The Guardian: Phil Lesh Obituary

Bassist, songwriter and founding member of the Grateful Dead

It is significant that Phil Lesh, who has died aged 84, claimed that one of his earliest memories was of being stunned by hearing Brahms’s Symphony No 1. Lesh became renowned as the bassist with the Grateful Dead, but his classical training and wide-ranging musical tastes ensured that his playing stretched far beyond the traditional narrow confines of the bass guitar in rock music.

The Grateful Dead, formed in San Francisco in 1965, pioneered their own brand of improvisational music, and Lesh’s playing was imaginative enough to enable them to roam freely from rock, blues and country through sprawling jams. Even their most ardent fans acknowledged that their concerts could be hit-and-miss affairs, as the band waited for inspiration. But when it did, the results were unforgettable.

Their live performances are preserved in numerous official recordings and on countless bootleg tapes, but Live/Dead (1969) and the box-set So Many Roads (1965-1995) offer examples of the band stretching out at length, with Lesh’s extended introduction to Dark Star on the former a trademark moment. His eloquent, contrapuntal basslines were as distinctive and vital to the band’s sound as Jerry Garcia’s lead guitar.

Lesh helped write several of the Dead’s best known songs. His most personal piece is Box of Rain (from the 1970 album American Beauty), a melancholy ode to his dying father on which he sang lead vocal, with lyrics by Robert Hunter. But he also scored songwriting credits on the Dead’s on-the-road odyssey Truckin’ and Cumberland Blues.

He co-wrote and sang on Unbroken Chain and Pride of Cucamonga from the album From the Mars Hotel (1974), put a funk-like stamp on Passenger from Terrapin Station (1977), and was one of the masterminds behind St Stephen, an early favourite at Grateful Dead concerts.

Read full obituary 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/oct/27/phil-lesh-obituary

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