Grateful Dead’s Phil Lesh Dies at 84

Grateful Dead released their first album, also called Grateful Dead, in March 1967, but they were just as well-known across the Bay Area for their long, free-form concerts. More albums followed as the band’s acclaim and notoriety grew. Lesh did not take the lead, as a writer or a singer, on many songs, but he did co-write the opening and closing songs on 1970’s American Beauty, “Box of Rain” and “Truckin’.” He also sang the lead vocals on “Box of Rain.” And, regarding “Truckin’,” Lesh once said, “We took our experiences on the road and made it poetry… the last chorus defines the band itself.”

Lesh was a fixture with the Grateful Dead until the band’s dissolution, in 1995, following the death of Jerry Garcia. He soon began performing with a rotating lineup of members as Phil Lesh and Friends. He did not, however, join his former bandmates in the revival act Dead & Company.

In the mid-2000s, Lesh wrote about his years with the Grateful Dead in the book Searching for the Sound. Around that time, the musician also revealed that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, ultimately having surgery to treat it. Nearly a decade later, he had bladder cancer surgery.

In a joint statement, on Friday, the Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, and Bobby Weir said:

Today we lost a brother. Our hearts and love go out to Jill Lesh, Brian and Grahame. Phil Lesh was irreplaceable. In one note from the Phil Zone, you could hear and feel the world being born. His bass flowed like a river would flow. It went where the muse took it. He was an explorer of inner and outer space who just happened to play bass. He was a circumnavigator of formerly unknown musical worlds. And more.

We can count on the fingers of one hand the people we can say had as profound an influence on our development - in every sense. And there have been even less people who did so continuously over the decades and will continue to for as long as we live. What a gift he was for us. We won’t say he will be missed, as in any given moment, nothing we do will be without the lessons he taught us - and the lessons that are yet to come, as the conversations will go on.

Phil loved the Dead Heads and always kept them in his heart and mind. The thing is… Phil was so much more than a virtuoso bass player, a composer, a family man, a cultural icon…

There will be a lot of tributes, and they will all say important things. But for us, we’ve spent a lifetime making music with Phil Lesh and the music has a way of saying it all. So listen to the Grateful Dead and, in that way, we’ll all take a little bit of Phil with us, forever.

For this is all a dream we dreamed one afternoon, long ago….

- Mickey, Billy and Bobby

In an additional statement of his own, Weir shared:

At the age of seventeen, I listened to the John Coltrane Quartet, focusing on McCoy Tyner’s work, feeding Coltrane harmonic and rhythmic ideas to springboard off of - and I developed an approach to guitar playing based off of it. This happened because Phil turned me on to the Coltrane Quartet.

Early on, he also introduced me (and us) to the wonders of modern classical music, with its textures and developments, which we soon tried our hands at incorporating into what we had to offer. This was all new to peoples’ ears. Igor Stravinsky’s work wasn’t news to me at that point, but what he did and how he did it were ongoing topics of discussion for Phil and I - and boy, did I ever grow.

Concurrent with all this was the ongoing conversation about the things (ideas) we present outside of music, and the effect it would have in shaping the world around us - let’s just say Phil wasn’t particularly averse to ruffling a few feathers. We had our differences, of course, but it’s not platitudinous to say that that only made our work together more meaningful.

Our conversation and interaction will last, at very least, ‘til the end of my days.

The Muse gives us the people and tools to work with. Where we go with that work emerges from somewhere between our intuition and her inspiration. It’s a process always cloaked deep in Mystery, and at its best, the Mystery is forever lasting after its rendering. *Look out of any window…* has that ring to it.

Meanwhile, given that death is the last and best reward for a life *well and fully lived*, I rejoice in his liberation...

Kreutzmann added:

Phil Lesh was my brother. Not by blood but still by family. I’ve heard so many of you tell me that the Grateful Dead changed your life. Yeah, well… Phil Lesh changed mine.

Phil turned me onto John Coltrane. Back in the early days of our friendship, he wasn’t just like a brother to me - he was like an older brother. A roommate. A bandmate. A mentor.

All lifelong friendships and family relationships are complicated and dynamic, but ultimately stand the test of time. So keep only the good memories, for they are the only ones that matter. That’s what I’m going to do. Because love is real, not fade away.

Thank you Phil. I’ll miss you, darn it.

Mickey Hart wrote in another statement:

Phil Lesh changed my life. There are only a few people you meet in your lifetime that are special, important, who help you grow spiritually as well as musically.
He turned me on to the world’s music, gave me my first Alla Rakha record when we lived on Belvedere Street, changing forever what I thought was musically possible. Phil was foremost an improvisationalist and taught me, all of us. Phil was bigger than life, at the very center of the band and my ears, filling my brain with waves of bass. All those years we all rode the third rail together creating something that cannot be defined in words. Phil was a master of a style he invented, he was singular, an original, nobody sounded like him, nobody. He had wisdom, was older and showed us the way. Later he became first and foremost a family man.. There is no one who loved his wife and sons more than Phil and no one was more dedicated to the Grateful Dead. His sound is indelibly embedded in my mind as is Jerry’s sound… and always will be.

The family of Jerry Garcia also shared a note on Lesh’s death, writing:

We are devastated to learn of Phil’s passage to the next life. We will miss his sharply dry humor, wry smiles and brilliant insights. Our hearts and our love go out to his beloved wife and family. He truly lived for them with all his being.

His life’s work is a beacon for all of humanity and will continue to guide countless generations of musicians into the backbone of the beat. There are no words to fully express the impact he made with his music and his incredible mind. We are eternally grateful and hope everyone joins us in wishing him a wondrous and peaceful voyage to the great beyond.

Thank you Phil! May your blessed cosmic cerebral beats play on.

With all our love and smiles,
from the Garcia family

PS say hi to Jerry

On Wednesday, MusiCares named the Grateful Dead the 2025 Persons of the Year. In a statement, following Lesh’s death, the organization’s executive director, Laura Segura, said:

MusiCares mourns the loss of Phil Lesh. As a legendary bassist and founding member of the Grateful Dead, Phil’s distinctive contributions to music, advocacy, and philanthropy leave an enduring impact.

Phil will be reverently honored with his Grateful Dead bandmates as our 2025 Persons of the Year, commemorating their journey that transcends music and fosters a profound sense of unity and generosity. This tribute stands as a testament to Phil’s remarkable legacy, commitment to creating community, and unwavering dedication to causes close to his heart, including his Unbroken Chain Foundation and MusiCares.

Phil will be deeply missed, and our thoughts are with his loved ones and the Grateful Dead community.

from https://pitchfork.com