Poster: Dhamma1 Date: Oct 13, 2010 6:11am Forum: GratefulDead Subject: Re: beautiful jam

There's no better answer to your question than LIA's post from last year:Poster: light into ashes Date: December 07, 2009 05:11:43amForum: GratefulDead Subject: The Dead's Early Thematic JamsThis is a short guide to the various themed jams the Dead did in their early years. I've listed a lot of them here & there before, so some of these are repeated from previous posts. But I thought it might be useful as a handy reference for others, to have all the early jams gathered together in a brief introduction.There's also a good overview of many of these jams in the first Taping Compendium.Note that this guide stops at 1974; so those looking for, say, Ollin Arrageed or Mojo jams will have to look elsewhere for now!In no particular order....FEELIN' GROOVY JAMThe Feelin' Groovy jam is basically four chords based on the Simon & Garfunkel song, and was frequently done in Dark Stars from '69-'72. This first appeared in Dark Star in late '69 - in '73 it migrated into the middle of China>Rider, with a rather different feel and an extra 'bridge' section added. (A lot of people also call it the "Uncle John's Jam" since the four chords are very similar.)This is one of the only jams where we have a recording from the Dead's home rehearsals, a long standalone version from the fall of '69 - alongside an extended exploration of the Uncle John's jam, and a cool early Friend of the Devil. Despite poor, distorted sound, this is one demo I can't recommend highly enough:The first Feelin' Groovy jam appears in the 9/26/69 Dark Star, around the 11-minute mark, unfortunately hard to appreciate due to the sound quality:Since it's an audience tape, most people probably haven't heard it - but this one from the Dark Star a month later is well-known:- and just a week after that it had one of its best performances:Feelin' Groovy appeared in many Dark Stars thereafter, too many to cite - almost every one up through 1970. Some of the best-loved versions might include 1/2/70, 2/13/70, 5/15/70, 9/19/70, 10/21/71, 4/14/72, and 5/25/72. From the end of '69 and through '70, Dark Star had a particular format: after the first verse the band would evaporate into space, explore weirdness for a while, then slowly return back to melody - and here the Feelin' Groovy jam (or sometimes the Tighten Up jam) would emerge, like bright joy after the darkness. (Sometimes though, they mixed things up or weren't in the mood, and you sometimes catch Garcia refusing to enter a Feelin' Groovy jam even when Lesh is trying to drop one in.) Over time the Stars changed, and became more dense and complex - particularly after Keith joined, the '72 Stars got jazzier with more jamming elements and meltdowns, and the Feelin' Groovy jam often became more brief and fleeting - sometimes just a hint from Phil.Late '72 saw the end of its stay in Dark Star - one instance is 10/18/72, a classic version at the end of the Star, after the Philo Stomp:By contrast, from 11/13/72 we have an extremely fast version in a Star filled with intense meltdowns:The last time I recall Feelin' Groovy being played in a Dark Star is 11/26/72, a great version that should be known by more people - the end of the Star has a bass solo>Feelin' Groovy>Tiger meltdown - Garcia's tone in the Feelin' Groovy is just amazing:A couple times the Feelin' Groovy jam would appear 'solo': on 10/2/72, in the post-Truckin' jam it's one of the themes after Nobody's Fault But Mine and is played very loosely, leading up to Morning Dew:And on 2/24/73 it's part of the jam coming out of Eyes of the World (unfortunately the more complete audience tape isn't on the Archive), and follows a long bass solo - Garcia initiates it and they play it very sweetly:The first time Feelin' Groovy entered the China>Rider transition was on 3/16/73; and there it would stay over the next two years, with many exciting versions as it became increasingly jammed-out - a couple examples would be the Dick's Picks of 6/26/74 and 8/5/74. After 1974, it mysteriously disappeared.TIGHTEN UP JAMThe Tighten Up Jam was a very common Latin-style jam theme in 1970. It's often called a proto-Eyes jam since Weir plays two repeating jazzy chords that are