumentally. There have been different line-ups over time with T Lavitz being the only mainstay off all of them.
Three years after the Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia died, the first line-up of Jazz Is Dead released their first album, Blue Light Rain, which is in fact the first lyrical line from the song "Unbroken Chain". This album features "Crazy Fingers", "Scarlet Begonias", "Dark Star", "Red Baron" by Billy Cobham, the Phil Lesh classic "Unbroken Chain", and the Blues for Allah tunes "King Solomon's Marbles" and the epic "Help on The Way / Slipknot! / Franklin's Tower>Spiral Staircase" medley.
The band's first line-up consisted of: Jimmy Herring (guitar), Alphonso Johnson (bass), Billy Cobham (drums) and T Lavitz (keyboards). In 1999 Billy Cobham was replaced by Dixie Dregs drummer Rod Morgenstein and Phil Lesh and Friends drummer Jeff Sipe. Their second album, Laughing Water, was released in 1999; it was a track-for-track cover of Wake of The Flood. Great Sky River, the band's 2000 live release, includes "China Cat Sunflower", "Estimated Prophet", "St. Stephen>The Eleven, Blues for Allah", "Terrapin Station", "Dark Star", "Morning Dew" and "drumz".
In 2001 guitarist Jeff Pevar replaced Jimmy Herring. Little Feat's Kenny Gradney also did a stint with the group on bass. The group went through a few more line-up changes over the years eventually regaining its dual-drummer line-up in 2006 with the addition of bassist Dave Livolsi.
In March of 2006 this line-up set out for a month long tour featuring the music of Blues For Allah to coincide with its 30th Anniversary. Currently, Jazz is Dead has no plans for further album releases or tours. But they are still interested in jazz.
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Jazz Is Dead at Nectar's
by Doug Collette
Jazz Is Dead Nectar's Burlington, Vermont June 4, 2024 Originally spearheaded in 1998 by drummer extraordinaire Billy Cobham (Mahavishnu Orchestra, Miles Davis), Jazz Is Dead has incorporated more than a few different personnel configurations over the course of its quarter-century plus existence. Having coalesced most recently to feature guitarists Steve Kimock and Bobby Lee Rodgers, bassist Alphonso Johnson (Weather Report) and drummer Pete Lavezzoli , the group celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary by hitting the road ...
Continue ReadingJazz Is Dead: Great Sky River
by Todd S. Jenkins
One of America's hottest jam bands continues to mine the bottomless repertoire of the Grateful Dead. On their third album, Jazz Is Dead breathes new life into classics that Deadheads haven't ever gotten enough of. The intuition between guitarist Jimmy Herring (Aquarium Rescue Unit, Allman Brothers Band, Phil Lesh & Friends), bassist Alphonso Johnson (Miles Davis, Weather Report, Billy Cobham, The Other Ones), and keyboardist T Lavitz and drummer Rod Morgenstein of the Dixie Dregs has become more uncanny over ...
Continue ReadingJazz is Dead: Laughing Water
by Dave Hughes
On their sophomore release, Laughing Water, Jazz is Dead continues their mission of presenting the catalog of the Grateful Dead in sort of a country-rock context, with occasional classical, gospel, and jazz flavoring. It's unpretentious, infectious jamming by musicians with virtuoso chops to burn. The exuberant “Let Me Sing Your Blues Away" (not a vocal) alternates hard-driving edgy guitar choruses with fleet-fingered, grooving organ. “Row Jimmy" has a laid-back country-rock feel. The next tune, “Stella Blue," begins with an almost-classical ...
Continue ReadingJazz is Dead: Laughing Water
by Dave Hughes
On their sophomore release, Jazz is Dead continues their mission of presenting the catalog of the Grateful Dead in sort of a country-rock context, with occasional classical, gospel, and jazz flavoring. It's unpretentious, infectious jamming by musicians with virtuoso chops to burn. The exhuberant "Let Me Sing Your Blues Away" (not a vocal) alternates hard-driving edgy guitar choruses with fleet-fingered, grooving organ. "Row Jimmy" has a laid-back country-rock feel. The next tune, "Stella Blue," begins with an almost-classical fugue, ...
