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    • Tributes are pouring in from Grateful Dead bandmates
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    Tributes are pouring in from Grateful Dead bandmates

    Kathleen William Posted on

    Bassist Phil Lesh, who died on October 25, brought his jazz knowledge to the Grateful Dead. Overall, this led to an improvisational style that expanded their music and created a lasting legacy.

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    Surviving members of the Grateful Dead, as well as other musicians and fans, are paying tribute to Phil Lesh, one of the band's founding members, who died Friday at age 84.

    An innovative bassist whose jazz background strengthened his improvisational skills, Lesh helped form the Grateful Dead by befriending banjo player and guitarist Jerry Garcia and convincing him to make a recording for a folk music radio show he devised.

    When the musicians who later formed the Grateful Dead gathered in the Bay Area, the focus shifted from jug band music to rock music. At Lesh's home they decided to change the band's name from Warlocks to Grateful Dead.

    “At first I thought, OK, we'll do it for five years and then we'll take the money and run. “It turned out to be life,” Lesh is quoted as saying in “Playing in the Band: An Oral and Visual Portrait of the Grateful Dead” by David Gans and Peter Simon. “I remember saying to the boys, 'You know, this could be art!' And they laughed because they already knew.

    “A legacy of music and love”: Phil Lesh, bassist and founding member of the Grateful Dead, has died

    Bob Weir on the death of Phil Lesh

    Lesh, who also composed jazz and learned bass guitar to join the Grateful Dead, turned the band to the music of John Coltrane early in the band's formation.

    I then “developed an approach to playing the guitar based on that. This happened because Phil brought the Coltrane Quartet to my attention,” Grateful Dead co-founder Bob Weir wrote on Instagram, Facebook and X.

    “Early on he also introduced me (and us) to the wonders of modern classical music, its textures and developments, which we soon sought to incorporate into our offering,” Weir wrote. “It was all new to people’s ears. Igor Stravinsky's work wasn't news to me at the time, but what he did and how he did it was a constant topic of discussion for Phil and I – and boy, did I ever grow?”

    “Our conversation and interaction will last at least until the end of my days,” he wrote.

    Drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart on Lesh's legacy

    Bill Kreutzmann, the founding drummer of the Grateful Dead, also credited Lesh, who played violin and then trumpet as a teenager, with his musical development in a post on Instagram. “Phil introduced me to John Coltrane. In the early days of our friendship, he wasn't just like a brother to me – he was like an older brother. A roommate. A bandmate. A mentor,” he posted.

    “Phil Lesh changed my life. “There are only a few people you meet in your life who are special and important and who help you grow both spiritually and musically,” said Mickey Hart, who joined the Grateful Dead as second drummer in 1967, in a statement Instagram released a statement.

    Lesh was “an improvisationalist” who “taught me and all of us something,” Hart wrote. “Phil was larger than life, standing in the middle of the band and in my ears, filling my brain with waves of bass. Over the years, we’ve all been on the third rail together, creating something that can’t be put into words.”

    The official social media accounts for Jerry Garcia, who died in 1995, remembered Lesh and that his “life's work is a beacon for all humanity and will continue to guide countless generations of musicians into the backbone of the beat.” There is none Words to fully describe it express the impact he made with his music and his incredible spirit.

    Phish: Some memories of Phil Lesh

    Trey Anastasio of Phish, who joined the Grateful Dead on guitar after Garcia's death in 1996 for the band's final performances in 2015, is considered a formative influence.

    “He changed the way I thought about music as a teenager,” Anastasio posted on Instagram. “I have countless memories of standing in awe listening to his sinuous, eloquent bass lines blending seamlessly with the guitars of Jerry and Bobby, the keys of Brent Mydland, and the thundering drums of Billy and Mickey. I’m so grateful for these beautiful memories.”

    Anastasio, who also occasionally teamed up with Lesh in the bassist's Dead offshoot band Phil Lesh & Friends, added: “When I first played with Phil in 1999, I discovered that he was not only an amazing musician, but also a truly was a friendly and wonderful person. I appreciate him very much.” the memories of playing with him, eating and laughing together, visiting his home and getting to know him as a friend.

    Lesh had “a profound impact on all of us,” said Phish bassist Mike Gordon in a post on Beautiful and Unparalleled.

    During conversations with Lesh, Gordon said the late musician expected the Grateful Dead's music to last “for centuries,” he posted. “I believe Phil’s contribution to this legacy will endure and inspire generations to come. We will remember him and his influence will live on in all of us.”

    At the band's Friday night performance in Albany, New York, Phish opened their concert with “Box of Rain,” the best-known Grateful Dead song, on which Lesh took lead vocals. He co-wrote the song with lyricist Robert Hunter.

    Phil Lesh and the Grateful Dead are still honored

    The Kennedy Center, which named the Grateful Dead among its Kennedy Center honorees this year, posted on X, Facebook and Instagram that “Lesh will be remembered as a true musical pioneer for his experimental and unconventional style.”

    The Grateful Dead will also be honored as the 2025 MusiCares Person of the Year in January 2025 at a ceremony scheduled to take place before the Grammys.

    “As a legendary bassist and founding member of the Grateful Dead, Phil’s distinctive contributions to music, advocacy and philanthropy leave a lasting impression,” MusiCares, the founding arm of the Recording Academy, said in a post on social media.

    In a note signed by Weir, Kreutzmann and Hart and posted on The Grateful Dead's official accounts on Facebook, X and Instagram, fans were encouraged to listen to the Grateful Dead's music as an ongoing tribute to Lesh.

    “In a note from the Phil Zone, you could hear and feel the world being born,” the post reads. “His bass flowed like a river. He went where the muse led him. He was an explorer of inner and outer space who happened to play bass. He was a circumnavigator through previously unknown musical worlds. And more.”

    Phil Lesh on the relevance of Deadheads and The Grateful Dead

    Lesh gave a nod to Deadheads in his introduction to the book “Playing in the Band,” writing, “When the Grateful Dead is.” happeningit happens to everyone present, the band and the audience. So in a way we are all play in the band. I see it as a metaphor for humanity: didn't Ben Franklin say something about hanging together or hanging apart? Grateful Dead is more than music, but at its heart it has always been music.”

    Discussing the band's legacy, Lesh said he hopes the band's music inspires “a certain open-mindedness among musicians, a willingness to take risks, a willingness to experiment, a willingness to juxtapose different elements.”

    Contributors: Marco della Cava and Melissa Ruggieri.

    Follow Mike Snider on X and Threads: @mikesnider & Mikegsnider.

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    Kathleen William
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