LOS ANGELES (AP) 鈥� Phil Lesh, a classically trained violinist and jazz trumpeter who found his true calling reinventing the role of rock bass guitar as a died Friday at age 84.
Lesh's death was announced on his Instagram account. Lesh was the oldest and one of the longest surviving members of the band that came to define the acid rock sound emanating from San Francisco in the 1960s.
鈥淧hil Lesh, bassist and founding member of The Grateful Dead, passed peacefully this morning. He was surrounded by his family and full of love. Phil brought immense joy to everyone around him and leaves behind a legacy of music and love,鈥� reads in part.
The statement did not cite a specific cause of death and attempts to reach representatives for additional details were not immediately successful. Lesh had previously survived bouts of prostate cancer, and a 1998 liver transplant necessitated by the debilitating effects of a hepatitis C infection and years of heavy drinking.
Lesh鈥檚 death comes two days after MusiCares named the Grateful Dead its Persons of the Year. MusiCares, which helps music professionals needing financial or other kinds of assistance, cited Lesh鈥檚 Unbroken Chain Foundation among other philanthropic initiatives. The Dead will be honored in January at a benefit gala ahead of the in Los Angeles.
Although he kept a relatively low public profile, rarely granting interviews or speaking to the audience, fans and fellow band members recognized Lesh as a critical member of the Grateful Dead whose thundering lines on the six-string electric bass provided a brilliant counterpoint to soaring solos and anchored the band's famous marathon jams.
鈥淲hen Phil's happening the band's happening,鈥� Garcia once said.
Drummer Mickey Hart called him the group's intellectual who brought a classical composer's mindset and skills to a five-chord rock 鈥榥鈥� roll band.
Lesh credited Garcia with teaching him to play the bass in the unorthodox lead-guitar style that he would become famous for, mixing thundering arpeggios with snippets of spontaneously composed orchestral passages.
Fellow bass player Rob Wasserman once said Lesh鈥檚 style set him apart from every other bassist he knew of. While most others were content to keep time and take the occasional solo, Wasserman said Lesh was both good enough and confident enough to lead his fellow musicians through a song鈥檚 melody.
鈥淗e happens to play bass but he鈥檚 more like a horn player, doing all those arpeggios 鈥� and he has that counterpoint going all the time,鈥� he said.
Lesh began his long musical odyssey as a classically trained violinist, starting with lessons in third grade. He took up the trumpet at 14, eventually earning the second chair in California鈥檚 Oakland Symphony Orchestra while still in his teens.
But he had largely put both instruments aside and was driving a mail truck and working as a sound engineer for a small radio station in 1965 when Garcia recruited him to play bass in a fledgling rock band called The Warlocks.
When Lesh told Garcia he didn鈥檛 play the bass, the musician asked, 鈥淒idn鈥檛 you used to play violin?鈥� When he said yes, Garcia told him, 鈥淭here you go, man.鈥�
Armed with a cheap four-string instrument his girlfriend bought him, Lesh sat down for a seven-hour lesson with Garcia, following the latter鈥檚 advice that he tune his instrument鈥檚 strings an octave lower than the four bottom strings on Garcia鈥檚 guitar. Then Garcia turned him loose, allowing Lesh to develop the spontaneous style of playing that he would embrace for the rest of his life.
Lesh and Garcia would frequently exchange leads, often spontaneously, while the band as a whole would frequently break into long experimental, jazz-influenced jams during concerts. The result was that even well-known Grateful Dead songs like 鈥淭ruckin鈥欌�� or 鈥淪ugar Magnolia鈥� rarely sounded the same two performances in a row, something that would inspire loyal fans to attend show after show.
鈥淚t鈥檚 always fluid, we just pretty much figure it out on the fly,鈥� Lesh said, chuckling, during a rare 2009 interview with The Associated Press. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 set those things in stone in the rehearsal room.鈥�
Phillip Chapman Lesh was born on March 15, 1940, in Berkeley, California, the only child of Frank Lesh, an office equipment repairman, and his wife, Barbara.
He would say in later years that his love of music came from listening to broadcasts of the New York Philharmonic on his grandmother鈥檚 radio. One of his earliest memories was hearing the great German composer Bruno Walter lead that orchestra through Brahms鈥� First Symphony.
Musical influences he often cited were not rock musicians but composers like Bach and Edgard Var猫se, as well as jazz greats like John Coltrane and Miles Davis.
Lesh had gravitated from classical music to cool jazz by the time he arrived at the College of San Mateo, eventually becoming first trumpet player in the school鈥檚 big band and a composer of several orchestral pieces the group performed.
But he set the trumpet aside after college, concluding he didn鈥檛 have the lung power to become an elite player.
Soon after he took up the bass, The Warlocks renamed themselves the Grateful Dead and Lesh began captivating audiences with his dexterity. Crowds gathered in what came to be known as 鈥淭he Phil Zone鈥� directly in front of his position onstage.
Although he was never a prolific songwriter, Lesh also composed music for, and sometimes sang, some of the band鈥檚 most beloved songs. Among them were the upbeat country rocker 鈥淧ride of Cucamonga,鈥� the jazz-influenced 鈥淯nbroken Chain鈥� and the ethereally beautiful 鈥淏ox of Rain.鈥�
Lesh composed the latter on guitar as a gift for his dying father, and he recalled that Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, upon hearing the instrumental recording, approached him the next day with a lyric sheet. On that sheet, he said, were 鈥渟ome of the most moving and heartfelt lyrics I鈥檝e ever had the good fortune to sing.鈥�
The band often closed its concerts with the song.
After the group鈥檚 dissolution following Garcia鈥檚 1995 death, Lesh often skipped joining the other surviving members when they got together to perform.
He did take part in a 2009 Grateful Dead tour and again in 2015 for a handful of 鈥淔are Thee Well鈥� concerts marking both the band鈥檚 50th anniversary and what Lesh said would be the last time he would play with the others.
He did continue to play frequently, however, with a rotating cast of musicians he called Phil Lesh and Friends.
In later years he usually held those performances at Terrapin Crossroads, a restaurant and nightclub he opened near his Northern California home in 2012, which was named after the Grateful Dead song and album 鈥淭errapin Station.鈥�
Lesh is survived by his wife, Jill, and sons Brian and Grahame.
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John Rogers, the principal writer of this obituary, retired from The Associated Press in 2021.
John Rogers, The Associated Press
