The Grateful Dead
If you were to do a family tree to trace back to the origins of the myriad of Jam Bands that exist today, the solid roots that anchor that tree would be the Grateful Dead, the original Jam Band. The Dead were the first, and the best in my book, and in the years I took these photos, 1970 to 1972, they were at the top of their game. They played great songs, went off on great extended jams (all right sometimes they were a bit rough), and Pigpen was alive and covering some of those great Blues and R&B tunes as only the Dead could do them. Starting with the UofR in November of 1970 where Jorma Kaukonen showed up to jam into the wee hours, to two nights in April 1971 at Manhattan Center in New York City, shows from which a few of the tunes from the infamous Skull**** Album were culled. There were a few other venues as well. After Pigpen died I went to a few more Dead shows but never got it together to take any more photos, and I kind of parted ways with the Dead, but I'll never forget these shows.