rhythmically similar to the opening of Eyes of the World, but they're from the Archie Bell & the Drells tune.Its first appearance I'm aware of was on 8/30/69, where Weir plays the chords as Garcia's changing a string during Dark Star; it gets a full band performance on 10/25/69. After that they played it steadily for a year, in many Dark Stars and after March '70 in most of the Dancing in the Streets. They apparently dropped it in 1971, except for a surprise appearance on 10/31/71. It's unusual for the Dead to use a jam-theme interchangeably between two different songs like that, but Tighten Up works well in both of them. (It's surprising it took so long for them to play it in Dancing, since it's similar to the usual Dancing two-chord jam pattern - on 12/11/69 for instance, the Dancing is extremely close to a Tighten Up.)There used to be a webpage devoted to the Dead's Tighten Ups, but it's disappeared. These are the performances I've found so far; I've probably missed a few (I think there are some in Lovelights as well), but this is the most complete listing available. (Apologies for the lack of links here....)10-25-69 Star11-2-69 Star12-26-69 Star1-2-70 Star3-1-70 Dancing3-21-70 Dancing4-3-70 Dancing4-15-70 Dancing4-24-70 Star5-2-70 Dancing (Dick's Pick)5-6-70 Dancing5-8-70 Star5-24-70 Star6-6-70 Dancing6-24-70 second Star7-12-70 Dancing9-17-70 Star10-5-70 Dancing (Download Series with 2/4/70)10-24-70 Dancing10-30-70b Dancing11-8-70 Dancing12-17-70 Dancing10-31-71 Star (Dick's Pick)(I might add that Deadlists claims there's a Tighten Up in the 2/2/70 Star, but there isn't.)The Tighten Up and Feelin' Groovy jams have often been confused, even by Latvala who should have known better! There were Dark Stars where they did both of these jams, but the 1970 Dancings generally have Tighten Up jams, not Feelin' Groovy jams. The easy way to check: is Weir repeating two chords or four chords?Sometimes the two themes are done back-to-back. Check out the Dark Stars from 11-2-69 or 1-2-70, which have the same structure after the first verse:- a space, weird & wild,- then the Feelin' Groovy jam, almost sounding more fully developed than it was in later years with different variations, and when that dies down,- the Tighten Up jam, again done fully & at length; when this is done it's time for the second verse.MIND LEFT BODY JAMThe Mind Left Body jam originated in the PERRO sessions, where we can hear an early, faster version of the four descending chords. Paul Kantner took this riff for his song "Your Mind Has Left Your Body", which Garcia played pedal steel on. Garcia in turn adapted it into a Grateful Dead theme, which first showed up on occasion in '72, but started regularly entering the jams in fall '73. It added a transcendental feeling to many shows up through '74 - these are some of the most notable jams:4-8-72 Dark Star9-21-72 Dark Star10-19-73 Dark Star10-30-73 Dark Star11-11-73 Dark Star12-2-73 Playing5-19-74 Truckin' jam6-28-74 WRS jam7-31-74 Truckin' jam10-17-74 Other OneIn '75 the MLB theme was turned into a section in Weir's Music Never Stopped; but in later years it made some infrequent appearances in unexpected places.Sometimes the MLB jam is mistaken for Feelin' Groovy - on Dicks Pick 12, Latvala even called the China>Rider transition the 'Mud Love Buddy' jam, which is misleading. The segue jam in the '73/74 China>Riders is definitely Feelin' Groovy, not MLB - Latvala just messed that up. (For instance, on DP12 the jam from 6/28 IS the MLB jam, but doesn't get named!)I go into much more detail in the Mind Left Body post -SPANISH JAMWeir based the Spanish Jam on the song "Solea" on Miles Davis' album Sketches of Spain, sometime in late '67 when the Dead started recording Anthem of the Sun. As it was, a little bit of the Spanish Jam actually got on the album, in the form of a short Davis-flavored trumpet break from Phil in the middle of Born Cross-Eyed (after the verse, "Think I'll come back here again, every now and then, from time to time"). For a moment, it seems like Garcia and the band are about to break into the Spanish Jam, but they quickly cut back to the song....In any case, the Spanish Jam debuted on the Anthem tour of early '68 and was played regularly - but, was soon dropped from the