Hooteroll
review
Hooteroll
is more of a Howard Wales album with Jerry Garcia as a guest than a
Garcia release. If you are looking for the trademark Garcia tone you
will not find it here. In
fact, the keyboards are more dominant than guitar. That said, the
album shows a different side of Garcia and it has much to offer.
This is the first major recording under the name Jerry Garcia
outside of the Grateful Dead. Noteworthy is that this is the first
meeting between Jerry Garcia and saxophone player Martin Fierro;
later he would play in Legion of Mary, as well as help out on a few
tracks for the Grateful Dead's album Wake
of the Flood and perform at some east coast shows during their fall
1973 tour.
The
all-instrumental CD has many fine moments such as the mellow
“DaBirg Song” featuring fine acoustic guitar and piano work
accompanied by Martin Fierro’s flute. The upbeat tune “Uncle
Martin’s” is short in duration on this CD; it is a perfect tune
for improvisation. Likely, this song was the foundation of extended
jams during their 1970 jam sessions.
This
is not a jazz classic or ultimate Garcia; however, it has plenty of
good pieces. The 1987
Compact disc release added two songs that were not on the original. by Barry
Small
Grade
B
