Jeff Chimenti (born October 21, 1968) is an American keyboardist, best known for his ongoing work with former members of 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 ...

. Since May 1997 he has played with Bob Weir & RatDog, and has also played on every tour of The Dead (including the Fare Thee Well lineup) and Furthur. He currently plays with Dead & Company.

Early life and music career

A native of the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

, Chimenti began playing

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

when he was four and he studied formally from the age of seven to around the time he finished high school. Once he graduated from high school, he began playing in bands around the Bay area. He played in local jazz bands as well as Les Claypool's Frog Brigade. He has also played back-up for pop acts such as En Vogue. He was playing in Dave Ellis's jazz quartet when Ellis was hired to play

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

in Bob Weir & RatDog. Ellis informed him that RatDog was also looking for a new keyboardist. Chimenti was hired and played his first show 28 May 1997. Chimenti has been a member of RatDog ever since and has occasionally performed with Phil Lesh and Friends. While performing, he commonly uses

Brent Mydland Brent Mydland (October 21, 1952 – July 26, 1990) was an American keyboardist, songwriter and singer. He was a member of the rock band The Grateful Dead from 1979 until his death in 1990, a longer tenure than any other keyboardist in the ...

's Hammond B3 organ. He performed with The Other Ones during the band's final tour with that name in 2002. This was the first time that Bob Weir, Phil Lesh,

Bill Kreutzmann William Kreutzmann Jr. ( ; born May 7, 1946) is an American drummer and founding member of the rock band Grateful Dead. He played with the band for its entire thirty-year career, usually alongside fellow drummer Mickey Hart, and has continued to ...

and

Mickey Hart Mickey Hart (born Michael Steven Hartman, September 11, 1943) is an American percussionist. He is best known as one of the two drummers of the rock band Grateful Dead. He was a member of the Grateful Dead from September 1967 until February 19 ...

all performed together since the disbandment of the Grateful Dead in 1995. He continued to perform with every version of the Dead that toured in 2003, 2004 and 2009. Following The Dead's final tour in 2009 he joined Bob Weir and Phil Lesh in their project Furthur. Furthur toured consistently between 2009 and 2014. During early 2015 Chimenti joined musicians John Kadlecik, Reed Mathis and Jay Lane in the band the Golden Gate Wingmen. Chimenti performed at the five 50th anniversary performances of the Grateful Dead in Santa Clara, at Levi's Stadium, on June 27 and 28 2015 and in Chicago, at Soldier Field, on July 3, 4 and 5 2015. Following the success of the Fare Thee Well shows, he toured with the band Dead & Company through 2023, with former Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, and Mickey Hart, along with

John Mayer John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but he left for Atlanta in 1997 with fellow guitarist Clay Cook, with whom he formed the short-liv ...

and former Allman Brothers bassist Oteil Burbridge. In 2024, it was announced that Dead & Company would do a residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas. Chimenti has played with one or more former Grateful Dead members for over 25 years (he joined Ratdog in May 1997), which by comparison is as long as the tenure of the last three Grateful Dead keyboardists combined ( Keith Godchaux,

and Vince Welnick, 1971–1995).

Outside of music

Chimenti and a roadie developed a product used to prevent facial abrasions from the use of CPAP machines. In 2017 Chimenti served as Music Supervisor on "Red Roses, Green Gold" an Off-Broadway musical featuring the music of Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia, with additional music by Phil Lesh, Bob Weir and

, and Hunter's longtime collaborator, Greg Anton. The production was directed and choreographed by Rachel Klein, featured a book by Michael Norman Mann, and performed at the Minetta Lane Theatre in New York City.

Discography

Jeff Chimenti has contributed to albums by a number of different musical artists. *'' Evening Moods'' – RatDog – 2000 *'' Live Frogs Set 1'' – Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade – 2001 *'' Live at Roseland'' – RatDog – 2001 *'' Live Frogs Set 2'' – Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade – 2001 *'' Move Me Brightly'' – various artists – 2013 *''TRI – Sessions vol. 1'' – Fog – 2013 *'' Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead'' – The Dead – 2015 *''TRI – Sessions vol. 2'' – Fog – 2019 *'' Live in Colorado'' – Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros – 2022 *'' Live in Colorado Vol. 2'' – Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros – 2022

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chimenti, Jeff American rock keyboardists Living people 1968 births Jazz musicians from San Francisco Pianists from San Francisco Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade members RatDog members Furthur (band) members The Other Ones members Dead & Company members Grateful Dead members 20th-century American pianists American male pianists American male jazz musicians 21st-century American keyboardists 20th-century American keyboardists