Jerry Garcia & Merl Saunders

For five years in the first ’70s, Jerry Garcia & Merl Saunders headed up a loose-knit club band in the SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA area (the group never really had the official name). They specific in a elegant mixture of jazz, R&B, blues, gospel, and light funk with suggestions of bop, fusion, as well as reggae. Apart from the two-volume Live at Keystone (1973), a lot of the group’s documented output from the ’70s made an appearance on numerous Saunders produces, but a reliable blast of archival compilations offers flowed for many years after their last appearance collectively. Garcia is completely flight like a guitarist on the duo recordings, with Saunders’ soul-jazz body organ giving points a wonderfully liquid feel. The very best intro to both is Well-Matched: THE VERY BEST of Merl Saunders & Jerry Garcia, which gathers materials from both live and studio room releases.