“I have always considered myself a very lucky man” is how Philip Chapman Lesh’s autobiography, Searching For The Sound: My Life With The Grateful Dead begins. Lesh considered himself blessed with family, friends, and music, and he appreciated it all. This modesty is only the first surprise of many surprises one finds reviewing the legendary bassist’s life. For over thirty years he played bass for the Grateful Dead. He was a founding member and his talents made him a significant contributor to the success of the band. Talent, not luck, was the reason it happened.
Lesh was an essential part of the Dead’s gestalt. Their success truly was a direct result of Lesh and his bandmates working together. As solo artists, each member had only limited success. Each member’s projects rarely reached the level of the Dead’s high-caliber material. They definitely needed each other. While Lesh enjoyed being a part of his journey, he was not excited at being a representative of any movement, political or social. He was amused by the fans and appreciated the dedicated following, he always kept his focus on the music.
In the foreword to David Gans and Peter Simon’s book Playing in the Band, Lesh wrote, “Grateful Dead is more than music, but it has always been fundamentally music.” It might come as a surprise, but he put in the italicization. But then again, aside from the early days of the band when Lesh sported a headband, he never looked like his fans. Aside from the occasional tie-dye t-shirt, he usually sported lumberjack flannel or checked shirts. He looked more like a music professor Lesh than your average rock and roller. In fact, his music did not spring from the narrow confines of rock.
Lesh was an avid fan of classical music and prior to joining the Dead, played the trumpet. Along with his perfect pitch, he brought his enthusiasm for John Coltrane’s and Miles Davis’s improvisational jazz and added it to the “jug and folk blues” of Jerry Garcia’s band. Surprisingly, he was a bass-playing pioneer. In A Long Strange Trip, Dennis McNally wrote, “He’d listened to and loved the great jazz bass players like Scott LaFaro and Charlie Haden, but this instrument involved electricity, and that created something altogether special. His style was unique because he had almost no electric role models and essentially made it up from scratch.”
The blending and battling of Garcia’s guitar fireworks with Lesh’s bass runs were widely original and became the Dead’s unique sound. The improvisation between a lead bass and lead guitar featured prominently on many classic recordings and performances. Listen to the album Live/ Dead, which features “Dark Star”, “St. Stephen” and “The Eleven” (all Lesh co-writes), and delight in how each player gives each other space. This creates meditational moments that seem to stop time but then the music shifts and flows forward on a musical journey.
This was far from listless jam band noodling. McNally explained, “No rock band in that era or after would take the lessons of John Coltrane more to the soul of their playing than the Warlocks (aka The Grateful Dead).” Lesh’s penchant for experimental sounds is evident throughout his music. Whether the song was folk, blues, jazz, rock, or whatever, Lesh’s bold bass is evident.
Two songs that showcase Lesh’s talents are “Unbroken Chain” and “Box of Rain.” The former is a moody piece Lesh wrote with Robert Petersen and can be found on the From the Mars Hotel album. It has an airy swirling sound that works as a counterpoint to the heavy lyrics. In his book, The American Book of The Dead, Oliver Trajer reported that Lesh “found the song lacking and sadly it was not played” in concert for many years. Perhaps Lesh’s standards were sometimes too high.
“Box of Rain” met with Lesh’s approval and was played live consistently throughout the band’s long strange trip. It was written with Robert Hunter and is the leadoff track on the legendary American Beauty album.
Lesh’s moving vocal is one of the best he ever recorded. Trajer noted that “Box of Rain” is “upbeat yet cautious, clear yet mysterious.” Lesh’s delivery is especially poignant when he sings:
“But it’s just a box of rain/Or a ribbon for your hair
Such a long, long time to be gone/And a short time to be there.”
Like all proverbial good things that have their fleeting season, Lesh left us too soon in 2024. We should be glad we had him and his music for all those years. Yes, we are grateful.
-Vincent Maganzini
Photo: Phil Lesh (l) with Bob Weir, 2003 (Todd Wickersty via Wikimedia Commons)
A great bass player. And while he only wrote a few songs (“Pride of Cucamonga” is another), they were all high-caliber.
Yes! “Pride of Cucamonga” is another gem. Lesh definitely contributed as a writer. “Cumberland Blues” and “Alligator” are favorites of mine. Thanks