[TI4-1009]

Not exactly Phil, but Dead Bass 2.0? Oteil has some video lessons at Jorma's Fur Peace site:

http://breakdownway.com/instructor/oteil-burbridge

[brbadg]

I love Oteil, but his approach to Dead music is miles apart from Phil. Within the context of DeadCo some of his note choices fall flat with me. There are some good moments though. I just have to weed out the stuff I like. Thanks for sharing the info!

[Jon S.]

I can't disagree with you, brbadg. Of everyone in the Grateful Dead, IMO, Phil was the most in his own space of them all - and that's saying a lot. The well Phil drew from is on some obscured mountaintop inaccessible to mere mortals. I don't even try to compare anyone to him. Same, for the most part, with the Grateful Dead. Dead and Company is a specific band which overlaps with the Grateful Dead but is, for me, otherwise an entity unto itself. Approaching the situation this way, I'm able to enjoy Oteil for himself and always find an abundance to enjoy.

[lbpesq]

Phil was a unique original.
Jerry was a unique original.
Bobby became a unique original by having to figure out how to bridge the space between Phil and Jerry in a relevant manner.

Dead & Co. is a really good tribute band that plays most everything slowed down.

No Jerry, no Phil, it’s not the Grateful Dead. Just like without Keith Moon and John Entwistle, it ain’t The Who.

Now get off my lawn!

Bill, tgo

[TI4-1009]

Phil was a unique original.
Jerry was a unique original.
Bobby became a unique original by having to figure out how to bridge the space between Phil and Jerry in a relevant manner.

Exactly. And it took me a long time to fully understand the third point.

[wpmartin1979]

The fact that Oteil has played with both the Allman Brothers Band and now Dead & Co, puts him in legendary status as far as bass players in the jam band scene. Funny because Warren Haynes also played in both Allmans and Dead bands. I believe that both were chosen not for their ability to emulate Jerry/Phil, but for their own unique voice as musicians. At the end of the day nobody really wants to hear a copy of Jerry/Phil unless they are seeing a Dead cover/tribute band. Just as Warren had his naysayers in the Dead community, I suppose so to will Oteil, but it wouldn’t make sense for him to try and copy Phil since that’s not really the point.

I also think it is both Bobby and Phil who have slowed the music down over the years. I remember one show at the Santa Barbara Bowl when they were Further w/ John K. where (keep in mind I was tripping pretty good) they played Franklin’s Tower so slowly that it was comical, to the point where I thought they were pulling a prank on us and I couldn’t stop belly laughing because the song sounded so ridiculously slow, like someone had slowed down a tape reel or something

[lbpesq]

I love Santa Barbara County Bowl. I saw a lot of great shows there back in the mid-late 70s when I was living in SoCal. These days (or more accurately, pre-pandemic days), I’ve seen Phil a bunch at TX. I really haven’t noticed things slowing down. Great venue, great shows.

Bill, tgo

[wpmartin1979]

The only shows I’ve ever seen at TX were DNB - my all time favorite band ever (maybe even more so than the Dead ). When I lived in West County it was DNB all day and all night - Barry Sless non stop - he is my all time favorite guitar player. But the rest of that band is also legendary status!
Maybe Phil’s got his pep back recently, because at those final shows in Mt View for Fare Thee Well it definitely sounded slow to me. Real slow. Or maybe it’s Bobby who’s slowing it down

[lbpesq]

Yea, Barry Sless is a great guitarist ... and he’s no slouch on Pedal Steel! I’ve been fortunate to see him a couple of times in small venues. Once, playing Wolf with P&F at Bimbos, and once with a bassist buddy of mine in Great American Taxi at the Connecticut Yankee sports bar, both in S.F.

Bill, tgo

[strumminsix]

My goal, sometime, somehow, post covid, is a trip to Fur Peace. Like submersion is the key for language, has to be for guitar too!


I'm gonna go sacrilege here... But I enjoy with Oteil is doing with The Dead better than what Phil evolved into. Sometime in the 80s the 2 drummers and Phil started dancing to the music vs making the music and it stopped resonating with me as much. I'm not knocking the players or the evolution. But I listen to a lot of 80s and 90s miss the drummer and percussionist dichotomy when instead it feels like a drum circle. And miss that driving force bass as a lead instrument vs the pursuit of perfectly placed tangential notes in jazz timing placements.

Feel like Oteil captures that lead bass sound that Phil evolved out of in his pursuit of the GD being a wonderful orchestra of music and hearing the time between time for notes under represented by the ensemble.

I'll let myself out now.

[brbadg]

The fact that Oteil has played with both the Allman Brothers Band and now Dead & Co, puts him in legendary status as far as bass players in the jam band scene. Funny because Warren Haynes also played in both Allmans and Dead bands. I believe that both were chosen not for their ability to emulate Jerry/Phil, but for their own unique voice as musicians. At the end of the day nobody really wants to hear a copy of Jerry/Phil unless they are seeing a Dead cover/tribute band. Just as Warren had his naysayers in the Dead community, I suppose so to will Oteil, but it wouldn’t make sense for him to try and copy Phil since that’s not really the point.

I also think it is both Bobby and Phil who have slowed the music down over the years. I remember one show at the Santa Barbara Bowl when they were Further w/ John K. where (keep in mind I was tripping pretty good) they played Franklin’s Tower so slowly that it was comical, to the point where I thought they were pulling a prank on us and I couldn’t stop belly laughing because the song sounded so ridiculously slow, like someone had slowed down a tape reel or something

Yea but listen to the studio version.Its not exactly fast.