Grateful Useless founding member and bassist Phil Lesh died Friday morning, in accordance with a submit on his official Instagram account.
The California native and rock legend was 84.
Lesh “handed peacefully” whereas surrounded by household, in accordance with the submit to his Instagram.
“Phil introduced immense pleasure to everybody round him and leaves behind a legacy of music and love,” the submit learn. “We request that you just respect the Lesh household’s privateness at the moment.”
Lesh was born and raised in a middle of postwar counterculture, Berkeley, California, within the San Francisco Bay Space, the place he began his music journey by studying to play the classical violin. He traded the violin for the trumpet and created sounds impressed by German digital music pioneer Karlheinz Stockhausen and American minimal music proponent Steve Reich.
In response to his memoir, “Trying to find the Sound: My Life within the Grateful Useless,” Lesh met Jerry Garcia in 1959 whereas out in town in Palo Alto, California.
It wasn’t till after their second assembly in 1964, in accordance with Rolling Stone, that Garcia recruited Lesh as a bassist for The Warlocks.
“At Garcia’s suggestion, Lesh discovered to play the electrical bass and joined him in a brand new group that blended R & B, nation, and rock ‘n’ roll with an experimental fervor by no means earlier than heard,” a abstract of Lesh’s ebook states.
Shortly afterward, the band renamed itself the Grateful Useless, with Lesh on bass and Garcia on guitar. Its first gig was at Frenchy’s Bikini-A-Go-Go in Hayward, California, for an viewers of three, in accordance with the abstract.
The Useless fused rock, jazz and folks, occurring to turn into one of the influential bands in American historical past, becoming a member of writer Ken Kesey (“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”) early on for notorious, LSD-fueled “Acid Take a look at” events within the Nineteen Sixties documented by one other counterculture writer, Tom Wolfe, in “The Electrical Kool-Support Acid Take a look at.”
In his memoir, Lesh wrote, “I knew immediately that this mixture — acid and music — was the software I’d been on the lookout for.”
The Useless’s meandering, long-form rock was the soundtrack of American psychedelia. The band’s touring lengthy held collectively a subculture of Deadheads who traded cassette recordings, traveled behind the band.
Recognized for being a virtuosic bassist, Lesh is credited with redefining the sound of the bass and closely influencing the Grateful Useless’s sound.
He performed his bass like a lead instrument, utilizing a choose to seek out sounds that overlap with the low finish of a guitar’s spectrum, Rolling Stone stated.
“Lesh is without doubt one of the most expert bassists you’ll ever hear in subtlety and invention,” Bob Dylan wrote concerning the Grateful Useless bassist in his 2022 ebook, “The Philosophy of Fashionable Track.”
San Francisco Mayor London Breed stated Friday on social media platform X that Metropolis Corridor could be lit in Lesh’s honor in a single day. “Phil Lesh was greater than a bassist — he was a San Francisco icon who helped outline an period and form the world of music,” she stated.
The Empire State Constructing stated on X that the historic New York Metropolis skyscraper could be lit in tie-dye colours Friday evening “to honor the life and legacy of Phil Lesh.”
Chicago stadium Soldier Subject, the place the Useless performed their remaining present with Garcia on July 9, 1995, stated on X, “Thanks for the reminiscences, Phil.”
Hip-hop icon Chuck D of Public Enemy stated on X, “Phil Lesh saved it going.”
Martha Quinn, former MTV VJ and present iHeartRadio DJ stated on X, referring to the Grateful Useless’s dancing bear mascot, “The bear isn’t feeling very similar to dancing right now. … Thanks to your legacy Phil, you made us really feel like we have been all your pals.”
The band dissolved after 30 years, with Lesh turning into, within the phrases of Rolling Stone, “an lively keeper of its reside flame.” He presided over a brand new improvisational band referred to as Phil and Buddies, usually taking part in exhibits within the Bay Space within the years earlier than his dying.
Lesh leaves behind his spouse, Jill, and their two sons, Grahame and Brian.