Remembering Rob Wasserman: Watching A Master At Work
By Scott Bernstein Dec 29, 2016 • 1:21 pm PST
“It started out with Rob Wasserman and me as a duo and we played that way for six or eight years, and then one day I was working on a project and we needed a drummer. And Rob said, ‘I know this drummer that I met last night and he was pretty good. You want me to give him a buzz?’ and I said, ‘Sure.’
And so Jay [Lane] came up and did this session with us. The next morning, I called Rob and said ‘Hey, listen. That was kind of fun yesterday. How bout we take a drummer on our next tour?’ and he said he was just thinking the same thing.
“We started working together and booked another tour, and we were working with Jay at the time and we were about to go out on tour and my old pal Matthew Kelly came through town. And he was just sort of footloose and I said ‘Hey, you want to come out with us? You want to come sit in with us?’ And that worked so we had a little quartet and we took that on the road.”
—Bob Weir (via Ratdog.org)
I had just graduated high school when Jerry Garcia died, so sadly I only had one chance to see the Grateful Dead. As a Deadhead in a post-Jerry world, I did have plenty of opportunities to Bob Weir & RatDog in the ’90s, throughout the ’00s and once in 2014. I’m forever thankful to Bobby for the chance to watch masterful bassist Rob Wasserman in action.
Rob Wasserman died on June 29 just hours after Weir revealed his longtime collaborator was in a bad way. Wasserman was only 64, which seems like way too young an age to pass. I was heartbroken because as both a music fan and novice bassist I had learned a lot from watching Rob Wasserman play. The energy and spirit to which he brought to the upright bass is something I had never experienced before first seeing RatDog play at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey on July 11, 1996.
RatDog’s visit to Jersey City was part of the inaugural Furthur Festival, a summer tour put together featuring Los Lobos, Hot Tuna, Mickey Hart’s Mystery Box, Bruce Hornsby and an assortment of other acts with RatDog generally headlining each night and leading a superjam. At this point the ‘Dog was just starting to add classic Dead songs to the repertoire and those would mainly come as part of the show-closing jams. Instead, the band focused on the blues especially with the legendary Johnnie Johnson on piano. While I wasn’t crazy about the blues standards, I stood in awe at the virtuostic Wasserman. His runs up and down the bass were a sight to behold.
After my initial RatDog experience I bought Rob Wasserman’s fantastic Solo, Duets and Trios albums. I went on to learn Weir was just one of many legendary musicians with whom Wasserman had collaborated. There was Rob’s contributions to Lou Reed’s underrated New York LP, the bassist’s early ’80s work with David Grisman and his bass playing on Rickie Lee Jones’ mesmerizing cover of “Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying” on Flying Cowboys. The list went on and on.
I did my best to catch RatDog at least once a year and I certainly was not complaining as they dug into the Grateful Dead repertoire including Jerry songs. The most impressive set I saw from the ensemble took place at Jones Beach on August 15, 2001 as part of the short-lived So Many Roads festival. Wasserman was in fine form throughout a set that started with a ridiculous “Jam” > “Weather Report Suite Prelude” > “Let It Grow” > “Dark Star” sequence. Rob was constantly pushing his band mates to great heights throughout the evening and I left feeling RatDog was in a good place.
The next time I saw RatDog Wasserman had left the band and Robin Sylvester had filled his role. While Sylvester is a good bass player, he has more of a typical approach than the unique stylings of Rob Wasserman. It was hard not to miss him. I was thrilled when I heard Rob had rejoined the band in 2012. Both Sylvester and Wasserman held down the bottom end and I was impressed at how well they fit in as I was expecting the pair to step on each others’ toes.
On February 20, 2014 I saw what will probably go down as my last RatDog show. Weir brought the group, featuring both bassists, to the Wellmont Theater in Montclair, New Jersey. It seemed like a mix of all eras of RatDog from the bluesy vamp in “Wang Dang Doodle” to Weir singing Jerry songs such as “Brown-Eyed Women” and “Sugaree” to Bob leading a number of his trademark songs, namely “Hell In A Bucket” and “Sugar Magnolia.” Throughout it all Wasserman was there as the perfect foil for Bobby. Rob was still a musical badass who in a very different way from Phil Lesh would rarely play the same thing twice. I especially liked his work on “Stuff,” RatDog’s nightly free-form improvisational adventure. Later I learned it was RatDog’s 900th show, quite a feat for a group that started out as a side project. Sadly, it would be my last time watching Rob Wasserman play, but I almost skipped going so I’m just glad I had one final opportunity to see a master at work. R.I.P. Rob Wasserman.
