A new archival release from the estate of Jerry Garcia highlights a series of Fall 1989 shows taking place in Hartford, CT and Uniondale, NY. Dubbed “The Long Island Sound,” the two shows recorded by John Cutler feature one set each night from Bob Weir and Rob Wasserman, along with two-set performances each night from Jerry Garcia Band.
cover art by Stanley Mouse
Released on Round Records, Fall 1989: The Long Island Sound features two complete performances with over five and a half hours of previously unreleased music from September 5th, 1989 at the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, CT and September 6th, 1989 at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, NY.
Fall 1989: The Long Island Sound celebrates the storied East Coast 1989 run which featured acoustic duo Bob Weir and Rob Wasserman setting the stage for two nightly sets from the Jerry Garcia Band.
Recorded on a 2-track DAT and mastered by Joe Gastwirt, this collection contains audio with apparent, irremediable sonic imperfections (most notably the distortion on Jerry’s vocal during “Cats Under The Stars”) heard by all who experienced these performances in person or on tape. Despite the limitations in fidelity, the performances presented showcase timeless, transcendent and often blistering moments of pure magic.
The release features an album package including a liner note essay by Blair Jackson and archival memorabilia from the collection of Steve Parish. Pre-order the box set here.
September 5th, 1989 – Hartford Civic Center – Hartford, CT
Bob Weir & Rob Wasserman: Festival, Fever, K.C. Moan, Desolation Row, Looks Like Rain, The Winners, Victim or the Crime -> Wasserman Bass Improvisation no. 1 -> Throwing Stones
Jerry Garcia Band Set 1: Cats Under the Stars, They Love Each Other, Waiting for a Miracle, Run for the Roses, Like a Road, My Sisters and Brothers, Deal
Set 2: The Harder They Come, Mission in the Rain, Forever Young, Evangeline, Gomorrah, Don’t Let Go -> Lonesome and a Long Way From Home
September 6th, 1989 – Nassau Coliseum – Uniondale, NY
Bob Weir & Rob Wasserman: Walking Blues, City Girls -> Fever, Blackbird -> When I Paint My Masterpiece, Shade of Grey -> The Winners -> Easy to Slip -> Wasserman Bass Improvisation no. 2, Heaven Help The Fool
Jerry Garcia Band Set 1: How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You), Stop That Train, That’s What Love Will Make You Do, Mississippi Moon, I Second That Emotion, And It Stoned Me, Deal
Set 2: The Harder They Come, Dear Prudence, I Shall Be Released, Let It Rock, Evangeline, That Lucky Old Sun, Tangled Up in Blue
For Volume 16 of GarciaLive, the archival series looks back at the debut of Jerry Garcia Band at Madison Square Garden (MSG) on November 15, 1991.
GarciaLive Volume 16 finds the world’s most recorded musician in the world’s most famous arena at the midway point in one of his longest and most celebrated solo tours. While Garcia was no stranger to MSG, November 15th marked the Jerry Garcia Band debut in the vaunted venue. Though just two months removed from the Grateful Dead’s sold-out 9-night residency at the Garden, the crowd’s eruption as the houselights dimmed revealed the immense excitement for Garcia’s return.
Poster by Mike DuBois
The buoyant set-opening “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)” signaled the feeling was indeed mutual. Love remained a central theme throughout the evening with stunning versions of Smokey Robinson’s “The Way You Do The Things You Do,” Van Morrison’s “He Ain’t Give You None” and “Bright Side of the Road,” and Dylan’s “Simple Twist of Fate,” among others.
A near-automatic highlight of any latter era Jerry Garcia Band set, this performance of The Manhattan’s “Shining Star” is so poignant it became the centerpiece for the 2001 compilation of the same name. The extended takes on “Ain’t No Bread in the Breadbox” and “Don’t Let Go” which followed offered the band plenty of room to stretch out with the latter yielding the deepest improvisations of the evening. Not one to treat encores as de rigueur, Garcia finds the perfect sentiment to close the night with the timeless “(What A) Wonderful World” sending everyone home walking on air.
Included in the physical copy are detailed liner notes written by Relix editor-in-chief andJambands.com founder Dean Budnick, which includes reflections from Melvin Seals, Jacklyn LaBranch, Dennis McNally and John Popper. Popper’s band, Blues Traveler, was the opening act for the 1991 show. GarciaLive Vol. 16 is set for a June 25 release.
Disc One // Set One: 1. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) 2. Struggling Man 3. He Ain’t Give You None 4. Simple Twist of Fate 5. Lay Down Sally
Disc Two: 1. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down 2. My Sisters and Brothers 3. Deal
Set Two: 4. The Way You Do The Things You Do 5. Waiting For A Miracle 6. Shining Star 7. Ain’t No Bread in the Breadbox
Disc Three: 1. Don’t Let Go 2. That Lucky Old Sun > 3. Bright Side of the Road
What is it about Upstate New York Winter’s that make great music artists bring their multi-colored California concepts here to heat things up? Forty-one years ago today, Jerry Garcia Band came to be an act for the Lake Ontario sound at Laker Hall on SUNY Oswego campus February 17, 1980.
