Phil Lesh
Phil Lesh
Background information
Birth name	Phillip Chapman Lesh
Born	(1940-03-15) March 15, 1940 (age 72) Berkeley, California, USA
Origin	Berkeley, CA
Genres	Psychedelic rock, rock, folk rock, country rock, jam
Occupations	Musician
Instruments	Bass guitar
Years active	1948–present
Labels	Columbia
Associated acts	Grateful Dead (1965-1995) The Other Ones (1998, 2002) Phil Lesh and Friends (1999-present) The Dead (2003-2009) Furthur (2009-present)
Website	www.phillesh.net

Phillip Chapman Lesh (born March 15, 1940 in Berkeley, California) is a musician and a founding member of the Grateful Dead, with whom he played bass guitar throughout their 30-year career.

After the band's disbanding in 1995, Lesh continued the tradition of Grateful Dead family music with side project Phil Lesh and Friends, which paid homage to the Dead's music by playing their originals, common covers, and the songs of the members of his band. Phil & Friends helped keep a legitimate entity for the band's music to continue but have been on hiatus since 2008. Recently, Lesh has opened a music venue called Terrapin Crossroads, and has been performing with Furthur alongside former Grateful Dead bandmate Bob Weir.

Musical background[link]

Lesh started out as a violin player. In high school he switched to trumpet (A snippet of tape of Lesh on trumpet in college can be heard on "Born Cross-Eyed" from the Grateful Dead's 1968 release Anthem of the Sun.). Studying under Bob Hansen, he had a keen interest in avant-garde classical music and free jazz; he also studied under the Italian modernist Luciano Berio at Mills College (classmates included minimalist composer Steve Reich, and future Dead keyboardist Tom Constanten). While still a college student he met then-bluegrass banjo player Jerry Garcia. Despite antipodal musical interests, they formed a friendship and eventually Lesh was talked into becoming the bass guitarist for Garcia's new rock group, then known as the Warlocks. According to Lesh, the first song he rehearsed with the band was "I Know You Rider". He joined them for their third or fourth gig (memories vary) and stayed until the end. Lesh noticed that another group had made a record under the name Warlocks when he found their single on Columbia Records at a record store [Phil Lesh/Searching For The Sound, pg. 61]. That little-known band would later become The Velvet Underground.

Lesh had never played bass before joining the band, which meant he learned "on the job", but it also meant he had no preconceived attitudes about the instrument's traditional "rhythm section" role. Indeed, he has said that his playing style was influenced more by Bach counterpoint than by rock or soul bass players (although one can also hear the fluidity and power of a jazz bassist such as Charles Mingus or Jimmy Garrison in Lesh's work, along with stylistic allusions to fellow San Francisco psychedelic-era bassist Jack Casady).^[1]

Music[link]

Phil Lesh with Tooloos at the Keystone Berkeley; December 19, 1976 Photo: David Gans

Lesh, along with other musicians that include James Jamerson, Paul McCartney, John Entwistle, Roger Waters, Brian Wilson, Jack Bruce, and Jack Casady, was an innovator in the new role that the electric bass developed during the mid-1960s. These players adopted a more melodic, contrapuntal approach to the instrument; before this, bass players in rock had generally played a conventional timekeeping role within the beat of the song, and within (or underpinning) the song's harmonic or chord structure. While not abandoning these aspects, Lesh took his own improvised excursions during a song or instrumental. This was a characteristic aspect of the so-called San Francisco Sound in the new rock music. In many Dead jams, Lesh's bass is, in essence, as much a lead instrument as Garcia's guitar.

Lesh was not a prolific composer or singer with the Grateful Dead, although some of the songs he did contribute—"New Potato Caboose", "Box of Rain", "Unbroken Chain", and "Pride of Cucamonga"—are among the best-known in the band's repertoire. Lesh's high tenor voice contributed to the Grateful Dead's four-part harmony sections in their group vocals in the early days of the band, until he relinquished singing high parts to Donna Godchaux. In the 1980s, he resumed singing, but as a baritone. His interest in avant-garde music was a crucial influence on the Dead.

In 1994, he was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Grateful Dead.^[2]

Post-Dead[link]

After the disbanding of the Grateful Dead, Lesh continued to play with its offshoots The Other Ones and The Dead, as well as performing with his own band, Phil Lesh and Friends.^[3] One memorable tour paired him with Bob Dylan.

Additionally, Lesh and his wife Jill administer their charitable organization, the Unbroken Chain Foundation. The couple have two children together, Grahame and Brian. Both Grahame and Brian follow in their father's musical footsteps. The three frequently play together both publicly and privately, for example in an annual benefit concert grouping known as Philharmonia, dating to 1997, most recently on December 18, 2011 at a Christmas gig including Bob Weir and Jackie Greene at the Tenderloin Middle School cafeteria attended by 250 people.^[4]

In 1998 Lesh underwent a liver transplant as a result of chronic hepatitis C infection; since then, he has become an outspoken advocate for organ donor programs and when performing regularly encourages members of the audience to become organ donors (tracks identified as the "donor rap" on the live recordings of his various performances).

In April, 2005, Lesh's book Searching for the Sound: My Life with the Grateful Dead (ISBN 0-316-00998-9) was published. The book takes its name from the lyrics of a Grateful Dead song entitled "Unbroken Chain," from their album From the Mars Hotel. "Unbroken Chain" is one of the few songs Lesh sings. This is the only book about the Grateful Dead written by a member of the band.

On October 26, 2006, Lesh released a statement on his official website, revealing that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer — the disease that killed his father — and would be undergoing an operation in December 2006 to have it removed. On December 7, 2006, Lesh released a statement stating that he had undergone prostate surgery with the cancer being removed.

In March 2008, Phil Lesh did a guest voice on the Comedy Central series Lil' Bush on the second season episode "Big Pharm".

In 2009, Lesh went back on tour with the remaining members of The Grateful Dead and called it The Reunion Tour. Following the 2009 summer tour Lesh proceeded to found a new band with Bob Weir named Furthur, which debuted in September 2009.^[5]

Phil Lesh & Friends has recently scheduled a short run of shows for 2012, starting with the Warren Haynes Christmas Jam.^[6]

Phil Lesh founded a music venue called Terrapin Crossroads, in San Rafael, California. The venue will officially open on March 17, 2012, with the first of a run of twelve concerts by Phil Lesh and Friends.^[7][8]

See also[link]

Notes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Phil Lesh and Friends official website
• Terrapin Crossroads - Phil Lesh's new music and dining venue in San Rafael, CA (Marin County)