setlists (along with Born Cross-Eyed). Weir kept it in mind though, and it made a surprise reappearance at the 2-11-70 allstar-jam show, out of Dark Star. It then disappeared for three more years - was revived for two shows in March '73 (tied with Dark Star again on 3-24-73) - was dropped again - and, once again, emerged from nowhere in another Dark Star jam on 6-23-74. Finally the Dead felt ready for it, and played it frequently through the rest of '74. However, aside from one show in '76, the Spanish Jam remained unheard for several years after the hiatus, until another revival on 5-6-81. After that, it appeared now and then, from time to time in shows up to the end in '95, making it one of the longest-lasting Dead jams.Here is an older post with a brief history of the Spanish Jam:And here are some more examples of notable early Spanish Jams not linked in the post: http://www.archive.org/details/gd1968-01-17.sbd.cotsman.11795.shnf - the firstTHE MAIN TENThe Main Ten was a ten-beat Mickey Hart riff the Dead started playing in mid-'68. It popped up in shows now & then for a couple years, when they felt like taking an excursion. It also appeared on Hart's first album Rolling Thunder. It's strange to hear this riff today, when it's so identified with Playing in the Band, but in its original incarnation it embodies a mysterious, otherworldly feeling.The earliest performance we have is from 6-19-68:It resurfaces, surprisingly, in a couple '69 Dark Stars:4-11-69 in Dark Star (short, at 10-minute mark) -4-15-69 in Dark Star (short, at 17 minutes) -11-8-69 (in the Caution) - Dick's Pick.12-5-69 (after the Uncle John's jam, segueing into a lovely Baby Blue) -5-3-70 (for completeness' sake, a short bit inside this Lovelight - although the band can barely be heard, it's interesting to hear the crowd clapping to the beat) -6-7-70 (a mystical groove in-between the great Cryptical outro and the first Sugar Magnolia) -11-6-70 (inside the Good Lovin') -11-8-70 (out of Dark Star, and into Dancin' in the Streets) -In early '71, the Dead decided to turn the riff into a complete song, and merged it into Playing in the Band, which debuted on 2-18-71. It's credited to Weir/Hart/Hunter - presumably Hart originated the Main Ten, Weir added the other sections of the song, and Hunter wrote the lyrics. (Weir also turned Hart's "Pump Song" into the Greatest Story Ever Told.) Playing was a catchy tune which wouldn't become a 'jam' number for another year, but it lost the spooky feel that the Main Ten had.THE SEVENThe Seven is another riff from the experimental days of '68, and there are very few tapes. There are a couple in the Hartbeats Matrix shows on 10/8/68 and 10/10/68, and there's a short one coming out of the Viola Lee on 3/21/70 (they had sometimes teased it in '69 Viola Lees) - but the best is on the AUD recording of 9/29/69, it's very tight! http://www.archive.org/details/gd68-10-10.sbd.miller-ladner.4513.sbeok.shnf (Hartbeats practice) http://www.archive.org/details/gd69-09-29.aud.early.hollister.79.sbeok.shnf (out of Doin' That Rag) http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-03-21.early.lee.pcrp.20184.sbeok.shnf (brief, out of Viola Lee & into Cumberland Blues)WE BID YOU GOODNIGHT JAMOne jam that switched places over the years is the "We Bid You Goodnight" jam. This is unique as a song the Dead would jam instrumentally during Alligator, and then sing a cappella at the end of the show after "feedback"! It was introduced during the Anthem '68 tour - possibly Garcia had been listening to a Joseph Spence album and liked this song.The earliest sung versions we have come from 1/22 and 3/16/68. The earliest instrumental Goodnight theme I recall is in the 2-24-68 Dick's Picks show, 5 minutes into the Alligator, played in Garcia's usual staccato fashion at the time.By '69 the instrumental Goodnight theme frequently appears in Alligators, played a lot faster than it was later. I looked up a few shows where it's tracked separately and easy to find: http://www.archive.org/details/gd1969-02-15.sbd.goodbear.2175.sbeok.shnf - Alligator http://www.archive.org/details/gd69-11-01.sbd.cotsman.6298.sbeok.shnf - Alligator http://www.archive.org/details/gd69-12-12.sbd.gerland.10988.sbeok.shnf - Alligator