Phil Lesh & Friends Infuse ‘Beautiful Jam’ Into ‘Darkstarathon’ Episode 5

Phil Lesh shared the fifth edition in Terrapin Clubhouse’s Darkstarathon series. The video gets underway with the Grateful Dead bassist noting that he wanted to draw inspiration for the session from GD’s renowned “Beautiful Jam” from the Capitol Theatre on February 18, 1971.

The video begins with Phil gathering guitarist Grahame Lesh, keyboardist Holly Bowling, drummer Alex Koford and guitarist Stu Allen to give them a rundown of the “Beautiful Jam.” Read an excerpt below:

“I’ve been sort of investigating some of these old these old classic jams and there’s dozens of these jams that the fans have named. There’s the ‘Mind Left Body Jam,’ the ‘Spanish Jam’ speaks for itself and then there’s one called the ‘Beautiful Jam’ which I was listening to last night. That was 2-18-71 at The Cap. You can tell it’s ‘71 because there’s no keyboard … I think that was before Keith actually joined the band [and] Pigpen was sick.”

Grahame then asked his dad if the jam, which was wrapped up in “Dark Star” and the debut of “Wharf Rat,” was organic.

“Oh no it naturally happened, subconsciously I’m sure. We didn’t talk about it, it was just always in the background waiting, you know. The context is everything. So right in this performance it was Bob who led the way into the B minor, right, and he does a lot of that in these jams. His playing in this period is totally awesome. And you can hear everything, you can hear everything he’s playing. It’s really quite wonderful. I’m kind of interested now in making one of these jams like the center centerpiece of the Darkstarathon.”

Check out the “Beautiful Jam” below:

As Phil notes, there’s no keyboard in the original “Beautiful Jam.” But the Phil Lesh & Friends version kicks off with some otherworldly electric piano from Holly before the band explores the motif for several minutes. Phil then drops the ensemble into the “Dark Star” chorus.

Further exploration then led to a bluesy sequence with Stu Allen conjuring up “West L.A. Fadeaway.” The improv continued once again before the band slid into the aforementioned “Wharf Rat” followed by a snappy jam to end the session.

Watch the “Beautiful Jam” infused Darkstarathon Episode 5 below:

Phil Lesh & Friends are set to take the stage at McNears Beach Park in San Rafael, California this weekend where they will recreate the Grateful Dead’s July 21, 1974 concert for the first of two Sunday Daydream events this summer. Check those out below.