A then 37-year old Garcia had his second touring band outside the Grateful Dead since collaborating with Howard Wales on hooteroll?. His four piece ensemble consisted of John Kahn on Bass, David Ozzie Ahlers on Keyboards, and Johnny De Fonseca on drums. The band set up atop the cold brick Route 104 venue on the hill, overlooking Lake Ontario, for three hours of music played to around 2,000 people.
They certainly let Jerry’s influences play out in the performance with covers of Allen Toussaint, Marvin Gaye, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Jimmy Cliff, J.J Cale, The Beatles, and his own material with the Grateful Dead. Like a typical New York Winter, Syracuse Deadhead Vinny Randazzo remembers the drive to the Oswego show as “covered in snow and sound.” The group immediately stretches out for fifteen minutes to start the show on Toussaint’s “I’ll Take A Melody” to let you know “I understand why the old fisherman, sails along, someday he’ll be gone.” Perhaps it was a quick nod to the windy docks of the Great Lake that sat next to all. There’s some devil out there that’s for sure, which launched them into “Friend of the Devil,” a friend Jerry normally plays with. Just three days after Valentine’s Day and three songs into the performance, love for the faithful is shown on “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You).” The band then casts a line out to the crowd at shore, for a muddy version of “Catfish John.”
Jerry Garcia, Laker Hall, SUNY Oswego
The Grateful Dead anthem “Deal” comes up next, with Jerry reminding you of tours past: “ If I told you all that went down, it would burn off both of your ears!” There is a 4th Street in Oswego, and Jerry covers the waterside corner during his take on Dylan’s “Positively 4th St” singing, ” You see me on the street, you always act surprised, you say “How are you?,” “Good Luck” But you don’t mean it.”
They close the set with a rockabilly tribute to Elvis for “That’s Alright Mama.” Yea, that first set was more than alright for all in attendance… “any way you do.”
Lake Ontario Winter Melody: “The Sky was Grey with a Spec of Blue, Peek through a Hole in the Clouds, The Sun was Screaming “Hey You!”
After the set break, Elvis had not left the building. The quartet kicked off with the King’s version of “Money Honey,” that got everyone in GA hound-dogging back on the floor. During the set break the crowd certainly felt like they had been “Sitting Here in Limbo,” which is what the band dropped next. David Ozzie Ahlers brings you to Jimmy Cliff’s islands with a two part keyboard solo. Jerry reflects on an American working day for the the next track “Later in the evening when the sun is sinking low, all day I’ve Been waiting for the Whistle to Blow” on “Let It Rock.” Garcia lights up his delta licks on this Chuck Berry classic.
Up next is one of the greatest live improvisational segue ways in rock and roll history. On the famous tape you might recognize the “After Midnight —> Eleanor Rigby Jam—>After Midnight” jam that was only played in the beginning of that decade. This is one of Senor Garcia’s sweetest unplanned moments to be captured.
1980 Eleanor Rigby Jam in to After Midnight at Oswego
Jerry takes another stab at Dylan’s seasonal lyrics “Now the wintertime is coming, the windows are filled with frost, I went to tell everybody but I could not get across, well, I wanna be your lover baby, I don’t want to be your Boss” for “It Takes A Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry” Jerry’s Tiger guitar Quartet immediately melt the ice with the last song for “The Harder They Come.” “The Harder they Fall, One and All” to bring back the island vibe beats to close out the evening.
Jerry Garcia Band 1980 winter tour rolled through New York State from Oswego to The Palace Theater in Albany, The Landmark Theater in Syracuse, The Calderone Theater in Hempstead and SUNY Stonybrook. They came back to Laker Hall under new personnel one last time on December 11, 1983 with Melvin Seals. Jerry Garcia kept a solo band outside of The Grateful Dead for the next 15 years with Melvin Seals How Sweet It Is: Melvin Seals at The Westcott Theater who carries the JGB touring torch to this day.
In a 1981 interview someone asked Jerry Garcia “What are the virtues playing with your own band compared to the Grateful Dead?” Garcia responded “Its a real resonate consonance experience, its like harmonious, every bodies musical taste is similar to my own, ya know?, and our concept of what music should be, were an accord, so my band is playing the kind of music that I think of the way music is constructed , in terms of the roles and the instruments, The Grateful Dead is interesting because everyone has a different concept of what music is about, which creates a lot of friction and tension to it”
Jerry Garcia Band, February 17 1980, Laker Hall, Oswego, NY
Set 1: I’ll Take A Melody, Friend Of The Devil, How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) Catfish John, Deal, Positively 4th Street That’s All Right, Mama
Set 2: Money Honey, Sitting Here In Limbo, Let It Rock, After Midnight > Eleanor Rigby Jam > After Midnight, It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry, The Harder They Come