http://www.archive.org/details/gd69-12-30.sbd.miller.28469.sbeok.shnf - Alligator http://www.archive.org/details/gd1970-01-03.sbd.gmb.97743.flac16 - Eleven>Alligator http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-02-05.sbd.hanno.9184.sbefail.shnf - Eleven>CautionIn 1970, as Alligators grew rare, the Goodnight jam starts showing up in Not Fade Aways, including 8/18, 9/18, and 9/20/70:Starting in October 1970, it became the 'bridge' between Goin' Down the Road and Not Fade Away. This brings us to the birth of Goin' Down the Road - with so many shows missing from fall 1970, we're lucky to be able to hear it take shape from the start.On 10/10 they start playing Goin' Down the Road instrumentally in Not Fade Away, but they never sing it:On 10/11 it emerges as a separate song - but they don't play the Goodnight theme afterwards, instead they jump straight from "don't want to be treated this way" back into NFA:And at our next show, 10/23, we finally have the Goodnight theme in the expected place - and it's a nice version, as they're already stretching it out before returning to NFA:After this, it closed out pretty much every Goin' Down the Road for the next four years and beyond. I particularly like the versions from late '71 when they extend the two-chord jam going on after the Goodnight theme. One example is the 10/31/71 Dick's Pick, not as 'pretty' as some others but jammed out to four minutes.There is one more version I must link, though a short one - on 11/19/72, for the only time, the Dead closed a show with the Goodnight instrumental:MOUNTAIN JAMGarcia was quoting Donovan's "There Is A Mountain" months before the Allman Brothers were formed, most often playing it for a bar or two in Alligator jams. I think the earliest instance is in the 9-3-67 Alligator; and you can hear it at 9:00 in the Alligator on the Anthem album, or briefly at 12:00 in the 2-14-68 Alligator. Melodically it sounds similar to the Bid You Goodnight riff, so it's interesting that both of these pieces were born in the Alligator jam - there are many early Alligators where Garcia seems constantly just about to play one of these.....It's tricky finding good links for it though, since he always plays it as just a brief tease, and there's little point in directing you to long Alligators just to find a few seconds of a melody. But one place where it has its own track is 11-6-70 after Goin' Down the Road:DARKNESS JAMThen there's the "Darkness" jam from the Youngbloods song which was done a few times in 1970; the most well-known version is in the 9/19/70 Not Fade Away where it's very clear. They also do the China Cat riff in that NFA, which they did frequently (and at greater length) in the fall of 1971. http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-05-24.sbd.hanno.6481.sbeok.shnf - in the Lovelight (briefly) http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-06-06.sbd.ashley.2172.sbeok.shnf (in the fantastic Alligator jam, following the Bid You Goodnight riff) http://www.archive.org/details/gd1970-09-19.mtx.chappell.SB14.31510.sbeok.flac16 (Darkness/China Cat jam in NFA) http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-12-12.sbd.clugston.5985.sbeok.shnf (after Goin Down the Road, goes into the Stephen riff, very low-key)UNCLE JOHN'S JAMMy own favorite jam was done very few times - the instrumental version of Uncle John's Band, which is just lovely, but was done only in November '69: http://www.archive.org/details/gd69-11-01.sbd.cotsman.6298.sbeok.shnf (in the Alligator jam - brief, following the Goodnight theme) http://www.archive.org/details/gd69-11-07.sbd.kaplan.19783.sbefail.shnf (in Dark Star)11/8/69 (in Dark Star) The most famous version, on Dick's Picks.12/5/69 has a very short Uncle John riff preceding the Main Ten, but because it's cut by the AUD taper, it's impossible to tell whether this is the Jam or part of the full song, which had debuted the previous day.And I have to mention again this great home rehearsal tape (very poor sound, but taped by Robert Hunter I think), which has the Dead in fall '69 practicing the Feelin' Groovy and Uncle John's jams at length - and also John Dawson's first version of Friend of the Devil, before Garcia sang it. Priceless stuff!CHINA CAT JAMThe Dead