Grateful Jazz


Grateful Jazz is the fourth album by the instrumental Grateful Dead cover band Jazz [Is Dead (band)|Jazz Is Dead]. The original tracks were recorded in 2004 in Hartford, Connecticut, and were then set aside. In anticipation of the fiftieth anniversary of the Grateful Dead, guitarist Jeff Pevar dug up the recordings, added overdubs by a number of guest musicians, and released them on CD in 2015 via his Pet Peev Music. The album features Pevar along with keyboard player T. Lavitz, bassist David Livolsi, and drummer Rod Morgenstein, and is dedicated to the memory of T. Lavitz.

Reception

In a review for Relix, Jeff Tamarkin called the album "JID's magnum opus," and wrote: "'Dark Star,' saved for last, is unlike any the Dead ever played: equally experimental and sonically adventurous, but owing as much to classic '70s fusion as to anything that ever came out of Kesey's place. Inspired stuff, this."
Writing for The Working Musician, Roger Zee commented: "The band reanimates The Dead with a broad palette of colors and styles... The pedigrees of the players shine through... These superlative musicians put new skin on the bones of The Dead and elevate it to a 'Higher Love!'"
Bob Girouard, writing for Modern Drummer, praised Morgenstein's playing on the album, calling it a "showcase for versatility," and stating that it finds him "alternately playing with sensitivity and ferocity, maximizing his capabilities rhythmically and melodically, and always walking the delicate line of respecting tradition and exploring boldly."

Track listing

  1. "Cumberland Blues" – 3:38
  2. "Sugar Magnolia" – 5:56
  3. "Jack Straw" – 9:12
  4. "Truckin'" – 8:13
  5. "Attics of my Life" – 9:21
  6. "Friend of the Devil" – 2:26
  7. "Uncle John's Band" – 7:02
  8. "Mr. Charlie/One More [Saturday Night (song)|One More Saturday Night]" – 5:55
  9. "Dark Star" – 13:24

    Personnel