HWJG19710801 question

A little while back we had a whole series of things related to Howard Wales / Jerry Garcia Hooteroll?

  1. Hooteroll?–When Was It Recorded?  — LLD, Jan. 6, 2011
  2. Response to LLD’s Hooteroll–When Was It Recorded? — JGMF, Jan. 7, 2011
  3. Hooteroll? Next Part — JGMF, 1/13/2011

In that last one, I mentioned Blair Jackson’s information that the JG vault holds “four live multitrack reels from Boston, dated 8/1,” which I infer to be August 1, 1971. I had this to say:

Whoa. Is it possible that Wales & Garcia played in Boston on Jerry’s 29th birthday, August 1, 1971? Well, the GD did play Yale University (New Haven, CT) on 7/31 … anyone ever wonder what was up with that? JG’s first solo album, Garcia, was said to have been recorded in three weeks in July 1971, and then the GD go out east for a one-off. So JG almost certainly began 8/1 within easy reach of Boston … is it possible that a Boston gig happened this late in the game, with no contemporary record or memory of it?

Well, I still don’t know the answer. But I can report that I scoured several Boston microfilm sources (Boston Globe, Boston Phoenix, maybe Boston After Dark, etc.) from the 8/1/71 timeframe turned up nothing. My thinking has been maybe that there was some studio aspect to this, not sure why. I smell a record company or that type of person around this, though I doubt that hunch is worth much. If it were a record company thing, maybe there wouldn’t have been any advertising. If anyone from the standard underground press (Phoenix, B.A.D.) had gone, I’d have to think it would have showed up as a  mention, at least. But nothing.

Anyway, as of now, consider me mystified as to what “live multitrack reels from Boston, dated 8/1″ might hold …


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4 responses to “HWJG19710801 question”

  1. Corry342 Avatar

    This is a much deeper mystery than it may first appear. Most confusingly listed Garcia tapes fall into two categories: improperly dated or utterly spurious. 8/1/71 Boston is clearly neither.

    Do you know who was playing the Jazz Workshop? Alan Douglas–the likely mover and shaker here–was a jazz snob of the highest (lowest) order, always trying to make rock players into jazz guys. CBS could have taken over the Jazz Workshop (at 733 Boylston) for a few hundred dollars worth of drinks, and had a private show/recording session.

    Given that it was the Sunday after a Dead show, it could have been at 3am on Saturday evening (so to speak), or after hours on Sunday night.

  2. Corry342 Avatar

    Paul's Mall and Jazz Workshop were both at 733 Boylston, and existed simultaneously. I'm not sure if they were different rooms in the same building, or a different physical setup depending on the act, or what.

  3. Fate Music Avatar

    Ernie Santuosso, "In Town," Boston Globe, July 30, 1971, p. 11:

    "Guitarist George Benson and his group are the Jazz Workshop attraction this week while down the hall in Paul's Mall Willie Bobo and his band go Latin and pop for another week."

    Doesn't mean others weren't there, but this seems to have been the billing.

  4. Corry342 Avatar

    ok then…so much for my clever theory. We are back to an even bigger mystery.

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