Phillip Chapman Lesh (born March 15, 1940 in Berkeley, California) is a musician and a founding member of the Grateful Dead. Lesh played bass guitar in that group throughout their 30-year career.
Lesh started out as a violin player. In high school, he switched to trumpet, studying under Bob Hansen, and had 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. Lesh 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 had never played bass before joining the band, which meant he learned "on the job", but it also meant he had no preconceived attitudes about the instrument's traditional "rhythm section" role. Indeed, he has said that his playing style was influenced more by Bach counterpoint than by rock or soul bass players (although one can also hear the fluidity and power of a jazz bassist such as Charles Mingus or Jimmy Garrison in Lesh's work, along with similarities to fellow San Francisco psychedelic-era bassist Jack Casady).
Lesh, along with Paul McCartney, Jack Bruce, John Entwistle, and Jack Casady, was an innovator in the new role that the electric bass developed during the mid-1960s. These players adopted a more melodic, contrapuntal approach to the instrument; before this, bass players in rock had generally played a conventional timekeeping role within the beat of the song, and within (or underpinning) the song's harmonic or chord structure. While not abandoning these aspects, Lesh took his own improvised excursions during a song or instrumental. This was a characteristic aspect of the so-called San Francisco Sound in the new rock music. In a great Dead jam, Lesh's bass is, in essence, as much a lead instrument as Garcia's guitar.
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).
Additionally, Lesh and his wife Jill administer their charitable organization, the Unbroken Chain Foundation. The couple have two children together. Grahame, age 21, is part of the class of 2009 at Stanford University. Brian, age 18, is a freshman at Princeton University. Both Grahame and Brian follow in their father's musical footsteps, and the three frequently play together both publicly and privately.
In 1998 Lesh underwent a liver transplant as a result of chronic Hepatitis C infection; since then, he has become an outspoken advocate for organ donor programs and when performing regularly encourages members of the audience to become organ donors (tracks identified as the "donor rap" on the live recordings of his various performances).
In April, 2005, Lesh's book Searching for the Sound: My Life with the Grateful Dead (ISBN 0-316-00998-9) was published. The book takes its name from the lyrics of a Grateful Dead song entitled "Unbroken Chain," off their album From the Mars Hotel. "Unbroken Chain" is one of the few songs Lesh sings. This is the only book about the Grateful Dead written by a member of the band.
On October 26th, 2006, Lesh released a statement on his official website, revealing that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer (a disease that killed Lesh's father) and would be undergoing an operation in December 2006 to have it removed. On December 7th, 2006, Lesh released a statement stating that he had undergone prostate surgery with the cancer being removed.
In March 2008, Phil Lesh did a guest voice on the Comedy Central series Lil' Bush on the second season episode "Big Pharm".
See also
Grateful Dead
Phil Lesh and Friends
References
DeYoung, Bill. "The Wire Is Life: A Conversation with Phil Lesh", KyndMusic, June 13th, 2006
External links
Phil Lesh and Friends Official Site
Phil Lesh and Friends Fan Site
Phil Lesh Interview: All about the Music, October 2007 by T. Virgil Parker
Phil Lesh and Friends downloads at JamRadio.org
v • d • e
Grateful Dead
Jerry Garcia • Bob Weir • Phil Lesh • Bill Kreutzmann • Mickey Hart • Vince Welnick
Ron "Pigpen" McKernan • Tom Constanten • Keith Godchaux • Donna Jean Godchaux • Brent Mydland
Studio albums
The Grateful Dead • Anthem of the Sun • Aoxomoxoa • Workingman's Dead • American Beauty • Wake of the Flood • Grateful Dead from the Mars Hotel • Blues for Allah • Terrapin Station • Shakedown Street • Go to Heaven • In the Dark • Built to Last
Live albums
