Did you have a friendship with Jerry over those 18 years?
I was lucky enough to ride in the limousines with Jerry, whenever we did planes or small jets, I was in the car with Jerry. I was fortunate to be with him. He took me on and just gave me that kind of love. And I didn’t buy into the situation either. I was too naive to buy into the situation. I never got his autograph and barely took pictures with him because it was something that didn’t matter to me. I was not that kind of guy.
Do you think Jerry appreciated that you did not ask him for favors?
I heard it over, over. They just loved me. I never asked him for a favor. I did gigs on the side and never asked him to sit-in. I just didn’t see the handwriting on the wall. I have things that he gave me that I wish he signed but I wasn’t that guy. He loved that fact.
Coming from gospel, did you have adjust your playing style for Jerry? Or did Jerry want you to bring that style to the band?
He wanted the slow Motown gospel which I was all about and I think that’s what I exactly brought to them; was that gospel flare, church thing. For me, it was difficult because I came from producing music, where you dot your I’s and cross your T’s. What I mean by that is when there’s an ascent coming up, or a feel or a notey run, where you’re supposed to play together, I thought our band was so tacky because they weren’t hitting it together. In the R&B field, it’s all about getting it together and playing that line as tight as you can. And then I get into this band, and maybe John Kahn didn’t play the line or maybe Jerry screwed it up and it didn’t seem to matter at all. And I’m like, “What?”
I had to learn the jamband way and that it didn’t have to be tight. It’s about changing every night and going with your feel. And instead of me, tightening them up, they loosened me up. I just couldn’t understand how they could do this and get away with it, but the audience loved it. It was something I had to learn and I did get it.
The Jerry Garcia Band catalog of songs was very deep. What were some of your favorite tunes to perform live.
I think some of the songs I was able to shine with were “Lucky Old Son,” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” because I was able to apply a lot of soul and gospel flavor to the slow type of songs. There were a few up-tempo songs that I liked like “How Sweet It Is,” “Get Out of My Life,” “Deal,” and others that I took quickly too. And there were other songs that I struggled with because I just didn’t know what to play and they would not let me hear any of the other keyboard players before me. They didn’t want me to hear them because I guess if I heard them I would have probably copied them.
Did the Jerry Garcia Band ever rehearse or did you just get a call from Jerry telling you when the gigs were and when to show up?
When I first got the call, that first rehearsal was to see if there was a vibe or a charisma with me coming to the table, so we went over four or five songs. Jerry liked it and then we had a few rehearsals to hit a great number of the songs for my sake. But once we got the repertoire down, we didn’t rehearse at all. Most of our rehearsals was learning new stuff on stage during soundcheck. Even then, when we rehearsed, I had chord charts as guidelines. I had to rely a whole lot on that in the early stages until I got it in my head. Jerry had other projects – he had Grateful Dead, acoustic band, but he really loved the Jerry Garcia Band. We didn’t rehearse a lot and again, I think that all goes back to that it didn’t have to be that tight. It kind of moved around. Some nights the songs moved too fast, some nights they were too slow and sometimes they were right in the pocket. But every show people seemed to love it.
Following Jerry’s death, you put together JGB, which has undergone many transformations and configurations over a 19-year period.
When I first started JGB my concept and focus was all wrong. I had musicians out there, that played extremely well – sessions guys -that knew how to play and handle a song. But what I was not looking at and I had to learn again was that a lot has to do with the vibe. Their vibe and heart wasn’t into it. They were just able to play because they were that good of musicians. They were playing the songs skillfully and tastefully, but it wasn’t felt by some of the Deadheads, who are very attuned with the heart and the vibe. So I was hitting and missing for almost 10 years. I was just trying to find guys who could play the songs and sing the lyrics but the fans wanted to be reminded of Jerry. And when I started getting guys that were Deadheads and knew all about the music and it started to come together. I think it was 10 years of really hitting and missing. And the last 10, it’s been dialing in, perfecting it, and dialing in.
Everybody I’ve brought to the table these last 10 years ago had to have been a Deadhead and know what was going on. No more of just hiring musicians because they were good musicians. If you’re trying to be the Jerry Garcia Band, you have to look like it, sound like it. There are guys out there that have studied Jerry because he was their legend and they play similar. None of them can play Jerry like Jerry, but they bring enough to the table where the fans can smile and enjoy the songs, remember, go back and love Jerry again. Everybody I have now loved the music and was there (in the Dead scene) when I wasn’t even there or listening to Jerry when I was with Jerry. So now, when you come hear us, you are going to relive the Jerry Garcia experience and even relive the gospel flavor that I brought to the band when I was with Jerry. All of that is in place now. The only thing is that there’s not a real Jerry on stage but we know that. The vibe, love, whatever you felt you can relive it now.
You usually play shows close to the Bay Area, but I see in March the band is headed East for 16 shows.
We go to the East Coast twice a year because it’s hard for a weekend. With JGB the funds are nowhere near what it was with Jerry. It’s a big struggle to buy airline tickets, get hotels, rent a car, and then pay all the band members. Most of are gigs are on the weekend – we’re not on the road round the clock like some bands are or bands that would like to be. We just have to take the better shows and leave the rest alone.
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