Thursday, June 11, 2009

Moore Jerry!

Last week, on the morning of June 3, Jerry Moore passed away. Who was Jerry Moore? All's I know about him is he's responsible for taping a lot of music in the mid 70's through to the 80's and maybe beyond? There are shows that we would never be able to hear all these years later if it weren't for Jerry Moore. I don't know if he was a Deadhead first and foremost or if he just loved music. What is for sure is he sure did give a lot of attention to all things Grateful Dead-related, pouring his money and time and love into preserving the music that we love. He really enjoyed that right up until the very end. For all that he's done, we Deadheads who press play on a Jerry Moore production should be very Grateful, not only for what he taped and spread around, but also for inspiring others to get out there and make their own recordings of music we dig listening to.

Over the next few days I'm a-gonna try to pay my respects to Mr. Moore by giving a few of his shows a listen and allowing you to grab them, too, of course.

Thanks, Jerry!



Jerry Garcia & Merl Saunders
July 2, 1974

The Bottom Line
New York City


1st Set: That's The Touch I Like, Expressway (To Your Heart),
Someday Baby, My Funny Valentine, (I'm A) Road Runner

Set 2: How Long Blues#, It's Too Late, After Midnight,
My Problems Got Problems, How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)

- Show without Martin Fierro (horns)
- w/ Maria Muldaur (vocals) + Roger Troy (a.k.a. "Jellyroll") (bass, vocals)
# Roger Troy lead vocals

I hate to criticize the quality of a recording but it's important. If something sucks it might be torture to listen to. Always I attempt to be fair; I'm just going by what my ears hear... and what my ears hear might not be what your ears hear. Ya know? Anyway, this isn't the best Jerry Moore aud of a Jerry & Merl show but it's not terrible by any means. It's a little bit kinda distantly muddy sounding without Jerry's guitar being completely nicely squarely up front in your face as one might like... but it's surely listenable.

The performance is another good one, of course. Did Jerry & Merl ever have an off night? The only songs that had me wishing for a soundboard is My Funny Valentine. This is Grateful Dead-like in the way it kinda melts for awhile into an outer space jazzy dreamy jamland. Very nice Merl here. Road Runner to close the first set really rocks to a great conclusion. John Kahn on bass helping power the way forward while Jerry's on auto-pilot. Absolutely the way you wanna go into Halftime, methinks.

Kicking off Set 2 is a treat, in a way -- the only known version of How Long Blues by a Garcia side project. This is it. Always kinda cool to have a guest on vocals on a tune. After Midnight is purely my highlight of the set. I love the way it just rambles on with everyone playing as important of a role as the next guy. My Problems Got Problems is also is another rambler, much fun to listen to right after After Midnight. And then How Sweet It Is definitely makes a better show-closer than opener. What a wonderful way to end the night. Mmmm! All the way through this is a nice listen and it's made my afternoon a whole lot brighter! Thank you, Jerry & Merl . . . and Jerry!

ARCHIVE HEADPHONESas of 6/11/09, there's still no Garcia at
the Live Music Archive. Complain to your Congressman.
ARCHIVE HEADPHONES
small Cats Under The Stars Download The Show Here small Cats Under The Stars

Source: shnid=14984 Audio Quality:
Lineage: Master Audience Cassette (taped by Jerry Moore) > SHN
7/2/74 - Garcia-Saunders - Part 1
Part Two - Jerry and Merl - 7/2/74
7-2-74 aka 07-02-74 aka 7/02/74 aka 07/02/74 aka 74-07-02

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

thanks for this show,looks very good from play list.keep the tunes coming our way.
the guy from INDY,IN.

Anonymous said...

Hi Zooma,

Thanks for the Jerry Moore news.

I believe Jerry was one of the founders of Dead Relix Magazine and was the editor (Les Kippell was the publisher) up until about 1977 or 1978. I heard that he had a falling out with Les over personal stuff and was squeezed out (but that is 30 year old gossip rising from the dead.) Jerry was one of the early tapers and is mentioned in the history section of the the DH Taping Compendium Vol. 1 (with photo.) He was one of the taping pioneers.

Please note that I didn't download the Jerry/Merl show, so count me as a -1 in your downloads/comments ratio.

Swahanfan

btsacto said...

Here! Here! Salud!

Timmy said...

I'm not the most appreciative audience tape listener, but I think Zoomer's acknowledgement of Jerry Moore's efforts, here, is a fine thing. Being a little choked up, I wanna say: Thanx Jerry Moore, whereever you've wandered to........

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the Jerry & Merle show. Please keep them coming.

dreadbagel said...

I heard about Jerry's passing last week at another Dead-related site, morningdew.us (the website of WBAI's 'Morning Dew' program) and there were links to some other sites, through which I found out that his wake and funeral were in Yonkers NY, not far from my crib in the boogie down Bronx, so, despite not being a personal acquaintance, I came to pay my respects for someone who was so instrumental in circulating and publicizing this music which has done so much to bring people together in the spirit of enlightenment.

There was GD music playing in the viewing chapel and quite a few tapers and Deadheads in attendance, although I didn't know any of them either. Perhaps if they had worn laminated badges of themselves 30+ years ago I might have recogized a couple!

RIP Jerry, a fellow Bronx guy.

Zoooma said...

Thanks all youse guys for chiming in.

As Swahanfan said, Jerry Moore was definitely a pioneer.

Timmy, I know what ya mean about Aud listens. They're not always my favorite but I just try to relax and let myself adjust as much as possible.

I'm sure Jerry Moore taped a few that are just as good as Soundboards. Occasionally an Aud recording turns out spectacularly like that -- Buffalo & Springfield in January 1979, for instance. Auds from small clubs that Jerry played are also occasionally just about as beautiful as a SBD.

Dreadbagel, sounds like he had a proper sendoff. Very cool that you were able to pay your respects. If I was back East where I grew up, out in Jersey about 25 miles west of The Bronx, maybe I'd've ventured on over the GWB to Yonkuhz and dropped on by.

So often I take a recording for granted. But I think now, especially whenever I play a Jerry Moore show, I'll have a brief moment where I really truly appreciate the work of all tapers who wanted to preserve these great tunes for us to one day enjoy.

one says one number and the other another
but they were set at the same time. Hmmm...

i love you amy uzarski.  always!
 
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