Live/Dead • Grateful Dead • Europe '72 • History of the Grateful Dead, Volume One (Bear's Choice) • Steal Your Face • Reckoning • Dead Set • Dylan & the Dead • Without a Net • One from the Vault • Infrared Roses • Two from the Vault • Grayfolded • Hundred Year Hall • Dozin' at the Knick • Fallout from the Phil Zone • Terrapin Station (Limited Edition) • Live at the Fillmore East 2-11-69 • Ladies and Gentlemen... the Grateful Dead • View from the Vault, Volume One • View from the Vault, Volume Two • Nightfall of Diamonds • Postcards of the Hanging • Steppin' Out with the Grateful Dead: England '72 • View from the Vault, Volume Three • Go to Nassau • Birth of the Dead • View from the Vault, Volume Four • The Closing of Winterland • Rockin' the Rhein with the Grateful Dead • The Grateful Dead Movie Soundtrack • Rare Cuts and Oddities 1966 • Truckin' Up to Buffalo • The Complete Fillmore West 1969 • Fillmore West 1969 • Live at the Cow Palace • Three from the Vault • Road Trips Volume 1 Number 1 • Road Trips Volume 1 Number 2 • Winterland 1973: The Complete Recordings • Road Trips Volume 1 Number 3 • Road Trips Volume 1 Number 4 • Rocking the Cradle: Egypt 1978 • Dick's Picks (Volume 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31 • 32 • 33 • 34 • 35 • 36) • Digital Download Series (Volume 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • Family Dog at the Great Highway • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12)
Compilations
and box sets
Skeletons from the Closet: The Best of Grateful Dead • What a Long Strange Trip It's Been • Dead Zone: The Grateful Dead CD Collection (1977–1987) • The Arista Years • Selections from the Arista Years • So Many Roads (1965–1995) • So Many Roads (1965–1995) Sampler • The Golden Road (1965–1973) • The Very Best of the Grateful Dead • Beyond Description (1973–1989)
Videography
The Grateful Dead Movie • Dead Ahead • So Far • Dead Ringers: The Making of Touch of Grey • Backstage Pass • Infrared Sightings • Ticket to New Year's • Downhill from Here • Anthem to Beauty
Side projects and
spin-off bands
The Other Ones • The Dead • Jerry Garcia Band • Ratdog • Phil Lesh and Friends • Rhythm Devils • Donna Jean and the Tricksters • Missing Man Formation • New Riders of the Purple Sage • Old and in the Way • Legion of Mary • Reconstruction • Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band • JGB • Kingfish • Bobby and the Midnites • SerialPod
Related articles
Discography • Acid Tests • Eric Andersen • John Perry Barlow • Dark Star Orchestra • Deadhead • Deadheads for Obama • Deadicated: A Tribute to the Grateful Dead • Bob Dylan • Bill Graham • Gerrit Graham • Grateful dead (folklore) • Grateful Dead Records • Rick Griffin • David Grisman • Lenny Hart • Dan Healy • Bruce Hornsby • Robert Hunter • Jazz Is Dead • Alton Kelley • Steve Kimock • Ned Lagin • Dick Latvala • Branford Marsalis • Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions • Stanley Mouse • Pickin' on the Grateful Dead: A Tribute • Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra • Relix • Rex Foundation • Merl Saunders • Rock Scully • Bob Seidemann • Laurence Shurtliff • Owsley Stanley • Summer Jam at Watkins Glen • Sunshine Daydream • Howard Wales • Wall of Sound • Wharf Rats
Categories
Grateful Dead • Members • Albums • Songs • Dick's Picks albums • Download Series
NewPP limit report
Preprocessor node count: 1200/1000000
Post-expand include size: 53282/2048000 bytes
Template argument size: 44350/2048000 bytes
Expensive parser function count: 0/500
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Lesh"
Categories: 1940 births | American rock bass guitarists | Grateful Dead members | People associated with the hippie movement | People from the San Francisco Bay Area | California musicians | Organ transplant recipients | Cancer survivors | Living people
Views
Article
Discussion
Edit this page
History
Personal tools
Log in / create account
if (window.isMSIE55) fixalpha();
Navigation
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Search
Interaction
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact Wikipedia
Donate to Wikipedia
Help
Toolbox
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Printable version Permanent linkCite this page
Languages
Deutsch
Français
Suomi
This page was last modified on 24 July 2008, at 04:56.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.) Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) tax-deductible nonprofit charity.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
if (window.runOnloadHook) runOnloadHook();
