This is an all-instrumental mix of generally jazzy Grateful Dead. The track list probably explains the premise pretty clearly: repetitious patterns in strange time signatures, structured jams, a family of Phil riffs, various knots that the band would tie and untie. As much as possible, I picked performances that present the motifs and riffs through unorthodox explorations.

To those, I added some other Dead jazz moods, looking for interesting continuities across the years and songs. The overall goal is a gigantic, surprising jam that foregrounds the jazz/fusion band the Dead sort of were.

Almost all this music appeared in some form on previous Save Your Face compilations. The exceptions are the 1994 “Terrapin” and “Let It Grow” jams. Nothing here has been officially released to my knowledge.

140-minute mp3 mix zipped up here

Part 1 (69 minutes):

Paging Getz & Gilberto (1975 rehearsal)

Clementine instrumental (1/68)

Bird Song instrumental (7/27/73)

Philo Stomp > Jam (10/24/72)

Phil Jazz Jam (7/1/73)

Longer than Dirt (1975 rehearsal)

Slipknoodle (1975 rehearsal)

Early Eyes Jams (2/21>22/73)

Eyesknot (6/20/74)

The Seven (3/21/70)

The Nines (1975 rehearsal)

Part 2 (69 minutes):

Help on the Way/Looseknot Jam (1975 rehearsal)

Jam (10/19/72)

Spanish Jam (3/24/73)

The Main Ten (6/19/68)

Terrapin Jam (10/19/94)

Let it Grow Jam (3/6/94)

Let it Grow Horns instrumental (9/26/73)

The Music Almost Stopped (1975 rehearsal)

Noodle on the Mountain (1975 rehearsal)

Another Riff (1994 rehearsal)



