The Fearless Phil Lesh | 1940-2024

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[jameshowell]

Some of his playing on "The Eleven" around 68-69 was out of this world. He was one of THE best bassists ever.

[andrewptob]

Thanks for honoring the great Phil Lesh.

[AaronLS.]

What a wonderful way to honor a musician passing. This was great! Thank you!

[bob]

Well done. Im a bass player of over 60 years. I've been a fan of Phil from the first album on. So he was a huge early influence on me. Such a unique and inventive player. Brilliant stuff. And his tone is the best I've ever heard.

[Halcyon]

The thing to realize about Phil is that he was a classically trained musician and had a view of music that was very intellectual for a bass player, so he was thinking in terms of harmony and counterpoint that most rock musicians never consider (though maybe more than most people think.) Add all that to the fact that he wasn't afraid to take chances on stage and it leads to some of the most interesting and inventive music. A lot of people have the idea that the Dead were just a drug band but they were all very dedicated musicians who worked as hard as they could at perfecting their sound. I was listening to the Good Ol Grateful Dead podcast and on it there is an excerpt from Lesh and Garcia talking during the rehearsals for Mars Hotel. Lesh wrote "Unbroken Chain" and it took the band an ungodly amount of takes to get it right. At one point during rehearsals Lesh is explaining a progression to Garcia and Garcia says, "where's the fun in that?" Lesh says, "it's not supposed to be fun, it's supposed to be right." There's another video where he is coaching Garcia and Weir through the harmonies in "Candyman." I doubt the band would have acheived the musical prominence they did without Lesh coaching the others on theory not to mention his natural ear for the "groove."

[KhalDrogo]

Great video. I've never heard another bass player who sounds remotely close to Phil's style. He swung, he played behind, he played ahead, he played it straight he played it from any harmonic angle possible..he literally did it all. Some of my fave Phil moments are Music Never Stopped intro, what he plays behind Jerry's leads makes the hair on my arms stand up. Or what he played on King Solomans Marbles is another. We lost a legend but what a legacy he left us with the music. That Cornell Fire solo you ended with is some of the hottest playing they ever did, solid choice!

[gratefulhikes]

Without love in the dream it will never come true.

Phil had the love and made all of our dreams come true. Thank you brother. We love you and are grateful for your love.

Cornell is Cornell because of Phil. Thank you for showcasing it.

[tedonyszczak]

This is why I love music. It triggers in people something nothing else does. Thank you for this video.

[richardfiske]

I saw enjoy when a musical lover/musician gets the dead and here’s and feels what I did in 1972….now 52 years later I still feel moved by the spirit and creativity and soul they have brought forth….thanks Michael👍🙏🏻🙏🏻

[deadphishcheesespread]

Thanks for this. I've seen Phil a bunch of times and had some incredible experiences. He was the man. I will miss him greatly. RIP Phil Lesh (~);} I wanted to add everyone is going to say listen to Phil with the Q. Which was good, but check out Phil and Ryan Adams at The Fillmore Denver. Ryan had only played with Phil twice but it was incredible. Ryan was holding on for dear life. He ended up doing really good, I thought. It was an incredible show. One of the best. I think there are some vids on YT of it. The power went out the night before at The Fillmore so Phil and Ryan went next door to Sancho's Broken Arrow and played 10 songs and shot pool.

[darickbonebrake]

Hes my favorite musician. I sincerely appreciate this. Very well done.

[patriciab]

I love this thank you for showcasing the gloriousness of Phil's playing!

[JohnSecleter]

Phil was a special Gift and Blessing. Jerry said it best, "When Phil was ON, the Grateful Dead were ON." Crazy great inventive adventurer in music. Improvisational and Experimental to the maximum all days and always. Not a half baked note ever. Thank you Phil. Super Well Done !!!

[David-osfb]

Thanks for this video. Most of us that went to shows back then knew how important Phil was while the world generally didn’t understand. 103 shows for me between ‘80 and ‘95 and not one bad Phil night.

[ntutino]

This is the video I was looking for, the one that points out and explains the greatness of Phil Lesh. I’ve never seen Jerry live, but I seen plenty of Phil and Friends and when you’re at the show his playing is high up in the mix, different speakers are assigned to different strings, he often would say something in the microphone unheard to the audience, only to band and crew, calling key changes on the fly, segues, etc. I’ve yet to read Phil’s book - Searching for the Sound, I just ordered it on Amazon, I heard it’s a great read. Bill Kreutsmann’s book was fantastic. I can recommend that book truly

[mdh]

Thanks Michael. I needed this!! As a Dead fan since the early 70's I have loved Phil's playing and I will really miss him.

[mindleft-buddy]

Appreciate the video Mikey P…had never heard of you until this. Looked you up while listening to the start of it and I appreciate the extremely wide variety of modern music you comment and—based on the very tasteful and supremely informed takes you drop here in this one—it’s refreshing to have the perspective of someone outside of the GD Universe when talking about the absolute singular nature of Phil as an artist. You should be taken seriously in any musical discussion based solely on your opinion in here about Lesh being the most important cog in the GD machine.
While Cornell is a lot of hype by fans and scholars alike as being a show that is worth considering in the “Top 10” or something list of ones the band ever played, rather than the reality of it being anything more than just another brutally beautiful evening of GD mastery in May 77, the spotlight on Phil is a perfect place to shine on for an example of his prowess and totally original style.
Getting too verbose…that thing he is doing doing during that Scarlet, and which he did so often in 76-77 shows with that tone or pedal, has always sounded to me like he is snapping some Sacred Lysergic Rubberband…and it is glorious…if listened to with the right kind of “lenses” and proper amplification and setting it seems like all manner of colors would be blasting forth from it, even ones undiscovered as of this comment.
Subscribed! RIP PHIL…

[johnanderson]

Big thanks Michael for posting this!✌️

[chriswenzel]

Thank you. When I first heard he passed I went back to those Cornell `77 shows and listened to them as well. As a bass player they are examples of what you can truly do in a song and I feel like I pick up something new every time I listen to that show

[jaimescott]

Bass and drums always drives music. Mr.Lesh excelled at this to the point that it took two drummers to create balance. Needless to say, you could find me in the Phil Zone when I had the good fortune of attending their live performances