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Poster: | Cliff Hucker | Date: | Apr 12, 2010 5:11am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Spanish Jam (redux) |
The Spanish Jam has been one of the greatest and jazziest pieces of music in the Grateful Dead's catalogue for almost the entire history of the band.
As you all may know, the composition was borrowed from Miles Davis. But the inspiration for Miles Solea comes from a classical Andalucian flamenco known as Malaguena.
Wilkipedia, for what its worth, provides a fascinating, if not factual synopsis of this composition:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malague%C3%B1as_%28flamenco_style%29
This 1963 jazz rendition by Ken Stanton is an excellent example of this Fandango:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/109457
The Malaguena has inspired the music of a number of modern jazz musicians, most notably, Davis' Solea from his Sketches of Spain:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XobcAmMEkE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTxvt5LvtK8&feature=related
Some of you may agree that the Spanish Jam is one the most beautiful, and jazziest pieces of music the Grateful Dead performed. This may be because the Dead, while improvising, have remained true to the classical roots of this music.
It's hard to believe that this is the first ever performance. They must have spent time rehearsing this Jam prior to this:
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1968-01-17.sbd.jeff.fixed-3927.7995.sbeok.shnf
The second performance of the song. Its amazing how sophisticated and jazzy this 1968 rendition is:
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1968-01-20.sbd.miller.97340.sbeok.flac16
Just two night later, this version, which may be the best-ever, sounds like the sound-track to a Sergio Leone spaghetti western:
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1968-01-22.sbd.miller.97342.sbeok.flac16
A primal example from one month later, is now a Road Trips release. It's like a gunfight between Weir, Garcia, Lesh and the drummers:
http://www.archive.org/details/gd68-02-14.sbd.kaplan.15640.sbeok.shnf
Dusted off after two years, this mind-bending performance of the jam includes members of the Allmans and Fleetwood Mac:
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1970-02-11.sbd.smith.patched.99154.sbeok.flac16
In the closet it sat again for three years. An excellent and jazzy version from 1973 when it was played twice:
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1973-03-24.sbd.cantor.deibert.83407.sbeok.flac16
Then not again for another year. Two extraordinary performances from 1974, when it was played regularly:
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1974-06-23.mtx.seamons.105867.flac24
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1974-07-19.sbd.gans-finney.217.sbeok.shnf
After the hiatus the jam is again revisited:
http://www.archive.org/details/gd76-07-16.set1aud-set2sbd.miller.23569.sbeok.shnf
Shelved for several years, once again the jam resurfaces in 1981. Appropriatly at Barton Hall:
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1981-05-16.sbd.miller.30647.sbeok.flac16
The jam continued to make it onto set lists through the 80's. There are even compelling performances of Spanish Jam during the 90's:
http://www.archive.org/details/gd1992-06-22.dsbd.miller.32490.sbeok.flac16
What are your thoughts about this amazing jazz/fusion jam and what are your favorite performanes of it by the Grateful dead?
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Poster: | midnight sun | Date: | Apr 12, 2010 12:46pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Spanish Jam (redux) |
here's my thoughts, hope someone finds them useful
Spanish Jam: (all noted scale degrees related to major)
E7 Phrygian mode (w/major 3rd)
- 1st (E), b2nd (F), 3rd (G#), 4th (A), 5th (B), b6th (C), b7th (D)
(optional minor 3rd, major 7th...)
Fmaj7 Lydian mode
- 1st (F), 2nd (G), 3rd(A), #4th (B) , 5th (C), 6th (D), major 7th (E)
Phrygian mode typical for the Spanish vein, not very common in other contexts due to the flat 2nd degree's compelling association with all things that sound Spanish (particularly when employing the major 3rd which creates an augmented 2nd interval from the flat 2nd - F>G#)
- sometimes heard during the out jam of Crazy Fingers
Lydian mode in itself not very common due to the instability of the #4th degree's tri-tone relationship with the root (3 consecutive whole tone intervals, F>G, G>A, A>B)
- somewhat familiar in jazz, Gloria's Step (Scott LaFaro)
- seldom heard outside of jazz, Maria (West Side Story), Lady With A Fan jam, Saint of Circumstance jam...
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Poster: | Incornsyucopia | Date: | Apr 12, 2010 6:56pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Spanish Jam (redux) |
And one great example of the use of Lydian by the Dead that you left out is the jam in, at least the later versions of, "Cassidy." Very cool.
