Greatful Dead Keyboardists

With all Due respect to Jerry and fans I think too much of the weight of the evolution of the Deads sound is placed on Jerry and his gear. One of the things I notice was how their sound changed with the Keyboard chair.

If you listen to the self titled first album with Pigpen it is mostly Psychadelic pop and Blues numbers. But if you listen to Anthem of the Sun with Tom Constanten on Keys there's more of an avant-garde classical ala Stockhausen type influence and is essentially a musique concrete piece. There is also more unusual keyboard textures on it such as prepared Piano and Harpsichord. This continued through Axomoxoa. After TC left they stripped down and did more country and folk Material. Sadly not much exists of Ned Lagins contributions. I read in one of his fits Garcia relegated Lagins bits of The Greatful Dead Movie to the cutting room floor.

When Keith and Donna joined (look even Donna admits that she sang out of tune). Keith was coming from a Jazz background so their music became almost fusion with vocals especially on tunes like "Eyes of the World", "Slipknot/Help is on the Way", and "Let it Grow."

I'm not terribly familiar with the later stuff besides "In the Dark" (Hey I'm only 34). But this seems to be their real pop period as far as GD can get. But I think it is funny that In the Dark seems to be most deadheads least favorite album but is Robert Hunters favorite.

Peace Out,
Rev J

 

Wow. Thanks man for sharing this with me.

 

I keep going back and forth with which i think is my favorite Grateful Dead period for a long time it was Workingman's Dead, but in the past 6 months or so I came to realize it was the self titled Album. mmmm it's soo juicy.

 

While I never tried to break down the Deads music quite like that, I do agree with you. Each keyboard player brought something special and unique to the table that kind of set the band in a new direction and sometimes in a refreshing way. I will say that Brent is my favorite, only because I was fortunate enough to see him playing in the band alot. I attended his last show and you could tell something was up. Brent was totally on fire, never heard anything like it. He absolutely stole the show, I was amazed, but you can tell he had super powers that night.:deadxmas:

 

Actually I was thinking about it and this is more a whole band thing though. I think it was the late '80's early '90's when the whole group added MIDI synthesis to their arsenals and you can hear more synth horns especially from Brent and Jerry.

 

my favorite dead keyboard player is brent. he was the best singer of the band IMO

 

Brent is a great singer. At least, I mean, it adds a lot of dynamics to the vocals. May not be a good front voice, but sure sounds good as the echo.

 

I do like Brents gravellyness.

 

haha preach on reverand

 

(in black Bouthern Baptist tones somewhere between Brent and James Brown):
Can I (uh) get and AMEN (uh)

 

First thing that comes to mind is Brent singing "Far from me" one of my favorites, off the top of my head but if I thought about it theres lots others.

 

amen!!

 

Just for shits and giggles I am listening to Lived Dead and Without a Net back to back. I am totally digging on how during some of the jams Brent plays Garcias lines back at him. Also (and I mean this as a compliment) I dig Brents imperfections. All of the synths have that perfectly in tune sound that for example a Piano never has and against that you have Brent sounding gravelly, a little strained, and even slightly out of tune. I know that sounds like an insult but I mean that as a compliment. As a musician and aspiring producer I've come to the conclusion there is no such thing as a bad singer just inappropriate material. For example I wouldn't want to hear Bob Dylan singing Ave Maria. I've got to take a break "Eyes of the World" is on
Peace Out,
Rev J

 

pigpen does it for me... although, not so much for his keys as much as his harp/vocals. that being said, i prefer mydland slightly over godcheaux. at any rate, i can't imagine what the dead would sound like minus key accompaniment

 

I also can't help but wonder what they would've sounded like if they hired T. Lavitz (Dixie Dregs, Jefferson Starship, Widespread Panic, Jazz is Dead) on keys. I read somewhere they almost did but because T. doesn't sing they declined.
Peace Out,
Rev J

 

Yeah, Jerry actually said once that he doesn't want to be seen as the leader or most important one in the group. He among the others all looked as equal. It was just the media that perceived Jerry to be the leader of the group.

 

Oh man I love all of the keyboardists who played with the dead so much, but I know what you mean by their sound changing as a result...pigpen is very psychedelic & bluesy, constanten is very avant-garde, keith is jazz, brent is...well, a little of everything...i can get down with some welnick too, but to be honest, sometimes bruce's playing in the 90s gets to me a bit, its super super dense...

one of my favorite things though is hearing pigpen and keith together on the Europe 72 tour...classic