Summary
You could call Phil Lesh a "free radical." He's best known as the bassist for the Grateful Dead and as a musician who helped redefine his instrument's role in rock. Before that, he studied with Italian composer Luciano Berio and arranged music for jazz ensembles. (When asked which contemporary composers he admires, he cited Stravinsky, Stockhausen, Thomas Ades, Magnus Lindberg, and Robin Holloway.) His varied training has imbued his popular music with a harmonic sophistication and melodic invention few, if any, of his peers possess.
Lesh's recent project, Phil Lesh & Friends, founded in 1999, consists of guitar, keyboards, bass, drums, and lead vocals. On Sunday, Sept. 30, the quintet comes to Santa Fe to close out the 2007 season at the Paolo Soleri Amphitheater. The band performs tunes from the Grateful Dead songbook interspersed with original compositions and a few select covers.See the full content of this document
Extract
Lesh Life
Lesh spoke with Pasatiempo from his home in Ross, Calif., a small town outside San Francisco.
Pasatiempo: Talk about the band you're bringing to Santa Fe.Phil Lesh: I'm trying to evolve, trying to grow. At first, I tapped a lot of musicians who were part of the Grateful Dead tradition and part of the ...See the full content of this document
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