Jerry Garcia was an American musician. A guitarist, singer, and songwriter, he became famous as a member of the rock band the Grateful Dead, from 1965 to 1995. When not touring or recording with the Dead, Garcia was often playing music in other bands and with other musicians.
From 1971 to 1975, Garcia's main musical collaborator outside the Grateful Dead was keyboardist Merl Saunders. From 1975 to 1995, Garcia's principal side project was the Jerry Garcia Band. The one constant member of the Jerry Garcia Band, as well as the various Saunders–Garcia lineups, was John Kahn on bass. The Garcia Band member with the second-longest tenure, from 1980 to 1995, was keyboardist Melvin Seals. In the 1990s, Garcia also made a number of studio recordings with mandolin player David Grisman.
In 1969, Garcia, along with John Dawson and David Nelson, co-founded the country rock band the New Riders of the Purple Sage. Garcia played pedal steel guitar in that band, until an amicable parting of the ways in 1971. In 1973 Garcia co-founded the short-lived bluegrass group Old & In the Way, which also included David Grisman and John Kahn. Garcia played banjo in that band, harking back to his pre-Grateful Dead days as a bluegrass musician.
The Grateful Dead released a number of studio and live albums while they were together. Since then, many archival concert recordings of the band have been released as albums. The same is also true of Garcia's solo career and his collaborations with other musicians. As a result, the discography of Jerry Garcia, as a member of the Grateful Dead and as a solo musician, includes several hundred albums.
Grateful Dead
Jerry Garcia
Jerry Garcia Band
The Jerry Garcia Band was Jerry Garcia's main side project from 1975 to 1995. The band played rock music that emphasized musical improvisation, in a style somewhat similar to that of the Grateful Dead, and also played many rhythm and blues songs. The lineup of the band changed many times, especially in the early years. The only constant member was John Kahn on bass. The Garcia Band member with the second-longest tenure, from 1980 to 1995, was keyboardist Melvin Seals. After Garcia died, Seals formed a band called JGB, dedicated to performing Garcia's music.
Donna Jean Godchaux, who was in the Jerry Garcia Band from 1976 to 1978, later reflected, "It was very different from the Grateful Dead in that everything was so scaled back to where we could play theaters instead of hockey rinks. It was very enjoyable on that level because these places were built for music to be played in. It was just a really unique situation to be as popular as Jerry Garcia was and still be able to be in a band that could do what we did in a smaller setting than the Grateful Dead. It was kind of like a home away from home for Jerry, in that he got this different expression of what he was feeling musically than the Grateful Dead."
Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band
The Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band played folk and old-time music. They were together for about a year, from 1987 to 1988. They performed several dozen concerts, usually as the opening act for the Jerry Garcia Band. The JGAB included two musicians who had played with Garcia in 1964 in a bluegrass band called the Black Mountain Boys – Sandy Rothman and David Nelson.
Jerry Garcia and Howard Wales
Howard Wales was a jazz, rock, and rhythm and blues keyboard player. In 1970 he played a number of Monday night jam sessions with Garcia at the Matrix, a small venue in San Francisco. The two were often accompanied by John Kahn on bass and Bill Vitt on drums.
Later, Kahn recalled, "I didn't know what kind of music [Garcia] and Wales would be playing down at the Matrix when I went down. And I still don't know! It was kind of a weird jazz with these other influences – it was mainly Howard's music, all instrumental." Garcia said, "Howard was so incredible, and [Kahn and I] were just hanging on for dear life. For some reason Howard enjoyed playing with us, but we were just keeping up. Howard was so outside. For both of us that was a wonderful experience."
Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
Merl Saunders, a keyboard player, was Garcia's main musical collaborator outside the Grateful Dead from 1971 to 1975. Saunders and Garcia bands with different additional musicians played many concerts during this period. One of the lineups, in 1974 and 1975, was Legion of Mary, featuring Martin Fierro on saxophone and flute, John Kahn on bass, and Ron Tutt on drums. Saunders and Garcia also recorded two studio albums with Tom Fogerty from Creedence Clearwater Revival.