Grateful Dead with Keith 

The period of October 1971 through February 1979, the Grateful Dead featured Keith Godchaux on keyboards.  These years featured some out of this world's greatest guitar and piano interchanges.  Especially noteworthy is their pre-retirement days, October 1974, when Keith played primarily an acoustic piano.  

Keith could pound his ivories equally well to jazz, blues, country, rock, not to mention is his ability to jam, explore, and create music on the fly. 

We invite you to read our reviews of the individual albums featuring Keith Godchaux for more details. Thos noted below are must haves.

Grateful Dead with Bruce 

Bruce Hornsby performed with Grateful Dead for a brief time period. His first show as a band member was September 15, 1990, and last March 24, 1992. There were no studio albums recorded, but plenty of live performances.  Many people do not realize Bruce Hornsby's ability to flat out jam.  

There are several worthwhile discs from this era, but the best is yet to come.

We invite you to read our reviews of the individual albums featuring Bruce Hornsby for more details. 

Jerry Garcia Band 

The main Jerry Garcia Band solo work that features piano interplay is with Keith Godchaux, the Grateful Dead's keyboardist.  This collaboration lasted generally between August 1975 through November 1978. Though, there were interruptions.  

Garcia also collaborated with famed session player Nicky Hopkins in the latter half of 1975, whose credits are endless. Hopkin's is best known for his work with the Rolling Stones during their peak years when Mick Taylor was in the band. Garcia teamed up with New Orleans rhythm and blues pianist James Booker for a week in January 1976.  Recordings of both of these collaborations are not difficult to track down for tapers.  The material with Hopkins are excellent.

Be sure to check out our Jerry Garcia Band profile, which includes comprehensive coverage of both his electric and acoustic work.

Phil and Friends and The Dead

Phil and Friends
Phil Lesh, the bass player of the Grateful Dead has a solo band called Phil and Friends, which had several different line-ups through the years.  They seemed to have settled a lineup of:
Phil Lesh - bass and vocals, John Molo - drums, Rob Barraco - keyboards, Warren Haynes - guitar and vocals, Jimmy Herring - guitar 

Keyboardist Rob Barraco adds some great piano to this all star line-up of musicians. No commercial concerts have been released. Tapes of this material are easy enough to come by and are highly recommended, if strong vocals are not a requirement.  Our Grateful Dead links has information on Phil and Friends music downloads and trading.  If you like the Grateful Dead and Allman Brothers you'll love this line-up. 

Another Phil and Friends line-up worth seeking out from years past featured: 

Phil Lesh (Grateful Dead, Other Ones): Lead Bass, vocals
Trey Anastasio (Phish): Guitar, vocals
Page McConnell (Phish): Grand Piano & organ, vocals
John Molo (Other Ones): Drums
Steve Kimock (Zero, SK&F, KVHW, Other Ones): Guitars

I have a few tapes of this line-up from April 1999 that are superb. 

The Dead 
The first line-up of The Dead included two great keyboardist, Rob Barraco from Phil and Friends, and Jeff Chimenti for Bob Weir's solo band Ratdog.  

Bob Weir 
Phil Lesh
Bill Kreutzmann
Mickey Hart
Jimmy Herring
Rob Barraco
Jeff Chimenti

and singer Joan Osbourne joined them on tour with solid reviews.

The Dead in 2004 will have a few personnel changes. 

The Dead sell CD's of the concerts directly to the public.  They seem priced at the high end. 

Lynyrd Skynyrd

One of the trademark sounds of Lynyrd Skynyrd is Billy Powell's piano complementing their three guitar attack.  Without him would they have been just a step ahead of Molly Hatchet?  Tragically at the peak of their career in 1977 a plane crash took the life of two of the groups main musicians, vocalist Ronnie Van Zant, and guitarist Steve Gaines. 

Lynyrd Skynyrd's Box Set is excellent.

Be sure to check out our Lynyrd Skynyrd profile.

Steely Dan  

Steely Dan's albums have plenty of gorgeous piano and guitar throughout between Donald Fagen and the numerous session musicians they have used.   The variety of styles Steely Dan incorporate in their music is impressive ranging from rock, jazz, blues, funk, latin, and pop.  Frequently they will uniquely tie several styles into a  song.

Be sure to check out our Steely Dan profile.