Recordings of the Jerry Garcia Band 12/19/75 and 12/20/75 have recently surfaced. I was at both shows, and I particularly remember “That’s What Love Will Make You Do” as a powerful performance. And I just loved the Nicky Hopkins edition of the JGB.
Bob Kirschenbaum sent me this email, and I share it here with his permission:
Listening to Hopkins in the JGB playing “That’s What Love…”, I realize that he is playing the Weir role in the band; both use short bursts of notes that occupy a negative space around the melody that Jerry leads on. Jerry usually introduces the simple melody of his covers, then amuses himself by teasing the melody with each pass on it. Hopkins contributes to the feeling of merriment.
I heard Steve Parish say that their conversations were the most interesting of any he heard Jerry have with someone.
When I hear music like this, it just lifts my spirit.
I ran into these on one of the torrent sites. Nice stuff too. Needed only some minor tweaking. Both days fit nicely on 3 CDs…