Phil Lesh Appreciation Society: Enter the Philzone...

[Rev J]

I remember reading an interview where Phil said seeing a picture of John Pattitucci on the inside cover of a Chick Corea Elektric Band disc inspired him to pick up a six string bass.

I also remember reading an interview with Frank Gambale where he said Jerry was his first guitar inspiration. Years later I read that Garcia almost drove off the road when he first heard Gambale playing with Chick. Almost like circular influence.

C/S,
Rev J

[oldleftybass]

[quote=spacebassed;13670740]
Phil w/ his Alembic modified Guild Starfire "The Godfather/Big Brown." Also pictured are his McIntosh 2300's and Fender Dual Showman stack (photo by Stephen Barncard)

The cab caught my eye. Here's the tiedye Courtenay made for me for my JBL cab:

[Dave Klausner]

Here's a shot of Phil in a different kind of zone (taken in Vegas before a Furthur show).

[TigerInATrance]

Originally Posted by Dave Klausner

Here's a shot of Phil in a different kind of zone (taken in Vegas before a Furthur show).

I got no chance of losin this time...

[sven kalmar]

"Looser" hehe

[spacebassed]

7 come 11, boys, I'll take your money home.


or



The wheel is turnin' ...

[sven kalmar]

"money money" pretty nice bassplaying on that too...

[spacebassed]

I think Money, Money might have been our first taste of Bobby cheese - definitely a guilty pleasure.


...and I picture Phil listening to this while he's playing slots:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvt9wjObDAQ

[Rev J]

Here's one of my favorite more modern tracks with Phil:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASuxILEGCyA

There is something beautifully surreal about hearing Dead vocal harmonies, and those Phil-isms in the bass on a Metallica song. It really reminds me what I love about how the Dead could do other people's songs and make them their own.

I loved the album There and Back I just feel like it's kind of sad that Phil almost never plays stuff off it live.

C/S,
Rev J

[spacebassed]

Originally Posted by Rev J

Here's one of my favorite more modern tracks with Phil:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASuxILEGCyA

There is something beautifully surreal about hearing Dead vocal harmonies, and those Phil-isms in the bass on a Metallica song. It really reminds me what I love about how the Dead could do other people's songs and make them their own.

I loved the album There and Back I just feel like it's kind of sad that Phil almost never plays stuff off it live.

C/S,
Rev J

I could've lived out my days without ever hearing the Dead cover Metallica. I felt the same way about the "Desperado" they did at the beginning of the 2nd set at Deer Creek in '04. I hated Warren in that band (I love him with David Allan Coe, Gov't Mule, The Allman's, and even Phil & Friends). Jimmy Herring, on the other hand, was perfect - TOO '02 was blazing! What I wouldn't give to have Jimmy back, I would've loved to see him and Scofield play together in P&F's. I did get to see Scofield's first two P&F's gigs in '05 - that Althea the first night blew the roof off. I would've liked to see Phil, Scofield, Herring, Medeski, and Jeff Sipe together - now that would be a band! I wish Phil would've kept Sipe around longer, I love his playing and Molo had gotten stale (very repetitive). I know that early on Phil had trouble hearing what Sipe was doing because he was doing a lot of intricate cymbal work and Phil couldn't hear it since his high frequency hearing is gone (he says that was his gift to Jerry ). He liked Molo because he played more on the meat of the kit.

And I liked TABA, "No More Do I" is a great tune. The Q played that stuff a lot back in '01 and '02.

[sven kalmar]

i seem to remember that phils first bass was a gibson eb...mudbucker..

[jcpassport1]

+1 for Jimmy Herring. First saw him with Jazz is Dead.
much more 'organic' and interesting to me than Warren.
Definitly a prominent part of The Q.

[MR PC]

Originally Posted by sven kalmar

i seem to remember that phils first bass was a gibson eb...mudbucker..

That's the root number of the solution.

