Grateful Deadication 2

Dave McMurray

Released on 5/19/23 by Blue Note Records
Main artists: Dave McMurray
Genre: Jazz

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Two years after Grateful Deadication, his initial journey into the music of the Grateful Dead, saxophonist Dave McMurray digs even deeper. Once again, he's supported by his killer Detroit band -- bassist Ibrahim Jones, guitarist Wayne Gerard, keyboardist Maurice O'Neal, and drummer Jeff Canady -- with longtime friends and colleagues in percussionist Larry Fratangelo and keyboardist Luis Resto. The nine-song set also features a star-studded guest list.
Opener "Playing in the Band" is performed by McMurray's quintet, along with Fratangelo and Resto. They get funky almost immediately thanks to Canady's syncopated breaks before a gritty tenor delivers the melody, and they play the hell out of the vamp and handle the middle eight with elegance. Framed by a lilting B-3, upright bass, and drum kit, McMurray's solo weds post-bop to contemporary soul jazz. The last two minutes offer skittering organs, punchy guitars, and drums, with McMurray soaring up top. The minimal blues guitar intro on "China Cat Sunflower" echoes Jerry Garcia's original, with McMurray employing tenor and a lilting flute. While the GD opted for exploratory psychedelia, McMurray delivers danceable jazz-funk adorned with a killer tenor solo and exceptional modal piano from O'Neal. "Bird Song" is introduced by a flute before sparse, rumbling kick drums, poetic guitar, and guest Don Was' upright bass open the gate to jazz. The band is economical, as a two-chord piano vamp frames McMurray's tenor working the lyric vamp before paving the way for solos, including a beauty from Gerard. Criminally under-recorded country singer-songwriter Jamey Johnson sings highlight "To Lay Me Down." A short, rippling piano intro, reedy tenor, and sparse percussion that offers a subtle nod to Pharoah Sanders, before Larry Campbell's fingerpicked acoustic guitar introduces the singer. Convicted and tender, he has never appeared with such vulnerability before. Was' upright, Gerard's electric, and guest Greg Leisz's pedal steel wrap the resonant singer as McMurray frames him in modal soloing. The funky read of "Truckin'" quotes from Booker T. & the MG's' "Green Onions" with Resto's organ the star component. Bob James lends his piano to both "The Other One" and "If I Had the World to Give." The former offers a three-minute post-bop intro with striking interplay between pianist and saxophonist. When the jamming begins, rock and funk inform Jones' smoking bass line, and Gerard's careening guitar and O'Neal's keyboard stack. "Scarlet Begonias," sung by Oteil Burbridge, employs a danceable, NOLA second line groove. The band gels behind the singer, propelling the tune into winding jazz-funk with overdubbed tenor saxes adding color and texture, illustrated by Canady's taut breaks. Closer "Crazy Fingers" is delivered by the quintet with a languid, melodic intro before shape-shifting into rocksteady reggae and transforming again into a rock anthem with transcendent soloing from McMurray. Grateful Deadication 2 easily equals the quality of its predecessor. Taken together, they create one of the more spirited, musically adventurous jazz-funk portraits of the Grateful Dead's music.

© Thom Jurek /TiVo

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Grateful Deadication 2

Dave McMurray

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Playing in the Band