Humphrey’s Last Hometown Warmup: JGMS at Keystone, November 2, 1974

LN jg1974-11-02.jgms.148mins.aud-castelli-motb-0158.111191.flac2496


Update 12/27/2012: This is, indeed, Paul Humphrey drumming.

The Mouth of the Beast crowd, led by the inimitable Bob Menke, recently dropped Robert Castelli’s master audience cassette recording of November 2, 1974 on an unsuspecting world. I foreshadowed this a little bit in a previous post. I have a few observations, and then reproduce my listening notes below.

  1. The tape is listenable. I am sure the MOTB folks did incredible work with it. Thank you, gentlemen!
  2. The show is pretty darn sloppy. Hate to bring it up, but anyone know anything specific about Merl’s history with substances? Some of these Keystone tapes have a real heroin vibe to them.
  3. Fierro plays maracas or the twisty rhythm instrument at turns when he’s not blowing. He sounds like he’s having fun, but it makes me want to fling myself off the nearest tall building.
  4. This the last show before the east coast tour, breaking Paul Humphrey in.
  5. update: the actual setlist differs from what’s on the tape. I reproduce the real deal in comments below.

Anyway, notes below.

MOTB Release: 0158 16/44.1
Release Date: 2010-11-03
Band: Jerry Garcia Band [sic]
Date: 1974-11-02 (Saturday) [Note: was given as Wednesday]
Venue: Keystone
Location: Berkley, CA
Analog Audience Source: FOB Master Cassettes (MAC)
Medium Stock Brands: MAC = 2 x Maxell UD C-90
Analog Lineage: 1 x Sony ECM 270 >> Sony TC 110 >> MAC
Analog Sound Preservation: MAC >> Nakamichi CR7a => Korg MR-1000 >> DSF [1-bit 5.6448 MHz Stereo] >> Korg MR-1000 => Korg AudioGate >> WAV [24/96]
Taped By: Robert Castelli
Transfer By: Bob Menke
Mastering By: Derek McCabe

–set I (6 tracks, 63:24)–
s1t01: /Neighbor, Neighbor [10:#24] [0:10] %
s1t02: [0:23] Valdez In The Country// [10:40]#
s1t03: Freedom Jazz Dance [10:46] [0:13]
s1t04: % Tough Mama [9:30] [0:04] %
s1t05: [0:33] You Can Leave Your Hat On [11:25] [0:09]
s1t06: % That’s A Touch I Like [9:02] (1) [0:05]

–set II (6 tracks, 84:59)–
s2t01: Wondering Why [20:52] ->
s2t02: People Make The World Go Round [3:35] [0:14]
s2t03: % Mystery Train [13:47] [0:03]
s2t04: % /It Ain’t No Use [12:#06] [0:07]
s2t05: Favela [19:24]
s2t06: % /Boogie On Reggae Woman// % [#14:51]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
! Lineup: Jerry Garcia – el-g, vocals;
! Lineup: Merl Saunders – keyboards, vocals;
! Lineup: Martin Fierro – saxophone, flute, percussion;
! Lineup: John Kahn – el-bass;
! Lineup: Paul Humphrey – drums.

JGMF:

! Recording: symbols: % = recording discontinuity; / = clipped song; // =
cut song; … = fade in/out; # = truncated timing; [ ] = recorded event
time. The recorded event time immediately after the song or item name
is an attempt at getting the “real” time of the event. So, a timing of
[x:xx] right after a song title is an attempt to say how long the song
really was, as represented on this recording.

! Jerrybase: https://jerrybase.com/events/19741102-01

! db: http://etreedb.org/shn/110552 (this fileset, 16/44); http://etreedb.org/shn/111191 (this fileset, 24/96).

! R: Seed Notes: There are many areas where the mics get overloaded and the sound gets distorted.

! R: s1t01 NN enters a few notes in

! P: s1t02 VITC: it takes Merl about 40 seconds to come in with his introductory keyboard part. Needs to tighten up a little bit, though Humphrey is awesome.

! P: s1t02 VITC @ 6-min mark, second percussionist comes in … maraca or one of those twisty rhythm instruments. @ 8:52 Merl is doing a recognizable riff

! R: s1t02 VITC @ 10:22 SQ change, then return; cuts out

! P: s1t03 FJD ca. 4:20 drop into a little theme, had a chance to do something interesting @ 5:20, but JG comes back to FJD theme. JG is getting nicely out into a GD-ish vibe around 7:30

! P: s1t05 YCLYHO start Merl has some seriously funky synth working … or is it clarinet? I am confused about what I am hearing. It is unique and very weird

! R: s1t05 skip/glitch @ 2:30; Martin comes in @ 6:29

! s1t05 (1) JG: “We’re gonna take a little break for awhile. We’ll be back in a few minutes.”

! R: s2t04 IANU clips in, missing first five notes or so.

! song: s2t04 was given as “It’s Too Late”, but it is “It Ain’t No Use”.

! P: s2t05 Favela maraca player comes back in @ 5:56-6:19, 6:34-9:08. Doesn’t sound like much of a player to my ears … Comes back on cowbell @ 9:20, better, until 13:21.

! R: s2t05 Favela SQ degradation @ 16:10, half signal or something.

! P: s2t05 Favela ends with a nice space-out

! R: s2t06 BORW clips in, not much missing.

