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Jerry Garcia, A Legacy?

Unfortunately, many years have passed since Jerry Garcia engaged in the art of music making. I've never known of another electric guitarist who could incorporate without clear and cut demarcations the many multitudes of rock and roll, folk, jazz, blues, bluegrass, country, explorational real time composition, sustain induced psychedelic developments Be it partially safe to say also that I've yet to know of another electric guitarist whose playing was either loved or scorned to the extent that his was. Throughout my life as a Dead fan and follower of Jerry Garcia and of his various musical projects, I remember verbal battles with musicians who found JG's playing less enlightening than I and often my comments turned into vicious polemics defending the Grateful Dead' artistic integrity. Granted, JG did have many obvious musical hurdles during performances and didn't exhibit a typical so called pristine guitar playing technique but first and foremost consider that he played mainly rock and popular music (to make a point), on mainly an electric guitar, with a pick and 4 fingers, using electronic components on stages inside theaters, OK get real! Does Hiram Bullock posses the same technical polish as Julian Bream? The answer to that is a resounding no, neither did Jimi Hendrix and it's really of no consequence anyhow. What I very much loved about Jerry Garcia was that he placed musicality before entertainment and he took on a sense of risk, even danger, in order to help elevate the other playing musicians around him. Yes, Jerry Garcia's playing often ran hot and cold but when his playing ran hot, the rest of the Grateful Dead or Jerry Garcia Band would rise to a whole new level and when he ran cold, it had tenuous effect on the other participating musicians. I have to attribute Jerry Garcia's heightened level of ensemble cooperation to the way he listened intently with creative imagination, to his sensitive and tasteful playing, to his getting out of the way when the band needed space and to the degree of his vast musical knowledge that he gave away freely whenever the opportunity presented itself. From a subjective perspective while disregarding controversy, the music and persona of the Grateful Dead and of Jerry Garcia touched an enormous fan base which exhibited a degree of loyalty and dedication beyond compare. Many of the kids that I grew up with disliked the Grateful Dead and I would make the radical assumption that they still do. I don't mind bucking the trends and I'll even take a little pride in my prophetic wisdoms. How about you??
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bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,868 posts
 

Elitisim, probably guilty. I prefer quality, no apology offered. Snobbishness? Absolutely not. I love and listen to Hillbilly (I consider Hank Williams a genius) and Classical (J.S. Bach is the father of Western Music). That I consider Danny Gatton and Ry Cooder (amongst many, many others) great guitarists, and Jerry Garcia a mediocre one (and an abominably bad singer, as well as a mediocre songwriter) is not the result of snobbishness, any more than an owner of the hi-fi equipment discussed on this forum is an elitist because he owns any of it instead of a Bose system. Perhaps my standards of quality musicianship are higher than fans of Jerry’s. Is that elitism and/or snobbishness? If so, I’ll plead guilty to both, no problem. I have old friends/bandmates who like The Dead, and I even play one of their songs in a band I’m currently in. It’s a lot of fun, but it sure ain’t a great song.

I agree that musical comparisons can be apples-to-oranges. So, let’s compare apples to apples: Listen to Jerry playing acoustic guitar on Folk-type songs; then listen to, say, Tony Rice (already mentioned above). The comparison is ludicrous; Tony is a very, very good acoustic guitarist, Jerry is, simply, not. Jerry has had the shamelessness to make some recordings with his pal David Grisman, playing even banjo. Jerry is a terrible banjoist! Does me saying so make me an elitist, or snob? Why, because I appreciate the difference between elevated talent and mere modest competency (being charitable)?

That raymonda and his musician friends like the playing of Jerry Garcia means nothing to me, and proves nothing. There are a lot of guys in L.A. who still like hair bands---Guns ’n’ Roses, etc. Is Ray an elitist because he doesn’t (I feel safe in assuming he doesn’t ;-)? Is one who considers Miles Davis a very talented musician, but Kenny G not, an elitist or snob? Not that I’m equating Kenny G with Jerry Garcia, mind you! It’s fine to disagree about music (and many other things), but for one to impugn the character of another for having a different opinion from oneself is, itself, a form of snobbishness.

To "like" something is purely subjective. To call something (or someone) "good" can be a different matter, one involving criteria, not mere opinion. I like lots of music and/or music makers I wouldn’t declare or defend as being "good". To like Jerry Garcia and/or The Grateful Dead is fine by me; to say Jerry Garcia is a great guitarist is, for me, a different matter. Some listeners use technical proficiency as their yardstick for determining quality and/or talent, others "musicality" ( now THERE’S an elistist term). But in the end, it’s all about taste (or the lack thereof ;-), isn’t it?

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randy-11
1,913 posts
 
I like the way he would pick out these high, sparing notes above all the other instruments
raymonda
855 posts
 
To say Jerry could not write a song is a joke and obviously tells me a lot about your taste in music.

"If you plant ice you harvest wind" RH
jond's avatar
jond
5,875 posts
 
St Stephen
Uncle John’s Band
Ripple


On those three songs alone Jerry Garcia (and Robert Hunter) is a musical genius. I can cite countless other examples but those three songs are monumental.
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