In The Beginning

It must have been written in the stars that Phil Lesh was destined to keep it weird from birth. Phil not only entered the world on the Ides of March—he was also born in the astrological phase of Pisces, as well as on the full moon. It’s not surprising to learn that people born on a full moon frequently possess a powerful, luminous presence, tend to be highly attuned to rhythm, and are off the charts creative. And in my personal opinion, weird in the best of ways.

Lesh, who holds the distinction as the Dead’s elder statesman by two years, unbelievably celebrates 81 trips around the sun this year. This is a particularly stunning gift, in light of his many serious health and immune challenges. Pre-pandemic, Phil was a constant fixture on both coasts and cities in-between. He plays an extraordinary amount of live music, consistently selling out every show. Imagine opening a major entertainment and culinary venue at age 71, when most folks are retiring, buying a motorhome, and traveling the country to see their grandchildren.

“That’s How It All Began”

Phil was born in Berkeley, to his musically attuned parents, Frank and Barbara Lesh, and received his dignified middle name ‘Chapman,’ in honor of his step-grandfather. Phil recalls one of his earliest musical memories, when at age 4, he found himself transfixed by the sounds of the New York Philharmonic playing Brahms’ First Symphony while visiting with his beloved grandmother, Bobbie Chapman. In a 1972 interview with Hank Harrison, Lesh recalls that his grandmother called him over to listen to the piece with her, and he was astounded, recalling, “…this fucking thing comes out of the radio and knocks my head off, and I’ve never been the same since”.

As a young kid, Lesh played the violin in Berkeley’s Young People’s Symphony Orchestra until at age 14, he traded in his violin for a trumpet. Despite having only a year of trumpet behind him, he soon achieved first-chair position in a semi-pro Berkeley orchestra. Throughout his teens and early adulthood, Lesh remained fascinated by the world of avant-garde classical and modern jazz, and was particularly intrigued by the multi-layered sounds of Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Excited by the prospect of studying music theory and harmonics, Phil enrolled in San Francisco State for one semester, followed by a stint at the College of San Mateo, where he became well-known for composing big band music, while continuing his position as first-chair trumpet.

With high hopes, in 1961, Phil transferred to University of California in Berkeley, only to become quickly frustrated by what he considered an unimaginative and pedestrian music department. Before dropping out in the following year, Phil fortuitously befriended astronomy and music student Tom Constanten, who would later become a Grateful Dead keyboardist from 1968-70. The two enrolled part-time at Mills College and took graduate courses in Composition under avant-garde Italian composer Luciano Berio.

Once Lesh began composing, he lost interest in playing the trumpet and began to focus more on composing music. In a 1971 conversation with author (and briefly, former roommate—and in an odd twist, also the father of Courtney Love) Hank Harrison, (see Courtney’s Insta exchange with John Mayer below) Lesh recalls, “The experience of playing in big bands and writing compositions for big bands was one turning point. After that I was no longer interested in playing trumpet. I was interested in composing. I wasn’t interested in playing instruments any more in a band where I was a part. I was interested in playing the whole band. From there it got heavier and heavier.” I find this last line to be remarkable in the sense that this was really where it all began for Phil as a conductor, which is what he continues to do to this day.

**John Mayer Instagram exchange w/ Courtney Love**

Meeting Garcia and Joining the Warlocks

Somewhere in the haze surrounding 1964, Lesh found himself out of his day job as a U.S. postal service driver after allowing his hair to reach collar length, as 23 year-old Jerry Garcia was gaining notoriety as a stunning bluegrass player and jack-of-all strings. Phil initially connected with Garcia one evening after Garcia performed at Kepler’s Bookstore in Palo Alto, and then again at a party in Menlo Park (Ken Kesey’s old stomping ground). He arranged to record and produce Jerry on an old reel-to-reel recorder for a 90 minute show he titled “The Long Black Veil and Other Ballads” at Berkeley station KPFA, where Lesh was interning as a music engineer.

After performing with an old-timey folk/blues/minstrel group called “Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions,” Jerry was encouraged by organist and blues-based vocalist Ron ‘Pigpen’ McKernan to form an electric rock band that they called the Warlocks. The band was comprised of a cherubic 18-year-old Bob Weir, 19-year-old drummer Bill Kreutzmann, and pre-Lesh bass player Dana Morgan, Jr., who, as the son of the music store where the jug band practiced—promised the band unfettered use of the equipment and instruments in the store in exchange for his inclusion.