sometimes played the China Cat riff aside from the song, in moments of jamming exuberance in '70/71.Our first example actually comes from a year earlier, when China Cat was out of the rotation - in the great Alligator jam on 2/7/69, shortly after the drums, Weir starts up the China Cat riff and the band grabs it. Garcia seems to be trying to remember how it goes, and he eventually drags them back to Alligator.The China Cat jam was an occasional occurrence in 1970 when the band was in a good mood - in these shows, notice how often the Dead tend to string together various common themes: http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-01-03.sbd.ret.19440.sbeok.shnf - in the hot Alligator jam (briefly, China Cat jam>Bid You Goodnight riff) http://www.archive.org/details/gd1970-03-21.late.aud.lee.pcrp.21779.shnf - in the Not Fade Away (Stephen riff>China Cat jam) http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-05-07.aud.weiner-gdADT04.5439.sbefail.shnf - in the Lovelight (a great jam that includes the Stephen riff>Darkness riff>jam>China Cat jam) http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-06-04.sbd.miller.12135.sbeok.shnf - in the Midnight Hour (briefly) http://www.archive.org/details/gd1970-09-19.mtx.chappell.SB14.31510.sbeok.flac16 - Darkness>China Cat jam in Not Fade AwayLater in '71, China Cat jams became a regular feature in Not Fade Away. By late '71 Not Fade Away was hitting a new peak and becoming more jammed-out than it had been in early '71, and some of the best versions come from this tour. These are the Not Fade Aways with China Cat jams in them:and a later one - http://www.archive.org/details/gd72-04-14.sbd.hurwitt.8828.sbeok.shnf The China Cat riff would sometimes pop up in later post-hiatus shows too, particularly in Franklin's Tower, where it fit nicely.NOBODY'S FAULT BUT MINEThis was a blues song Garcia was fond of (done by Blind Willie Johnson, among others), and we have one performance from 1966:Nobody's Fault resurfaced as a jam inside New Speedway Boogie for a few shows in 1970, including 6-13-70 and this one:Once New Speedway was dropped, you'd think that would be the end of it, but Garcia managed to slip Nobody's Fault into the Truckin' jam starting in late '72:And for the next two years, Nobody's Fault would become a regular part of many a Truckin' - some two dozen in fact - sometimes sung, sometimes just jammed. Two released examples are the 12-19-73 Dick's Pick and the 6-16-74 Road Trips bonus disc. The last one played was this:Nobody's Fault jams would very occasionally pop up once every few years afterwards.PHILO STOMPThe Philo Stomp was a stomping bass solo Lesh did in fall 1972. It may have started to take shape over the summer, as he often did rather aimless solos from Truckin' into the Other One; but all of a sudden in a series of October '72 shows, it emerges full-blown: http://www.archive.org/details/gd72-10-18.sbd.weir.7295.sbeok.shnf (in Dark Star) http://www.archive.org/details/gd72-10-24.pset2-sbd.hamilton.159.sbeok.shnf (in the Other One) http://www.archive.org/details/gd1972-10-28.sbd.finney.160.shnf (in Dark Star) http://www.archive.org/details/gd1972-11-13.aud.cotsman.7518.sbefail.shnf (in Dark Star)11-13 is the best example; after that, Lesh's long solos in Dark Stars tend to meander:And from 1973, here are a couple Dark Stars that end in more organized, interesting bass solos:CAUTION JAMCaution started out in '65 as an imitation of Them's "Mystic Eyes". It had been a regular jam-piece in Pigpen's days, usually following Alligator, but sometimes as an instrumental theme inside Viola Lee jams. (I talk more about it in my Viola Lee post.)By the time Pigpen left in '72, the Dead had developed it enough so that they could have kept it as a jam theme even without him; but they decided not to. Somehow a couple Caution jams still slipped into the end of '74, very loose and jazzy:9-18-74 (out of Truckin') -10-19-74 (out of He's Gone, into Truckin') - on the Grateful Dead Movie Soundtrack.In later years, Caution would be very rare indeed, but sometimes it would burst out of a He's Gone jam - on 10/27/79, 5/12/80, and 5/6/81.SLIPKNOT JAMSlipknot was just a riff in '74; in the studio in '75 the Dead would work it into the "space-jazz" section