Jerry Garcia Band [30th Anniversary] [5 LP]

Recorded live in 1990.
Personnel: Jerry Garcia (guitar, vocals); John Kahn (bass); Melvin Seals (keyboards); David Kemper (drums); Jackie Labranck.
The Jerry Garcia Band's focus was on covers of various Garcia faves (everything from the Beatles and Motown to gospel standards and Los Lobos), played in a jammed-to-the-hilt style of which he was master. Recorded in 1990 at San Francisco's Warfield Theatre, JERRY GARCIA BAND consists of two discs worth of the standards JGB busted out every night, played with a heated restraint. Among the things Garcia conveyed through JGB was his love for various musical traditions and lyrical voices; songwriters with a wide understanding of the roots and simple, heart-felt notions figure prominently. Of the four Bob Dylan songs here, only "Tangled Up In Blue" is embellished with the thrust and power at the heart of JGB. The other three are given soft, balladic readings to make the bard's words rise above the din.
Similarly, Bob Marley's "Stop That Train" may develop a quasi-reggae groove, but it is the song's spirituality that seems more the point. Allen Toussaint's "Get Out Of My Life Woman" is full of Melvin Seals' slinky organ moves, with Garcia's playing off that strut with exquisite New Orleans blues overtones. And Hunter/Garcia's "Deal" is a burning rock declaration whose kind can't be found elsewhere.