[Popps]

Oh yeah........Put me in coach.... I'll take any number, Phil fan since the late '60's... Alembic player since '78...

[EMF]

Count me in. Phil has been a huge influence both as a bass player. amazing how he continues to improve as the years go by.

First show 1-11-79

[edwinhurwitz]

Originally Posted by spacebassed

I could've lived out my days without ever hearing the Dead cover Metallica. I felt the same way about the "Desperado" they did at the beginning of the 2nd set at Deer Creek in '04. I hated Warren in that band (I love him with David Allan Coe, Gov't Mule, The Allman's, and even Phil & Friends). Jimmy Herring, on the other hand, was perfect - TOO '02 was blazing! What I wouldn't give to have Jimmy back, I would've loved to see him and Scofield play together in P&F's. I did get to see Scofield's first two P&F's gigs in '05 - that Althea the first night blew the roof off. I would've liked to see Phil, Scofield, Herring, Medeski, and Jeff Sipe together - now that would be a band! I wish Phil would've kept Sipe around longer, I love his playing and Molo had gotten stale (very repetitive). I know that early on Phil had trouble hearing what Sipe was doing because he was doing a lot of intricate cymbal work and Phil couldn't hear it since his high frequency hearing is gone (he says that was his gift to Jerry ). He liked Molo because he played more on the meat of the kit.

And I liked TABA, "No More Do I" is a great tune. The Q played that stuff a lot back in '01 and '02.

I have to agree with most of this, especially your assessment of Warren. The original Gov't Mule was a force of nature on par with all the first generation power trios, and his ABB work his been a breath of fresh air, but his work with the GD related projects has not kept my interest. His listening process is different from the GD listening paradigm. I do like Molo and don't think he got old, but that's personal taste.

[Harpo61]

Phil has always been one of my all time Heroes sign me up.

[Mound of Sound]

Wow. How'd I miss this. Sign me up!

[sven kalmar]

holy moses how this stuff grows.Nice!!
yes i understand he stared out with a gibson EB and went to work on these scales..modular and pentatonic etc.. jerry did the same and got phil into it i guess. So with these intellects and souls it got real interesting. It was the bass that sucked me into the deads music in the first place..76 or something...spaced out times.

[spacebassed]

Originally Posted by edwinhurwitz

I have to agree with most of this, especially your assessment of Warren. The original Gov't Mule was a force of nature on par with all the first generation power trios, and his ABB work his been a breath of fresh air, but his work with the GD related projects has not kept my interest. His listening process is different from the GD listening paradigm. I do like Molo and don't think he got old, but that's personal taste.

Don't get me wrong, I like Molo, and he's a super nice guy, I just think that his playing became repetetive after around '04. He was almost like Warren in the sense that I could almost always tell what he was going to do in any given situation - kinda takes the fun out of it. If you listen to Molo in the late '90's then '05 and after it doesn't even sound like the same guy. I loved his playing early on. It happens to most players who have played the same material for years and years. It's honestly mind boggling how Phil and the remaining members of the Dead manage to keep it fresh. We also have to give him credit for getting Phil interested in playing again after Jerry's death. I was loving Sipe's playing at the beginning of '06, just would've prefered him to Molo at that point. I like Russo, he's a good fit.

I'm ok with some Warren in P&F's (although I think he's been overused), but don't want him anywhere near The Dead, He just doesn't fit well in that role. With P&F's he has another lead guitar player to work off of which makes it more palatable for me.

Another guy that was criminally underutilized in P&F's was Barry Sless (who I believe you worked with, Edwin), such a great, tasteful player. Jimmy and Barry had great chemistry the few shows they played together - The Joint, Vegas '05 was a monster, I wish there was a SBD (or even a HQ AUD) of that show. Barry and Scofield worked amazingly well together too. Frankly, Barry should be playing guitar for Furthur (although Barry doesn't sing, so that would be a problem). Another pairing I would liked to have seen is Kimock/Herring.