On Tuesday, audiences got another glimpse of the upcoming GarciaLive Volume 15 release featuring Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders‘ May 21st, 1971 performance at Keystone Korner with the eponymous “Keystone Korner Jam”.
The concert at the San Francisco venue saw the Grateful Dead guitarist and Saunders joined by drummer Bill Vitt to round out a trio. Though longtime Jerry Garcia Band bassist John Kahn was not in attendance, saxophonist Martin Fierro did pop in and out throughout the evening to add some texture.
The open-ended jam released on Tuesday came out of “I Was Made To Love Her” in the first set. For over 16-minutes, Garcia and Saunders get locked into the kind of cohesive grooves they developed in their decades of working together. Joined by Fierro, the song allows Garcia unfettered domain to explore his jazz influences.
Though the opening strum of chords may resemble the Dead’s “Bertha”, this song finds the quartet to getting off the beaten path fast. After about four minutes of Fierro driving the improvisation and ramping his sax up to a fever pitch, the whole group pulls back and allows Vitt to hit the rest button. Thus, Garcia and Saunders begin to lay the gentle building blocks back down one by one. Over the course of the next 10-minutes, the group goes enough avant garde improvisation to rival any “Dark Star”, only to eventually find themselves in The Band‘s “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” to close out the first set.
Listen to Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders’ “Keystone Korner Jam” from the upcoming GarciaLive 15 release of May 21st, 1971 at Keystone Korner. Click here to preorder the release from Garcia Family Provisions, available December 4th.
Jerry Garcia, Merl Saunders – “Keystone Korner Jam” – San Francisco, CA – 5/21/71
[Video: Jerry Garcia]