Listening to The Beacon Jams, it suggests rather convincingly that whenever Trey Anastasio looks before he leaps it’s only to find a higher precipice from which to launch.  The endeavor, on the face of it alone, would weaken the knees of myriad artists: committing to eight-consecutive, Friday-night, unique and diverse performances inside an empty Beacon Theatre during a global pandemic.  Anastasio wasn’t skirting, denying, or disrespecting the health concerns of the world.  Quite the opposite.  He was honoring them to the fullest: providing a safe environment for the participating musicians, and streaming- for free- their efforts from the fabled NYC venue to anyone with an online connection; a weekly, 150-minute respite from the wearying drone of COVID-19 misery.

Three numbers into the 18-song compilation and it’s obvious how special those Fridays were.  That third track- “What’s The Use?”- originated in Anastasio’s Phish tank many years ago.  A melodic yet sprawling instrumental, it sounded at times like a band collapsing into itself, then finding the strength to rise; possessing a calm within the cacophony. 

Maybe here as beautifully as it could be, it is a song of hope.  With Anastasio on this occasion joined by a string quartet dubbed the Rescue Squad Strings, simply and humbly, it is breath; palliative inhales and exhales as the guitarist reiterates the melody’s climb with exquisite patience and dawning optimism.  This is why The Beacon Jams meant so much to those logging in.  For Anastasio, too, whose meticulous assembly of musicians and setlists each week enabled in real-time a wholly new and often interactive experience for his captive audience. 

The collection’s title suggests a loose configuration of players and repertoire, but this is anything but.  Indeed, there is plenty of improvisational bliss as Anastasio and his core TAB mates explore their terrain- opening with a winking “Corona;” blasting away on “Carini;” carving the funk on “The Moma Dance.”  And, there are lighter snapshots such as the tumbling finish of “Bouncing Around the Room” or Anastasio’s recommendation to his virtual audience for some stripped-down dancing on “Money, Love and Change.”

Yet, it’s the thoughtful and invested care Anastasio brings to hybridized strings/electric renditions of “You Enjoy Myself” and “Slave to the Traffic Light” that elevate the double album from vividly entertaining to essential.  A final and resolute “First Tube” and its playful recognition of bassist Tony Markellis, who, sadly, would pass away five months later, is the best way to close out this exceptionally ambitious achievement, echoing the best way Anastasio and his collaborators knew to deal with adversity; lighting the way with music.