! P: s2t06 BORW is a trainwreck at the start. Merl sounds wrecked. Maraca is back in 4-min mark. Is this Martin? Not sure it ever happens when he’s blowing. Switches to conga @ 5:14. Horn @ 8-min mark preceded by end of conga playing. Merl really isn’t bringing it. Maracas back in @ 10:37 …, BAD maraca playing …. – 13:00, then the horn comes back.

! R: s2t06 BORW cuts out

! I infer from the patterns that the maraca (or whatever) is Fierro, when he’s not blowing.


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13 responses to “Humphrey’s Last Hometown Warmup: JGMS at Keystone, November 2, 1974”

  1. Nick Avatar

    ?? Do you mean that the tape circulating as "11/2/74 Keystone" (above) doesn't jive with the list on the vault tape? fascinating.

  2. Fate Music Avatar

    Not Vault tape, but Betty Board that has only recently become known of.

  3. Fate Music Avatar

    Circling back, this leaves the actual dates of the material on the circulating Castelli tape dated 11/2/74 a mystery. At least the following songs are totally orphaned, and it's not clear how the songs that overlap between the given setlist and the Betty tape would compare (i.e., whether they are the same or not).

    Neighbor, Neighbor
    Tough Mama
    That's A Touch
    WW
    PMTWGR
    It's Too Late
    Favela
    BORW

  4. runonguinness Avatar

    That new Betty Board looks suspiciously like 74-11-27 Keystone Berkeley. It's exactly the same in content but with Harder They Come added in front and its date is the same if you remove the 7 from the 27.

  5. runonguinness Avatar

    "Date: 1974-11-02 (Saturday) [Note: was given as Wednesday]"

    1974-11-27 actually was a Wednesday

  6. Fate Music Avatar

    I have a favor to ask of you, dear reader. Can you please listen to IANU, Favela, and BORW at the end of the Castelli tape with an ear toward the drumming? I don't want to say too much more, because I don't want to impact your listening too much, but I have a little theory about these three tunes and having a sense of who is drumming might help refute it, or might fail to refute it, depending on what you hear. Post thoughts here if you find time and inclination to do this. Thanks!

  7. Fate Music Avatar

    I am confused, though – the note about Wednesday refers to Castelli's tape, supposedly dated 11/2/74. I will compare versions with 11/27/74, but the provenance of this 11/2/74 Betty Board is impeccable.

  8. Fate Music Avatar

    In any case, we have two totally separate sources, with a ton of overlapping material, dated 11/2. And I have just checked 11/27, and it's not the same material. So I am confident we have 11/2/74. The questions remain 1) why does Castelli's "MAC" have some tunes out of order? Is there a pattern of tape flipping that might account for this? 2) From where do the last three tunes come? I have a little theory about that, but I need some help with folks putting ears on the drumming.

  9. Fate Music Avatar

    OK, I just did my little test, and I fail to disconfirm my hypothesis. (Not the same as confirming, but better than disconfirming.) My hypothesis is that the last three tunes lived on the B-side of the last 11/2/74 tape, and were from a subsequent show that Mr. Castelli taped. So, for example, 12/12/74 is said to have started with IANU, an instrumental, and BORW. That is from sbd tape which I have not heard. But it could very well be that we have those three tunes, from that night, here. I wanted to listen to the drumming, because by 12/12/74 Tutt would have been in that chair. Indeed, spinning this Favela (at the end of Castelli's "11/2/74 MAC"), and comparing it with a known Humphrey version (11/28/74 in this case) reveals totaly different styles.

    So, while I can't say my hypothesis is right, I can say that it remains a live candidate after testing one of its implications.

  10. runonguinness Avatar

    What do you mean by 'it's not the same material'? Are the songs repeated on both Castelli and 11/27 different versions of the same songs or the same?

    I haven't had the time to listen to both but my hunch is that the new BB will match 11/27 which means that they are both from 11/2. Otherwise JGMS played the Keystone twice in 3 and a bit weeks with the same setlist over two sets. The Castelli identified as 11/2 therefore I assume to be from a different show(s) (this would be disproved if the repeated songs match). As the Castelli 11/2 (a Saturday)is identified as a Wednesday Keystone and 11/27 is a Wednesday Keystone date that would now be open I theorise that Castellis's Wednesday 11/27/74 was mistranscribed as Wednesday 11/2/74 at some stage.

  11. Fate Music Avatar

    They are different versions, so, yes, it seems like the same setlist twice in a month.

    11/2/74 Betty Board is the same as 11/2/74 Castelli
    11/27/74 Betty Board is different from those

  12. Nick Avatar

    I am down with the idea that Ain't No Use, Favela, and BORW are from another show. Paul Humphrey is not the drummer on those three cuts — I feel pretty confident about that. I'm not 100% sure of who it could be, but I think it's Tutt.

    1. Humphrey's style was generally much flashier than the drums on these three tunes, Favela especially. Humphrey was playing everything on those Nov 74 Favelas and would ramp up the intensity as the solos progressed, and the drummer here isn't doing anything like what Humphrey usually did. LOM with Tutt only played Favela a handful of times, and typically at a much lower temperature — compare this with 12/29/74 and it sounds like it could very well be Tutt on drums here.

    2. Garcia/Saunders seems to have never played BORW with Humphrey: this 11/2/74 tape would be the only version, and it seems odd that they would have played it one time at the warm-up gig before the tour and never played it again. However, LOM with Tutt played BORW almost nightly. This version is a mess at the beginning since they can't seem to find the same downbeat, but once it gets rolling it does sound more like Tutt imho. And if it's an early version with Tutt (eg 12/12/74), it would make sense that they didn't fully have it down yet.

  13. Fate Music Avatar

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