![]() ![]() Rich Daniels, who steps in as guest conductor when a local maestro is unavailable, was not acquainted with the full Garcia catalog before his initial participation. ![]() In general, symphonies are very regimented, so the whole concept was: ‘How can we marry the two worlds together and still maintain as much improvisation in order to honor the music?’” We orchestrated the improvisation in a way where the symphony is reading and playing music that was originally improvised. “We don’t play the whole song, we only play part of it that was adapted from a version of ‘Dark Star’ that was complete improvisation. I figured ‘Dark Star’ was the perfect song to start out. It was going to be a unique take on not only the music, but on the symphonic approach to the music as well. It wasn’t going to be just orchestral readings of the Jerry Garcia songbook. ![]() Both ‘Terrapin’ and ‘Morning Dew’ just rise to a really intense level with the symphony.”Įach of these performances has opened with a version of “Dark Star.” Haynes explains, “I wanted people to get a sense, right off the bat, that this wasn’t going to be a normal symphonic production. So, on a nightly basis, I’m jamming just like I would on stage with a three-or-four-or five-piece band. My biggest challenge has been improvising on top of the symphony playing the predesignated parts because I’m just trying to respond to what they’re playing and, even if I heard it a hundred times, I wouldn’t know it well enough to have memorized it. “In some cases, we would continue improvising and some cases, we would go back to a rehearsed moment. “We built these windows of opportunity into the show where the symphony would bow out and myself and Jeff Sipe and Lincoln Schleifer would improvise to our hearts’ content, and on cue, the symphony would come back in,” he says. There are no prior rehearsals for the local musicians, who receive their sheet music on the day of each show (which is standard practice for such settings).Īlthough Haynes’ classical collaborators will be focused on reading the pages in front of them, the guitarist has made a point to ensure that improvisation is well represented. The way these shows come together is that Haynes and company arrive in each city for a soundcheck and then run through the entire performance with the orchestra. Then, of course, there are the local symphonies. A new addition to the roster is singer Jaclyn LaBranch, who provides a direct lineage to the event’s namesake through her years with the Jerry Garcia Band. Joining Haynes at the fore each evening will be drummer Jeff Sipe, bassist Lincoln Schleifer and vocalist Jasmine Muhammad, all of whom have participated in the Celebration since 2013. The personnel is another integral element. You kind of play to the sound that’s a very important aspect.” In an improvisational setting, most musicians respond to the sound of their instrument. Instruments have that effect- when you hear the sound of a certain instrument, it influences the way you play. The sound of the instrument just automatically conjures up these melodies and phrases that would be coming from him. It’s very inspiring, and I felt like it put me a little closer to that music and pushed me to play with a little more of Garcia’s influence than I would on a normal basis. “Then, when I actually picked up the instrument and plugged it in, it played so well and had such a unique, beautiful sound that I decided to play it on the entire tour-every night, every song. I’ll be able to figure out a few songs to play it on, it’ll be great,’” he recalls. “When I had first heard that I was going to be able to play Wolf on the tour, I thought, ‘Well, that’s great news. Haynes will, once again, take the stage with Wolf, Jerry Garcia’s iconic, Doug Irwin-designed custom guitar, as he has since the debut of the Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration at Pittsburgh, Pa.’s Heinz Hall on June 18, 2013. At each of the nine performances, curated by the Garcia family, Haynes and a small group of handpicked players will collaborate with local orchestras to interpret the songs of Jerry Garcia, along with some of the signature cover tunes associated with the Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia Band. The summer of 2016 marks the return of the Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration, featuring Warren Haynes, after a year’s hiatus. ![]()
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