Hear Jerry Garcia Band Perform "I'll Take A Melody" From Berkley 1976 [Audio]

Jerry Garcia Band performs “I’ll Take A Melody” in Berkley, CA in the latest preview of the upcoming GarciaLive Volume 17: NorCal ’76 release. Out on Friday via Garcia Family Provisions, the 14-track offering hosts live cuts from three JGB concerts in Northern California in November 1976.

Tuesday’s single comes from the Grateful Dead guitarist’s side project’s show at Keystone in Berkley on November 7th. Taken from the first of the three shows featured on NorCal ’76—the others from November 12th and 13th—the Allen Toussaint original takes on a loose, airy feel. The breezy 15-minute telling takes its time in a slow waltz indicative of the musical evolution the Jerry Garcia Band was undergoing at the time.

This particular incarnation of JBG features Nicky Hopkins, John Kahn, and Ron Tutt along with Jerry’s Grateful Dead bandmates Keith and Donna Jean Godchaux. The recordings found on GarciaLive Volume 17 present a band in motion, as Garcia steers the ensemble away from the more freeform jazz leanings of the early ’70s and toward a more traditional rock n’ roll sound.

Also found on GarciaLive Volume 17 are fragments of two other shows recorded in Northern California in November 1976. In addition to selections from 11/7/76 at Keystone, the 14-track collection features cuts from November 12th at Freeborn Hall at the University of California at Davis as well as November 13th at the East Gym at Humboldt State University in Arcata. There is also a recording of “Mile High” that closes the album, the exact date and location of which is unknown but archivists have determined to be from around this time. All of the live recordings were captured by Betty Cantor-Jackson.

Scroll down to listen to Jerry Garcia Band perform “I’ll Take A Melody” at Keystone in Berkley, CA on November 7th, 1976. GarciaLive Volume 17: NorCal ’76 is now available for pre-order at Garcia Family Provisions ahead of its November 12th release. The 3-CD set or digital download also includes an essay by legendary Grateful Dead roadie and Jerry Garcia Band manager Steve Parish.

Jerry Garcia Band – “I’ll Take A Melody” (Allen Toussaint) – 11/7/76