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Poster: | William Tell | Date: | Apr 12, 2010 1:08pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Spanish Jam (redux) |
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Poster: | stealyourwife | Date: | Apr 12, 2010 4:26pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Spanish Jam (redux) |
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Poster: | William Tell | Date: | Apr 12, 2010 5:02pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Spanish Jam (redux) |
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Poster: | stealyourwife | Date: | Apr 12, 2010 5:10pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Spanish Jam (redux) |
to get an idea of how modes work you could pick any white key on a keyboard and hit a steady drone rhythm with the left hand and then experiment with just the white keys with the other hand, being sure to end your phrases on the same key that you're droning (use the black keys to gauge where you're at)...some will sound major, some minor, some middle eastern / spanishy etc...
musical theory is pretty freakin awesome
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Poster: | midnight sun | Date: | Apr 12, 2010 1:15pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Spanish Jam (redux) |
yes and no (pretty sure all that is covered in the first 2 or 3 chapters of VOL I)
Chick Corea's "La Fiesta" features an extended jam in Phrygian mode (uptempo latin in 3 that is unusual enough in itself) caused a good many accomplished jazz musician's to fall on their dinks when not prepared for it...however, i would expect someone who grew up in California (even the northern part) should be familiar with Spanish forms (?) especially at a relaxed tempo
not familiar with the Clementine jam you reference, but i did listen to this one (darling little tune that i wasn't aware of) noticed the intro section has a near identical progression to the Cream's "We're Going Wrong"
http://www.archive.org/details/gd69-01-26.sbd.kaplan.2246.sbeok.shnf
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Poster: | William Tell | Date: | Apr 12, 2010 1:53pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Spanish Jam (redux) |
Be sure to focus on the ending of "Sweet Wine" in the 10-15-67 show...speaking of CREAM.
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Poster: | midnight sun | Date: | Apr 12, 2010 2:50pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Spanish Jam (redux) |
just listened to 10/15/67 Sweet Wine again, wild stuff in the 2nd half of that jam! no doubt the tubes in those Marshall heads are just aglow during those jams, the whole show smokes! more later...
Cream creates these jams that don't really have much to do with the structures of the songs...continuing on with the modal/blues dilemma, i don't think it was necessarily redundancy that drove Cream apart as much as the incredible effort required to live up to the expectation of pulling a bigger wabbit out of thin air time and again...
full circle: Miles started out with complex Bop changes, drifted towards modal with Milestones/Kind Of Blue...then there was an era between K of B and Silent Way which to me, represented a healthy balance between improvisation over both complex changes and songs based on simpler modal forms...in a sense this early>mid 60's Miles era is similar to GD's approach, often improvising over the changes for a portion of a song then playing out an open ended modal jam at the end of the same song (Scarlet, Deal, Crazy Fingers, Black Pete, Stella, Dew, 1/2 Step, Unc J, Chinacat, Help>Slip...)
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Poster: | William Tell | Date: | Apr 12, 2010 3:51pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Spanish Jam (redux) |
I have rec'd more CREAM, perhaps the most significant portion of which is a series of out-takes of studio work showing just how well JB could sing...tunes from Fresh Cream/Dis Gears era (66-67).
Once you've tired of what little I sent up, I'll put together another package...
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Poster: | billydlions | Date: | Apr 12, 2010 3:59pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Spanish Jam (redux) |
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Poster: | William Tell | Date: | Apr 12, 2010 4:12pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Spanish Jam (redux) |
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Poster: | light into ashes | Date: | Apr 12, 2010 5:10pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Cream (redux) |
But early '68 (when most of the live albums were recorded) also has lots of fine shows - one I particularly like is the 4-5-68 Back Bay show (the day after MLK was shot, I think, and the band was freaking out about the riots outside the theater) - they start the show with a 20-minute Sunshine and keep going - not a good AUD, but good enough to enjoy.....
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Poster: | William Tell | Date: | Apr 12, 2010 9:40pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Cream (redux) |
Speaking of that, my love of 6-14-68 has given you the wrong impression--I am actually as much of a SBD snob as CLIFF. I make some exceptions, of course, and now really look forward to trying out that Apr show you mention.
Based on my attn to Oct 67, and sampling of most of those available from 66-68, I would say 67 is defn my preference at this point...4-22-67, though an AUD, is a very nice show with an untempo (!?) SOYL to start (if the voices didn't sound right, I'd think it has a tape speed issue!)...But, throughout the period, Spoon, SWine, NSU, and R&Tumb do serve as the primary jam vehicles of course, in both 67 & 68, and I am only now coming to appreciate subtle diff's in approach from show to show...
I'd say in summary, Apr & May of 67, Oct of 67, then Mar and Oct of 68 are the months for which I have a couple of shows each, and have been impressed with, whether SBD or AUD (I think that their loud vol approach must've helped with the AUDs, eh? Vocals are usu fine mix-wise, and it seems the three of them almost always come thru--no worries about a low intensity keybd player in the backgrd or any such issues as we have with TC!).
But, again--I have not sampled all the AUDs in my collection--yet--if listed as poor to average quality; will in time.
Thanks for the tip, and wish I could be more helpful. Give me another couple of months. Now, about that 95 DEAD as to 05 CREAM...[jk]...but, I do think they held up better, IMHO...GB was defn a bit weak/limited, and JB's defn lost vocal ability...oh, I do love the DVD from the AlHall, 68, though agreeing with those [band members even] that it was not a top performance, I so love being able to see JB and GB play--what intensity!.
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Poster: | light into ashes | Date: | Apr 12, 2010 11:04pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Cream (redux) |
Other good ones from the 'short solo' period are the Oct '66 Klooks Kleek tape, the March '67 Stockholm FM recording (which was a bonus disc on a Cream documentary DVD recently) - and there's a nice May '67 Marquee Club show which was put up on youtube a while ago (audio only), and another decent-sounding May show from the 'Tulip Bulb Auction Hall' - these May shows are notable for featuring some Disraeli Gears songs which were immediately dropped from their set & never heard again.