Phil described his first exposure to the Warlocks in a Guitar Player magazine interview in 1977: “At the time, they weren’t quite to the point of playing out. They were just rehearsing at Dana Morgan’s, the local music store. Anyway, I mentioned to Jerry Garcia that I would like to learn the electric bass and maybe join a band…[and] three weeks later, I came down to hear a gig they were doing.” As Lesh later recounted in 2005 with Rolling Stone contributing writer David Hajdu, Garcia cornered him after watching him dance alone, high on acid, in front of the bandstand at an early Warlocks gig at Magoo’s Pizza Parlor in Menlo Park. Garcia informed Lesh, “Hey, man--you’re going to be the bass player in this band!”.

Phil enthusiastically agreed… neglecting to mention a small detail: he didn’t actually know how to play the bass!

Naturally, being a musical genius does have its benefits; Lesh, drawing on his training and talent in music theory and harmonics, quickly taught himself the electric bass, replaced Dana Morgan, Jr., and the dream began. Phil knew he was right where he needed to be.

Poster from Phil’s First Warlocks show, 6/18/65

Ladies and Gentlemen: Introducing The Grateful Dead!

The Warlocks became the Grateful Dead in 1965 after Lesh discovered that there was already an established band with the same name. Their new name, “Grateful Dead” didn’t appear in print until the Fillmore Auditorium Acid Test show on January 8, 1966, although the band attended an Acid Test at Ken Kesey’s home in Soquel on December 4, 1965, where the band set up, and managed to last five whole minutes before dissolving into the ether, exiting stage right, poste haste. As the unofficial house band of the Merry Pranksters Acid Tests, the Grateful Dead would continue to supply the scene with the psychedelic soundtrack for dance, adventure, and mayhem while having while having the most fun of their lives.

**1965: Acid test poster (paul Foster)**

Obviously, reams have been written about the band, during their three decades and approximately 2,350 shows playing as the Grateful Dead— from their psychedelic roots in 1965, to Jerry’s passing in 1995. Just check out the many excellent biographies by true insiders and Grateful Dead family, including Lesh’s, “Searching For The Sound”, Dennis McNally’s “A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of The Grateful Dead”, and Rosie McGee’s (Phil’s gf and unofficial photographer in the scene) “Dancing with the Dead: My Good Old Days with the Grateful Dead & the San Francisco Music Scene 1964-1974”, and Steve Parrish’s, “Home Before Daylight” to name a few.

I love the Grateful Dead, and will never tire of recounting my adventures, but today, Phil is in the spotlight.

They Love Each Other

Word on the street has it that Phil met Jill (nee’ Johnson) while she was a server at San Rafael breakfast joint Station Cafe, and the couple eventually married, and raised their beautiful sons Grahame and Brian. Both boys are musically gifted; Grahame’s wonderful band, Midnight North is actively touring, and just released their newest album, “There’s Always A Story”. Although Brian is no longer actively playing and touring, his son Levon (yes, named after Levon Helm) was born on Jan 10, 2014, and is Phil’s pride and joy, Levon can often be spotted wearing his adorable headphone/noise blockers at a show at Terrapin, or in Phil’s arms. It’s common knowledge now that the beloved Terrapin Crossroads may be going through significant changes in ownership, and its future is unknown, much to the dismay of the entire jamband community. Miracles happen, though, and it ain’t over till the skinny man says so.

Phil Lesh and his Huge Velvet Sledgehammer

In his autobiography, Searching for The Sound, Phil credits Jack Casady (from his days with Jefferson Airplane) and Jack Bruce (from Cream) as largely influencing his contemporary playing style. He also acknowledges his primary influences to be “European art music, experimental American orchestral composers such as Charles Ives, and the harmonic, melodic and timbral experimentation of improvised jazz”.

As Garcia once remarked, Lesh “plays the bass as though he invented the instrument and nobody ever played it before him, [and]…the required stuff is about one percent of what he plays”. ” (Jackson 2000: 261). Countless fans would most certainly agree that Phil plays complex polyphonic textures, as well as what I like to call “lead bass”, or as one fan suggests, dropping Phil bombs “like a huge velvet sledgehammer”. Rhythm guitarist Bob Weir observed that Lesh “can hear you thinking and makes sure he’s not supplying what you’re expecting” (Jackson 260).