rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
band led by
Melvin Seals
Melvin Seals (born 1953 in San Francisco, California) is an American musician, best known as a longtime member of the Jerry Garcia Band.
Early life and career
Melvin Seals began playing piano at age eight and began his musical adventure playin ...
, who plays
electric organ
An electric organ, also known as electronic organ, is an electronic keyboard instrument which was derived from the harmonium, pipe organ and theatre organ. Originally designed to imitate their sound, or orchestral sounds, it has since develop ...
. Its mission is to continue the musical legacy of the
Jerry Garcia Band
The Jerry Garcia Band was a San Francisco Bay Area rock band led by Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. Garcia founded the band in 1975; it remained the most important of his various side projects until his death in 1995. The band regularly tour ...
, of which Seals was a longtime member.
History
As noted in ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'', "... when Garcia died in 1995, and the
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...
went on hiatus, Seals took charge. Under his leadership, the slightly renamed 'JGB Band' pays tribute to Garcia by performing his songs and remaining faithful to his style."
In 1996, Seals played several concerts with Jerry Garcia Band
bassist
A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...
John Kahn
John Kahn (June 13, 1947 – May 30, 1996) was an American bassist. From 1970 to 1995, Kahn was Jerry Garcia's principal musical collaborator outside of the Grateful Dead.
Biography
John Kahn was born in Memphis, Tennessee. Adopted at birth by ...
and other former members of that band. Their idea was to continue playing the same music with everyone except Garcia himself. However, Kahn died three weeks later, and Seals and the others continued without him. The membership of JGB has continued to evolve over the years.
On July 30, 2004, Melvin Seals was the first Jerry Garcia Band member to headline an outdoor music and camping festival named in honor of Jerry Garcia, called Grateful Garcia Gathering. Jerry Garcia Band drummer
David Kemper
David Law Kemper (born 1947/8 in Chicago, Illinois
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 Unit ...
joined Melvin Seals & JGB in 2007. To date, other musicians playing with JGB have included
Donna Jean Godchaux
Donna Jean Thatcher Godchaux-MacKay (born August 22, 1947) is an American singer best known as a member of the rock band the Grateful Dead from 1972 to 1979. In addition to the Dead, she performed with the Jerry Garcia Band and the short-lived ...
, Mookie Siegel,
Pete Sears
Peter Roy Sears (born 27 May 1948) is an English rock musician. In a career spanning more than six decades, he has been a member of many bands and has moved through a variety of musical genres, from early R&B, psychedelic improvisational rock ...
Robin Sylvester
Robin Sylvester (1950 – 29 October 2022) was an English musician who was best known as a member of the American band RatDog. Although primarily a bass guitar, bass player, he played several instruments, including the guitar and keyboards, and ...
.
the current lineup of JGB is
Melvin Seals
Melvin Seals (born 1953 in San Francisco, California) is an American musician, best known as a longtime member of the Jerry Garcia Band.
Early life and career
Melvin Seals began playing piano at age eight and began his musical adventure playin ...
on keyboards,
John Kadlecik
John Kadlecik (born June 28, 1969, in Council Bluffs, Iowa) is an American guitarist. He was a founding member as the lead guitarist for the Grateful Dead tribute band, Dark Star Orchestra, in 1997. From 2009 to 2014 he performed with original D ...
on guitar and vocals, John-Paul McLean on bass, Jeremy Hoenig on drums, and Lady Chi and Darlene Coleman on backing vocals.
Discography
*''Welcome to Our World (For Members Only)'' – 1998
*''Keepers of the Flame'' – 2006
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...