I've championed the 9-3-67 Fillmore tape before, pretty good sound & wild show - and there's a nice AUD from the Whiskey-a-go-go, LA show the day after, too. There's a really good show from Waltham, MA (usually dated 9-9-67) - good AUD sound, and similar to the fabled Detroit show, with a 20-minute NSU and huge Sunshine & Steppin' Out.
There's another Stockholm show, from 11-14-67, which I don't remember anything about. The Winterland 3-10-68 AUD tape is mostly duplicated by the live releases; there are some recently surfaced tapes of 3-3-68 and 3-18-68 which I haven't heard.
Most of the '68 AUDs are really for fanatical collectors only, not that great. The 4-5-68 Back Bay tape is the one that really stood out as an exceptional show.
The October '68 tour started off not so hot; though the 10-4-68 Oakland show is good-quality SBD, the Forum SBD from 10-19 is a better show (was used on the Goodbye album). The rest of the tour I don't remember, every show had much the same setlist; but I really liked the last Royal Albert Hall show even though the band didn't like it. (If you like that DVD, the Fresh Live Cream video has some excellent tunes from a small-club show, much better visually.)
Well, that's a little overview; I could've been more informative a few years ago but haven't listened to these in quite a while...
NSU, Sweet Wine, Spoonful, I'm So Glad - these were usually 'the big ones', but sometimes they'd add an extra long jam to Sunshine too. R&T and Traintime I could do without (they're always exactly the same & twice as long as they should be - oh, why didn't they do Cat's Squirrel live instead???)...but Steppin' Out I particularly like.
Midnight sun has mentioned their fixation on blues, which is definitely true (to be expected when you've got Clapton in the band), but I think they did a good job of picking a wide variety of blues songs (or varying their approach in each song), so there's not much repetitious 12-bar feel in any show.
They were definitely burning out by mid-'68, their last shows aren't as fiery as a year earlier. Jack Bruce has said how hard it was to come up with those long improvs every night, whether they felt like it or not, since the audiences demanded it (midnight sun also notes this) - but it wasn't the main reason for the breakup. I'd say the most important reasons were, 1. Jack & Ginger couldn't stand each other, 2. they were sick of touring, 3. after hearing the Band & seeing the negative Rolling Stone review, Clapton wanted out of Cream immediately. As a result, they could barely manage to record 3 songs for the Goodbye album, let alone carry on playing more music.
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Poster: | William Tell | Date: | Apr 13, 2010 7:32am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Cream (redux) |
Just curious--you have amassed both DEAD and CREAM collections, and devoted serious attn to both; did it happen about the same time with you? Was it the web based availability that got you into bands that from your description of your "youth", you weren't into 20-30 yrs ago? I put it that way from your comments about "not being interested in the DEAD at the 'time' back in the 80s" (? I think).
Thanks again for the info; glad to know we share the love for two exceptional band histories...Thanks to our own Arb, I now have access to all those shows you mentioned...as you may have gathered, I came to the web world relatively recently, and just had no idea all this stuff was available!
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Poster: | light into ashes | Date: | Apr 13, 2010 12:29pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Cream (redux) |
The web is completely responsible for me becoming a tape collector....until I got online in the mid-'90s, there's no way I could have found other tape traders, & was amazed to see people with tapelists online. So in that way, collecting was made easy for me; I didn't have to go through years of looking for random contacts or magazine ads like the old-timers.
Some people here have mentioned that they got more into the Dead after finding this huge Archive collection, but I was already intensely interested in them before discovering this place.
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Poster: | midnight sun | Date: | Apr 12, 2010 4:26pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Spanish Jam (redux) |
sure appreciate this William, @ $10 a gb for everything i download AND upload torrent is out of the question for me (NWTel still holds a monopoly in No Can)
and it goes w/o saying you are more than welcome to a copy of anything that i mention that interests you
BillyD: i'll vouch for those jams
Cream 10/15/67 - Spoonful 20:46, Toad 17:03, N.S.U. 15:53, Sweet Wine 13:55 and a half doz other tunes in the 5 to 10 minute range...both Clapton and Bruce play full out raunchy for almost all of it, not much if any in the way of clean sounding guitar/bass, even during the singing portions
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Poster: | billydlions | Date: | Apr 12, 2010 6:55pm |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Spanish Jam (redux) |
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Poster: | William Tell | Date: | Apr 12, 2010 8:57am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Spanish Jam (redux) |
This post was modified by William Tell on 2010-04-12 15:57:40
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Poster: | stealyourwife | Date: | Apr 12, 2010 10:33am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Spanish Jam (redux) |
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Poster: | Longnstrange | Date: | Apr 12, 2010 11:01am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Spanish Jam (redux) |
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Poster: | elbow1126 | Date: | Apr 12, 2010 7:21am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Spanish Jam (redux) |
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Poster: | William Tell | Date: | Apr 12, 2010 10:30am |
Forum: | GratefulDead | Subject: | Re: Spanish Jam (redux) |