About Phil Lesh
Phillip Chapman Lesh (born March 15, 1940 in Berkeley, California)
is a musician and founding member of the rock band, Grateful
Dead; he played bass guitar in that group throughout their
entire 30-year career.
Lesh started out as a trumpet player with a keen interest
in avant-garde classical music and free jazz; he also studied
under the Italian modernist Luciano Berio at Mills College
(classmates included minimalist composer Steve Reich, and
future Dead keyboardist Tom Constanten). While still a college
student he met then-bluegrass banjo player Jerry Garcia. They
formed a friendship and eventually Lesh was talked into becoming
the bass guitarist for Garcia's new rock group, then known
as the Warlocks. He joined them for their third or fourth
gig (memories vary) and stayed until the end. Phil noticed
that another group had made a record under the name Warlocks
when he found their album at a store. He suggested to the
other band members that they change their name.
Lesh was not a prolific composer or singer with the Grateful
Dead, although some of the songs he did contribute—"New
Potato Caboose", "Box of Rain", "Unbroken
Chain", and "Pride of Cucamonga"—are
among the best-loved in the band's repertoire. His interest
in avant-garde music was a crucial influence on the Dead,
pushing them into new territory, and he was an essential part
of the group and its mystique, best summed-up in the Deadhead
truism: "If Phil's on, the band's on". Also, a snippet
of tape of Lesh on trumpet in college can be heard on the
Bob Weir-composed "Born Cross-Eyed."
After the disbanding of the Grateful Dead, Lesh continued
to play with its offshoots The Other Ones and The Dead, as
well as performing with his own band, Phil Lesh and Friends
(one memorable tour paired him with Bob Dylan).
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