The Group with George Tickner: Keystone, March 7, 1973

LN jg1973-03-07.jgms.s2p-48mins.sbd-alligator.31501.flac1644

Update 4/22/2012: The second guitarist is George Tickner.

Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
Keystone
2119 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA
March 7, 1973 (Wednesday)

–Set II (3 tracks, 48:42, partial set)–
t01. untitled 19730307 [19:59] [0:08] % [0:06]
t02. Merl’s Tune [14:18] ->
t03. Georgia On My Mind [13:44] (1) [0:27]

! ACT1: Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders
! lineup: Jerry Garcia – el-g, vocals;
! lineup: Merl Saunders – keyboards;
! lineup: John Kahn – el-bass;
! lineup: George Tickner – el-g;
! lineup: Bill Vitt – drums;
! lineup: Sarah Fulcher – vocals.

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/19730307-01

! db: shnid 31501 (this source). This is one of the mostly-uncirculated “third batch” of Betty Cantor-Jackson’s tapes, which came to light around late 1995. Rob Eaton professionally preserved the tapes, many of which were seemingly-irredeemably water-damaged and filth-encrusted. Thank goodness he did. Tapes like this show us stuff that otherwise would be completely unknown. Eaton supplied DATs of these tapes to Latvala and/or the Garcia vault. It would seem that Lossless Legs user ‘alligator’, who shared these with the world, was indeed very well-connected.

! Given lineage: “MSR > DAT3x > Delta Dio 2496 > Soundforge > WAV > FLAC1644”; seeded to Lossless Legs by alligator.

! Seeder note: “There are some low volume digital pops that can heard during the quieter parts of the performance. They did not detract from me thoroughly enjoying this show.”

! personnel: Garcia, Saunders and Fulcher are easy, and the little bass solo in Georgia On My Mind is almost certainly (p <. 05) by John Kahn. We can assume it’s Vitt drumming, I guess. The historcal assumption was that the second guitarist was Tom Fogerty, but it turns out to be George Ticker. GT has better lead guitar chops than Tom, who actually is never known to have played with JGMS in 1973 despite having been billed in the early part of the year.

! setlist: t01 is almost certainly a song with a name. This is the one with Jerry and Sarah singing, duet-style, as if to each other, “ba ba, ba ba, da dah”. It’s really nice. The vocals start up around 3:20 in.

! P: t02 Tickner makes himself heard at  @ 1:02, then plays a hot solo from 1:15-2:35. He is good, and it strikes me unusual for someone other than Jerry or Merl to take the first solo. This guy is tearing it up.

! P: t02 Merl’s Tune is in a really nice jam space in the 4-min mark, with Merl moaning, groaning, howling, burning. Very nice. Garcia tries to double-time it around 5:09, Merl swirling around, Jerry’s saying at 5:20 that he has an idea and runs with it for a bit. There’s a deep, screaming space in the 11-minute mark. Tickner is also then wailing around 11:20 for awhile.

! P: t02 I think this version of Merl’s Tune is fantastic.

! P: t03 Garcia is the one who drops them into Georgia On My Mind. Subtle, delicate, beautiful. John Kahn plays a beautiful bass solo in the 10-minute mark of GOMM. Right on, man! Great American Songbook, baby.

! t03 (1) @ 13:55 JG “Well the light is on, as you all know. So … we have to call a close to the evening’s festivities.” The crowd calls for more, or one more, and Garcia says “I know they’re not gonna dig it” as he appears to call for “How Sweet It Is” with his guitar. I’d bet dollars to donuts they closed the show with HSII.