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LuckyCharms

(22,205 posts)
Mon Feb 9, 2026, 01:57 PM 20 hrs ago

Were The Grateful Dead a jazz band? [View all]

Phil Lesh (Grateful Dead bass guitarist) talks about the influences of Miles Davis and John Coltrane:

"The basic inspiration for The Grateful Dead was the Miles Davis Quartet with Coltrane or Trane's quartet from the early Sixties. So that was pretty much the inspiration for the way we approach our music."

Miles Davis on Jerry Garcia:

So it was through Bill Graham that I met the Grateful Dead. Jerry Garcia, their guitar player, and I hit it off great, talking about music - what they liked and what I liked - and I think we all learned something, grew some. Jerry Garcia loved jazz, and I found out that he loved my music and had been listening to it for a long time. He loved other jazz musicians, too, like Ornette Coleman and Bill Evans.”
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LuckyCharms: I've always heard The Grateful dead as predominantly a jazz band, with rock, R&B, folk, classical, Motown and bluegrass influences.

Below is some audio I found which displays pretty much all of these styles rolled into one band, and I don't believe there will be another musical collaboration like the Grateful Dead ever again.

This is a compilation of the Grateful Dead playing various iterations of "Feeling Groovy" and "Tighten Up" from the late 60s and early 70s. Some amazing and musically complicated interpretations in here...something nice to put on and give a good listen to as you try to discern each individual instrument. I hear a lot of Miles Davis and John Coltrane influenced themes in here...not directly, but stylistically.









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Were The Grateful Dead a jazz band? [View all] LuckyCharms 20 hrs ago OP
No, but they were one of the first Jam Bands justaprogressive 20 hrs ago #1
In my humble opinion, yes. Daigan 20 hrs ago #2
Saw them perform in Eugene, Oregon Zambero 19 hrs ago #12
You know what Grateful Dead fans say when they run out of weed... EYESORE 9001 20 hrs ago #3
I could never place... 2naSalit 20 hrs ago #4
Definitely a jazz influence along with the blues and bluegrass Quiet Em 20 hrs ago #5
Phil's background was Jazz and Classical. They would not have been the band they became without him. Lochloosa 19 hrs ago #6
Agree. "When Phil was on, the band was on". LuckyCharms 19 hrs ago #7
I saw a couple of Phil and Friends shows after Jerry's passing. They were Dead Shows.... Lochloosa 19 hrs ago #9
Absolutely No ProfessorGAC 19 hrs ago #8
Have a listen to this, Professor... LuckyCharms 19 hrs ago #11
Psychedelic Dixieland Zambero 19 hrs ago #10
Psychedelic Dixieland. What a great description 👌 Lochloosa 18 hrs ago #13
Eyes of the World with Branford Marsalis 3/29/90 quaint 17 hrs ago #14
+1 LuckyCharms 17 hrs ago #15
My answer to the question would be NO. chouchou 15 hrs ago #16
Well... LuckyCharms 13 hrs ago #17
No big deal. But, when I listened to the Dead, I recognized licks and chord spacings.. chouchou 12 hrs ago #18
You're making me wish that I was more intelligent in music theory... LuckyCharms 12 hrs ago #19
Who knows. In another quantum universe, we're on stage six-nights-a-week! chouchou 10 hrs ago #20
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