Fantasy Records, a division of Concord Bicycle Music, is pleased to announce the vinyl edition of the acclaimed MERL SAUNDERS/JERRY GARCIA Keystone Companions: The Complete 1973 Fantasy Recordings, out October 28th. Recorded live on July 10th and 11th, 1973 at the Keystone club in Berkeley, California, the 24 tracks on this 180-gram, 6-LP collection beautifully capture the magical musical friendship of keyboardist Merl Saunders and Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia. An accompanying booklet includes never-before-seen photos new to this edition, plus updated liner notes by Grateful Dead expert David Gans. A collectible poster will round out the package.
Watch the promo video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoxdO7GDiBg
Gans recently conducted an in-depth interview with the shows' drummer Bill Vitt, the last musician from this collection that is alive today. The special begins airing Monday,
October 17 and runs throughout the week (see all airtimes below). In a 2012 interview about the
Keystone recordings, Vitt said, "I can't believe the quality. I haven't listened to that stuff for 30 years. I was really amazed at the quality. Whoever remastered it, everything was really nice. I was very impressed. I was doing so much work back then that I never got a chance to really listen to what I did. That's playing with a lot of different bands and recording with different bands, I just didn't have time."
The five-year association of San Francisco-born keyboardist Merl Saunders and guitarist-vocalist
Jerry Garcia was fruitful for both musicians, as well as for fans who witnessed their now-legendary performances at clubs in the Bay Area. It made the venerable jazz organist and pianist an icon in the world of rock, and it opened up new avenues of improvisation for the innovative rock guitar player. Saunders had been writing and performing in New York before returning to the West Coast, where he began doing session work with Garcia, already at the helm of one of the world's most popular rock bands, the Grateful Dead. By December 1970, a weekly jam session featuring Saunders, Garcia, bassist John Kahn, and drummer Bill Vitt had become a weekly gig at San Francisco's Matrix.
Originally released as Live at
Keystone in 1973, the double LP was recorded by Grateful Dead associates Betty Cantor-Jackson and Rex Jackson, with all four artists credited as producers. Additional material was released as Live at Keystone,
Volumes 1 & 2 in 1988.
Keystone Companions: The
Complete 1973
Fantasy Recordings assembles the original recordings--remastered--and presented in chronological order - allowing fans to experience the two shows exactly as they were performed. The repertoire spans blues, rockabilly, jazz, funk, Broadway, Motown, two
Bob Dylan songs, and Jimmy Cliff's immortal "The Harder They Come." Some songs appear twice, providing the opportunity to hear how the band kept it loose and fresh. As Gans writes in his liner notes, "This music is as exciting and satisfying 40 years later as it was on the day it was made."
In his extensive liner notes, Gans underscores how important it was for Garcia to make music outside of the confines Grateful Dead in this fruitful time period:
"1973 was a peak year for Garcia. The Grateful Dead busted out half a dozen great new songs at their first gig of the year and used them as vehicles to drive their explorations of new musical spaces; 'Old and in the Way' sprang up in West Marin, eventually yielding up a record that remained the best-selling bluegrass album for many years; and in the clubs of San Francisco, Marin County, and the East Bay, his collaboration with Merl Saunders opened Jerry's musical world up even farther...Garcia was already a major figure in the musical counterculture in his role as the lead guitarist of the Grateful Dead, so he kept this band low-key-so much so that it never really even had a name (it was referred to as 'The Group' at times, but the Live at the
Keystone album just listed the names of the four players). 'I couldn't take the pressure of being a double celebrity,' he told [Blair] Jackson. 'It's a drag just being it once.'"
The 2012 compact disc edition of
Keystone Companions: The
Complete 1973
Fantasy Recordings was embraced by both fans and critics alike. Rolling Stone gave the collection four out of five stars, proclaiming, "What's most remarkable about this [set] is the range...There are no rules-just four luminaries testing their own boundaries." Relix called the box "compelling," adding that, "The spacious, remastered sound brings out the chemistry of the two main players as well as the interplay of the rhythm section."
Here's the full schedule for the GANS/VITT interview on Sirius/XM:
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Monday, 10/17
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4:00 PM Eastern
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Tuesday, 10/18
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1:00 AM Eastern
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Tuesday, 10/18
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9:00 AM Eastern
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Wednesday, 10/19
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5:00 PM Eastern
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Thursday, 10/20
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5:00 AM Eastern
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Thursday, 10/20
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11:59 PM Eastern
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