Customer Reviews

Jerry Garcia Collection 1: Legion of Mary

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The important thing to realize about this Legion of Mary release
is the time it was recorded: 1974 & 1975. While I love lots
of Jerry Garcia Band material, most of it was made in the
1980's and 1990's. This Legion of Mary material was made when
Jerry was still in his Grateful Dead prime...and his solos show
that. There are no bad tracks on either CD...but my favorites
are the Dylan opener Tough Mama; I'll Take A Melody; Let It Rock...Tore Up...and MANY others. I even like the saxophone solos...and of course Merle Saunders on keyboard is great. Virtually every track has tremendous Jerry solos...and his voice is in good shape as well. This is gooooooood stuff.

My friend Larry had heard that Jerry Garcia had been playing in Berkeley outside of The Grateful Dead. To keep everything low-key the band was called: "Legion of Jerry". It was right before Christmas 74, and since the "farewell" shows had just happened at Winterland in October and nobody knew if the Grateful Dead HAD any kind of a future at this point, it did look like Jerry had moved-on, and now was fronting a new band.

It's now 2007, and I'm listening to this great "Legion of Mary" release. This version of the Jerry Garcia/Merl Saunders band featured jazz great: Martin Fierro who had played with Sir Douglas Sahm & the Quintet, back in the 1960's and went on to form: "Zero" with Steve Kimock & Greg Anton, in The 1980's. Martin had toured with the Grateful Dead as 1/2 of their horn section in September 1973, just as: "Wake Of The Flood" was released. Things had not gone down so well for the Grateful Dead big horn band, as the fans weren't too crazy about an R & B flavored Dead. But, Jerry still wanted to explore and perform jazz & R & B, so as of July 74, Martin was asked to join the Garcia/Saunders Band and "Legion of Mary" begins.

Tapes of this band were traded amoung collectors back in the 1980's & 1990's, but they always were of poor quality and never a complete show. Now that Rhino Records is in-charge of the vaults, we are seeing more stuff pour outta them.

These two CD's are from Dec 74-July 75 and were recorded in Portland,Berkeley & San Francisco. This band sounds just a little more layed-back than the Jerry/Merl Band of July 73 that gave us "Live at The Keystone" recordings, and that said, lot's of The rock is gone, Jerry, had shifted gears here and jazz has taken the place of where there was once rock. Now the band had three solo stars in Jerry, Merl & Martin. Tunes increased in length and arrangements were altered to leave spaces for the reeds.

These Two CD's with 14 tracks and 160 minutes of music represent a fair chunk of what the "Legion" was all about. We get Dylan: ("Tough Mama"), The Band: ("The Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Down") and Elvis: ("Mystery Train"). Some folks have mentioned that they gon't like Martin's playing and this ain't jazz, as they wold prefer it to be. Well, maybe this isn't jazz, but you can't Slam Martin's playing here as he ADDS so much to this music. This is Jerry's band and this is Jerrymusic, and it's good & rockin', fun stuff. You don't get to hear much music like this anymore. There are no computers & lip-synch pop boys and girls here just five guys in a bar playing! Just like in Chicago in the forties, San Francisco in the sixties, these musicians sometimes take chances and go out there BUT, they are having good fun.

And Jerry? Right here, Mr. Garcia is in peak form. Listen to him sing: "The Night They Drove Ol' Dixie Down". I've heard him do this song many times, and this is the best! On: "Let It Rock", Jerry goes after Chuck Berry and takes his lead as a slow smolder that builds & builds. Martin, has some good moments as well, on yhis one. We get some rare tunes played: "Neighbor, Neighbor" & "Last Train From Poor Valley". Neighbor, is a blues, slow-burn with Jerry and Martin keepin' it right in the groove. "Poor Valley" is a stunner! I wonder why this is it's first appearance on record, you can only wonder just what The Grateful Dead, COULD have done with this gem.

These two CD's: "Legion of Mary" are really special. The powerhouse that The Grateful Dead, became in the late 70's after the break was BECAUSE of what Jerry mGarcia had learned playing with great musicians such as these. This is true American music, and we are lucky to have it at long last.
FIVE STARS !!!

I've had pretty good tapes of most of these shows, so I was wondering if it would be worth it for the sound upgrade. The answer is a resounding yes, some of my favorite Legion of Mary is now remastered. All songs are top notch. The organ is sweet, the guitar clear, the base and drums distinct. Jerry's voice is sweet and high, not hoarse, just like you old timer's remember it. Highly recommended for all. The bonus disc (from Pure Jerry) is also top notch for those that cannot get enough.

It's great that these old tapes are being put out on CD. The sound quality is very good and the playing is top rate as well. This selection is very good but does not measure up the the Keystone discs with Merl. The music is energetic enough, but the slower tunes and blues songs don't sway and move me. The guitar solos are good, but are not as emotional as fans have come to expect on the Keystone series. I'm being tougher in the comments because there seems to be a tendency among GD and Garcia reviewers to say everyting is the best as long as Jerry's voice isn't cracking and the sound quality is pretty good. With that said. this gets 4 stars based on how it stands alone and not in comparison to other great Garcia discs.

Not as cohesive or intimate as Jerry's Kean College performance, this is nonetheless a brilliant, swinging album with some hard-won victories. The bluesy, ebullient quality of "That's a Touch I Like" will have you tapping your foot and humming along in no time, and "The Night They Drove Ol Dixie Down" is rendered with such lament you'll almost want to reconsider the outcome of the Civil War. In keeping with Rhino's usual, brilliant treatments, the sound quality is excellent... and the feeling is there. And then some. It rivals anything the Dead have committed to record and, in many ways, occasionally surpasses it.

Wow! How great to find such a great collection. Just got this CD set and the music is wonderful. I'm a long time Dead and Garcia fan, but I'm not like some that love everything they did just because its them. Jerry's later performances were not what they were earlier in his career. So its exciting to find some "new" music like this with Jerry in his prime. What great jams...what great guitar. The addition of the horns also brings a jazzy element (similar to "Wake of the Flood" songs) that is welcome here. The sound/recording is also top notch. This is a must buy!

Taken from Portland,12/14/74, Berkelely,3/01/75,& 5/22/75,and San Francisco 2/27,7/04,& 7/05/75. With Garcia is Merl Saunders(keyboards,vocals),John Kahn(bass),Ron Tutt(drums),and Martin Fierro (sax, flute)this line up makes what was called The Legion of Mary. There is some great playing,and a a jazzy relaxed feel through out. Quality is excellent but nothing really new, just more and thats just fine,because when you love his music you can always here something just a little better or at least different in these types of releases ,that is new to our ears. I just hope Rino doesn't over saturate us with too much too fast with their Jerry Garcia Collection, this being Vol 1. There has been a lot of releases in the past 7 years, and this is one of the good ones.The shortest number here is just under 8 minutes,most around 11 minutes,lots of bang for you buck.

I'm not a Deadhead but I do really like this album. Nicely musical and bluesy. Thanks Jerry and Mearle.

This is classic Jerry Garcia. Many tunes that would later become stock material for Jerry Garcia Band. A great recording for any fan of Jerry and the Grateful Dead.

Yes these discs are great , but a glaring omission is any songs with merle on lead vocals. Anyone who ever had a legion of mary tape knows that merle sang as many songs as jerry. So ,was there some issue with royalties or something? Its kind of a big diss to Merle. Not cool. Maybe no one noticed but me, but come on. Merle deserves more respect than that.