of a new suite. So it's interesting to hear the Dead (particularly Garcia) toying with this new riff in some '74 shows, seeing what they could do with it. Also note how far removed it is from the more melodic, accessible jam-riffs they had done in previous years! http://www.archive.org/details/gd74-02-22.sbd.patched.sirmick.21539.sbeok.shnf (in Playing) http://www.archive.org/details/gd74-02-23.sbd.clugston.3382.sbeok.shnf (in the Other One) http://www.archive.org/details/gd74-06-20.sbd.clugston.2179.sbeok.shnf (19 minutes into Eyes) http://www.archive.org/details/gd74-07-25.sbd.miller.12656.sbeok.shnf (21 minutes into Dark Star) http://www.archive.org/details/gd1974-10-20.sbd.smith-lee.GEMS.97193.flac16 (14 minutes into Eyes)'73 and '74 saw the jams opening up in all directions. There are a number of gnarly riffs that get repeated from show to show (particularly by Phil), but without names or identities they're hard to pin down. The repeating-riff jam at the end of Eyes in these years is very similar to Stronger Than Dirt, and often gets called that, but I think it's a distinct piece. Stronger Than Dirt may have evolved from it, though - check out the Eyes>Dirt from 8-13-75 (One From The Vault) to hear the difference from the '73/74 jam.ONE-TIME JAMSThere may well be other distinct jams that they didn't do enough times for us to identify - the Alllmans-like Jam in the Other One of 7/25/72 is a great example, which sounds so composed it's hard to believe they only did it once - also the "Beautiful Jam", done only during the 2/18/71 Dark Star, which is quite unique, almost a song in itself. (I don't think it's closely related to the Tighten Up jam, though others hear it that way.)Also check out the portion of 3-22-72 that was released on a bonus disc: in the jam at the end of Caution, there's a quiet part where the Dead play a mysterious instrumental theme that sounds like a lovely, unusual cross between Bobby McGee and Bid You Goodnight, but is definitely an unknown tune.....one of those haunting moments.The "Beautiful Jam" in the 2/18/71 Dark Star -the "almost-China Cat jam" in the 8/14/71 Other One -the instrumental after the 3/22/72 Caution -and the long, tantalizing "almost-Spanish jam" in the 7/25/72 Other One.And finally, here is a listing of other various one-time-only jams the Dead played over the years, not related to their usual pieces.This isn't the place to cover the big '74 jams out of Truckin' or Let It Grow, or the instrumental-only versions of Dark Star or the Other One, or the odd instrumental cover like Hideaway or various tuning riffs; and I've decided to skip the occasional soundcheck jams (though they can be interesting).I also decided to leave out the Seastones '74 sets and Hartbeats '68 shows, since those were covered in this post: http://www.archive.org/details/gd1966-XX-XX.sbd.GEMS.81254.flac16 - generic Blues Jam with Jorma & Jack Casady http://www.archive.org/details/gd66-03-19.sbd.scotton.81951.sbeok.flac - Slow Blues Instrumental (They also cover Freddie King's "Heads Up" at this show.) http://www.archive.org/details/gd66-03-25.sbd.unknown.38.sbeok.shnf - Jam http://www.archive.org/details/gd67-11-10.sbd.sacks.1612.sbeok.shnf - includes 7-23-67, the jam behind Casady's rap (it's a Lovelight instrumental into Space) http://www.archive.org/details/gd69-05-07.sbd.cotsman.6028.sbeok.shnf - Instrumental after a jammed-out Me & My Uncle (sadly cut) http://www.archive.org/details/gd1969-04-21.sbd.miller.88465.sbeok.flac16 - Foxy Lady jam (brief) http://www.archive.org/details/gd70-04-15.sbd.kaplan.14354.sbeok.shnf - Santana-like jam after drums in the Other One http://www.archive.org/details/gd72-10-09.sbd.vernon.5249.sbeok.shnf - short blues jam with Grace Slick http://www.archive.org/details/gd73-07-27.aud.weiner.gdadt26.26363.sbeok.shnf - Watkins Glen Jam. (AUD version, since SBD has a small cut)6/18/74 (Road Trips) - It's A Sin jam. (They had done the song a number of times in '66 and '69, but I don't recall other instrumental versions.) http://www.archive.org/details/gd74-06-23.sbd.cribbs.16780.sbeok.shnf - Jam into Ship of Fools (Similar to the 6-26 jam into China Cat.)I'm sure there are other unique jams I've forgotten, so feel free to add examples....