E Street Band saxophonist’s live collaboration with the Jerry Garcia Band is documented on a new archival release
The association wasn’t just musical. “Jerry and I were both single at that time, and Clarence suggested the three of us move in together and have a bachelor pad,” Weir recalled bemusedly. “Jerry and I almost went for it. It would’ve been a lot of fun, but I don’t think anyone would have survived. Jerry was in good shape, but we were doing a little drinking.”
During one concentrated period that fall, Clemons took the musical bond one step further. Starting at the Meadowlands Arena in New Jersey, Clemons joined the JGB for five straight gigs, ending with a show at the now-demolished Poplar Creek Music Theatre outside of Chicago. On April 24th, that latter show will be released as the Jerry Garcia Band’s marking the first time any of the Garcia-Clemons collaborations have been officially unveiled.
As Garcia biographer and Dead scholar Blair Jackson notes in the liner notes of the collection, Clemons sounds more at home with Garcia’s unit than the Dead.
That’s apparent on the album, which presents a typically eclectic range of covers of songs by Dylan , the Rolling Stones , Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn , the Band , and the Beatles , along with some blues , and Garcia and Robert Hunter originals like “Cats Under the Stars.” Leaping into that repertoire with Garcia and his band clearly drew out new sides of Clemons’ playing. That’s particularly true on Garcia and Robert Hunter’s “They Love Each Other,” first heard on Garcia’s. When the time comes for Clemons to step up, he starts with some slow, slinky R&B swagger before slowly loosening up; by the end of his spotlight, his tone is closer to free jazz, an approach rarely heard during his E Street Band tenure.
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