Continue ReadingJazz Is Dead: Laughing Water
by David Adler
Essentially a Grateful Dead repertory ensemble, Jazz Is Dead boasts a fusion dream lineup: T. Lavitz on keyboards, Alphonso Johnson on bass, Rod Morgenstein (or Jeff Sipe) on drums, and rising star Jimmy Herring on guitar. If you like the Grateful Dead and know their songs, you'll probably warm to this disc. If you don't, you might still find it rewarding. The musicianship is top-notch and the recording sounds sharp (it was taken from live shows in Colorado and California). ...
Continue ReadingJazz Is Dead: Laughing Water
by Ed Kopp
On Laughing Water, the fusion ensemble Jazz Is Dead one-ups the band that it sets out to honor. Laughing Water is a superior remake of the Grateful Dead's rather ordinary rock album Wake of the Flood.Jazz is Dead's core musicians Jimmy Herring (guitar), T Lavitz (keys) and Alphonso Johnson (bass) trade melodic licks as they reinterpret the Dead's modal tunes from 1973. Fortunately you don't have to be a Deadhead to appreciate this album. Laughing Water not only ...
Continue ReadingJazz Is Dead: Laughing Water ("Wake Of The Flood - revisited")
by Glenn Astarita
Grateful Dead fans or “deadheads” who demand only the finest from those who cover Dead tunes or in this case, a complete rendition of the Dead’s classic “Wake Of The Flood” LP should find much to get excited about here. Jazz is Dead, touted as one of the best “jam bands” on the globe have carved out a nifty if somewhat deeply personalized stylization of this – crossroads – LP from those rock icons of year’s past. Laughing Water was ...
Continue ReadingHorace Silver, 85, Master of Earthy Jazz, Is Dead
Source:
Michael Ricci
Horace Silver, a pianist, composer and bandleader who was one of the most popular and influential jazz musicians of the 1950s and ’60s, died on Wednesday at his home in New Rochelle, N.Y. He was 85. His death was announced by Blue Note Records, the company for which he recorded from 1952 to 1979. After a high-profile apprenticeship with some of the biggest names in jazz, Mr. Silver began leading his own group in the mid-1950s and quickly became a ...
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Jazz is Dead. Long Live Jazz!
Source:
All About Jazz
The music may never again be a popular force, but it is still swinging if you know where to listen.
Put yourself in this jazz musician's shoes for a minute. Your record label just dropped two of its most acclaimed acts from the roster in order to aggressively pursue pop artists. Still, you think you have a sound that's relevant to the moment and to prove it, you need a stay of execution from what's starting to look inevitable.
So ...
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Jazz is Dead. Long Live Jazz.
Source:
Michael Ricci
The music may never again be a popular force, but it is still swinging--if you know where to listen. Put yourself in this jazz musician's shoes for a minute. Your record label just dropped two of its most acclaimed acts from the roster in order to aggressively pursue pop artists. Still, you think you have a sound that's relevant to the moment--and to prove it, you need a stay of execution from what's starting to look inevitable. So you pick ...
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Hale Smith, Who Broke Borders of Classical and Jazz, is Dead at 84
Source:
Michael Ricci
Hale Smith, a classical composer who also worked as a performer and arranger with jazz greats like Dizzy Gillespie and Chico Hamilton, died Tuesday at his home in Freeport, L.I. He was 84. The cause was complications of a stroke, said his wife, Juanita. Mr. Smith, who wryly described himself to The New York Times in 1990 as one of Americas most famous unknown composers, straddled the two worlds of jazz and classical music as a performer, composer, arranger and ...
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Dennis Irwin, 56, Bassist Popular in New York Jazz, is Dead
Source:
Michael Ricci
Dennis Irwin, who for more than 30 years was a much-in-demand New York jazz bassist and whose recent illness became a rallying point for jazz musicians without medical insurance, died on Monday in Manhattan. He was 56. The cause was liver failure as a result of cancer, said his son, Michael Irwin. He died the same day as a benefit concert was presented in his honor, staged by Jazz at Lincoln Center and including performances by Wynton Marsalis, Tony Bennett, ...
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Jazz Is Dead
Instrument: Band / ensemble / orchestra
