Jazz Is Dead Comes Alive By Launching 25th Anniversary Tour In Los Angeles

Instrumental ensemble Jazz Is Dead kicked off their 25th Anniversary Tour with a concert at The Lodge Room in Los Angeles’ Highland Park neighborhood on Sunday. Co-founder bassist Alphonso Johnson is joined the latest iteration of the Grateful Dead tribute act by guitarist Steve Kimock, multi-instrumentalist Bobby Lee Rodgers and drummer Pete Lavezzoli.

The quartet’s current tour also celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Grateful Dead’s Wake Of The Flood album. Jazz Is Dead devoted their first set in Los Angeles to performing the songs from Wake Of The Flood in the same order found on the 1973 LP. Rodgers mainly played guitar but also utilized banjo, while Johnson moved between electric and upright bass as well as Chapman Stick.

“Eyes Of The World” was stretched to the 20-minute mark with Kimock emulating the vocals on guitar. Steve Kimock and Alphonso Johnson traded solos before the four-piece embarked on a jam off the composed section played by the Dead in 1973 versions of “Eyes.”

Jazz Is Dead devoted the second set to GD songs from the 1970s followed by a “Dark Star” closer. Bobby Lee Rodgers starred on the “China Doll” that opened the frame. Then, the quartet worked through the “Help On The Way”/”Slipknot!”/”Franklin’s Tower” trifecta with the audience singing the chorus of the latter. The ensuing “Estimated Prophet” paved the way for a “Dark Star” featuring what was described on the band’s Facebook page as an “Insect Fear jam.”

Watch video from opening night below:

The tour continues tonight in San Juan Capistrano, California.

Setlist (via Jazz Is Dead Facebook)

Set One: Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo, Let Me Sing Your Blues Away, Row Jimmy, Stella Blue, Here Comes Sunshine, Eyes of The World, Weather Report Suite

Set Two: China Doll, Help On The Way > Slipknot > Franklin’s Tower, Estimated Prophet > Dark Star > Insect Fear jam > Dark Star