Phil Lesh, founding member of the highly influential rock band the Grateful Dead, passed away Oct. 25 at 84 years old.
Phil Lesh performs with The Dead, at the Forum in the Inglewood section of Los Angeles, on May 9, 2009. Lesh is hailed as one of the most influential bass players in the jam band world.
Known for his masterful reinvention of how the bass functions in rock ‘n’ roll music, Lesh used his expertise as a jazz trumpeter and classically trained violinist to unlock his own singular channel of sound. He was a stylistic leader of the Grateful Dead, which is hailed as a pioneer of jam music.
The Grateful Dead ethos is highly celebrated in the Charleston music scene, most notably represented by the The Reckoning tribute band that plays every Wednesday at the Charleston Pour House on James Island.
Guitarist Rusty Cole of The Reckoning said Lesh was at the forefront of the Grateful Dead’s boundary-pushing finesse.
“I love how he added his deep musical education of jazz and orchestral arrangements to the blues/folk/rock foundation,” Cole told The Post and Courier.
“His bass lines were always Phil-shaped and could make any ‘basic’ tune interesting,” he said. “Just check out that bass line on ‘Friend of the Devil.’ One of a kind.”
The Grateful Dead formed in 1965 in San Francisco and is attributed as a forerunner of the acid rock genre springing up in the 1960s characterized by psychedelia. The band’s singular style melded rock, folk, blues, county and jazz in longform jams, and their cult following (Deadheads) have anchored the band’s popularity for the past six decades.
This undated file photo shows members of the Grateful Dead band (from left to right) Mickey Hart, Phil Lesh, Jerry Garcia, Brent Mydland, Bill Kreutzmann and Bob Weir.
In June 2021, Lesh made a special appearance on the Pour House deck stage with his son Grahame Lesh’s group, the Midnight North band, further cementing the deep connection the venue’s community has with The Grateful Dead.
“The hallmark of a great musician is being able to recognize the player after only a few notes. Phil Lesh had that in spades, but his approach was so unique it’s almost inimitable,” said Reckoning guitarist Wallace Mullinax.
Lesh broke fundamental rules of bass playing, Wallace said, giving everything he played a special fingerprint that is difficult to replicate.
“Whereas most bassists want to lock with the kick drum, Phil favored a counterpoint approach rooted in melody,” he said. “This movement is common in classical composition, but almost unheard of in rock and blues."
Radio show host Christian “CD” Davis of Ohm Radio and Home Team FM calls himself an “advanced Grateful Dead pupil and lifelong fan.” He said he holds a deep appreciation for Lesh’s eclectic playing background and out-of-this-world technique.
“Phil is likely the single most important factor in the Grateful Dead's ceaseless creativity and ability to step off a 'playbook' and truly improvise into jazz-like planes of creativity and music-without-boundary,” Davis said.
To Davis, Lesh is the single most important contributor to the genre of jam, which started with The Grateful Dead and is continued by acts like Phish, moe. and Widespread Panic.
“Phil Lesh and the Grateful Dead broke the mold on live music,” Davis said. “Never before had a rock ‘n’ roll band pushed the envelope on expectation and just how far 'out' a band could go in front of thousands of people.”
Lesh has no doubt left an indelible mark on rock ‘n’ rollers in the Charleston music scene.