Phil Lesh
Philip Chapman Lesh (born March 15, 1940) is an American musician and a founding member of the Grateful Dead, with whom he played bass guitar throughout their 30-year career. After the band's disbanding in 1995, Lesh continued the tradition of Grateful Dead family music with side project Phil Lesh and Friends, which paid homage to the Dead's music by playing their originals, common covers, and the songs of the members of his band. Lesh operated a music venue called Terrapin Crossroads. He scaled back his touring regimen in 2014 but continues to perform with Phil Lesh & Friends at select venues. From 2009 to 2014, he performed in Furthur alongside former Grateful Dead bandmate Bob Weir. Lesh was born in Berkeley, California, United States, and started out as a violin player. While enrolled at Berkeley High School he switched to trumpet and participated in all of the school's music-related extracurricular activities. Studying the instrument under Bob Hansen, conductor of the symphonic Golden Gate Park Band, he developed a keen interest in avant-garde classical music and free jazz. After attending San Francisco State University for a semester, Lesh was unable to secure a favorable position in the school's band or orchestra and determined that he was not ready to pursue a higher education. Upon dropping out, he successfully auditioned for the renowned Sixth Army Band (then stationed at the Presidio of San Francisco) with the assistance of Hansen, but was ultimately determined to be unfit for military service. Shortly thereafter, he enrolled at the College of San Mateo, where he wrote charts for the community college's well-regarded big band and ascended to the first trumpet chair. (A snippet of tape of Lesh on trumpet at CSM can be heard on "Born Cross-Eyed" from the Grateful Dead's 1968 release Anthem of the Sun.) After transferring with sophomore standing to the University of California, Berkeley in 1961, he befriended future Grateful Dead keyboardist Tom Constanten before dropping out again after less than a semester. At the behest of Constanten, he studied under the Italian modernist Luciano Berio in a graduate-level course at Mills College in the spring of 1962; their classmates included Steve Reich and Stanford University cross-registrant John Chowning. While volunteering for KPFA as a recording engineer during this period, he met bluegrass banjo player Jerry Garcia. Despite seemingly opposite musical interests, they soon formed a friendship. Following a brief period as a Post Office Department employee and keno marker in Las Vegas (initially rooming with Constanten, who soon departed to study under Berio and other members of the Darmstadt School in Europe); a second stint with the Post Office in San Francisco; and a collaboration with the likes of Reich, Jon Gibson and Constanten upon the latter's return from Europe under the auspices of the San Francisco Mime Troupe, Lesh was talked into becoming the bassist for Garcia's new rock band (then known as The Warlocks) in the fall of 1964. This was a peculiar turn of events, as Lesh had never before played bass. According to Lesh, the first song he rehearsed with the band was "I Know You Rider". He joined them for their third or fourth gig (memories vary) and stayed until the end. ... Source: Article "Phil Lesh" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Known For
Credits
- 2022 · Inside Scofield as
- 2022 · Grateful Dead Meet-Up 2022 as Self
- 2020 · Bob Dylan & Phil Lesh & Friends – Baltimore Arena 1999 as Self
- 2019 · Grateful Dead - Giants Stadium 1991 as Self
- 2018 · Basketball: A Love Story as Self (archive footage)
- 2017 · Long Strange Trip as Self
- 2017 · Long Strange Trip as Self
- 2016 · Dear Jerry - Celebrating The Music of Jerry Garcia as Self
- 2015 · Grateful Dead: Fare Thee Well - 50 Years of Grateful Dead (Santa Clara) as Self - Performer
- 2015 · Grateful Dead: Fare Thee Well - 50 Years of Grateful Dead (Chicago) as Self - Performer
- 2015 · Grateful Dead: 2015.07.05 - Chicago, IL as Self
- 2015 · Grateful Dead: Fare Thee Well - Rainbows Are Real, Chicago, IL as Self
- 2015 · Grateful Dead: 2015.07.04 - Chicago, IL as Self
- 2015 · Grateful Dead: 2015.07.03 - Chicago, IL as Self
- 2015 · Grateful Dead: 2015.06.28 - Santa Clara, CA as Self
- 2015 · Grateful Dead: 2015.06.27 - Santa Clara, CA as Self
- 2013 · Move Me Brightly - Celebrating Jerry Garcia's 70th Birthday as Self
- 2013 · Grateful Dead: Sunshine Daydream as Self
- 2012 · Grateful Dead: All The Years Combine - The DVD Collection as Self
- 2011 · Magic Trip as Self (archive footage)
- 2011 · Grateful Dead: Crimson, White & Indigo as Self
- 2008 · Grateful Dead: Rocking The Cradle as Self
- 2006 · Phil Lesh and Friends: Live at the Warfield as Himself
- 2006 · Tom Snyder's Electric Kool-Aid Talk Show as Self
- 2005 · Grateful Dead: Bird Song as Self
- 2003 · Festival Express as Self
- 2003 · Grateful Dead: View from the Vault IV as Self
- 2002 · Rising Low as Himself
- 2002 · Grateful Dead: View from the Vault III as Self
- 2001 · Grateful Dead: View from the Vault II as Self
- 2001 · The End of the Road as Self
- 2000 · Grateful Dead: View from the Vault as Self
- 2000 · Grateful Dead: View from the Vault as Himself
- 1997 · Classic Albums as Self
- 1997 · Grateful Dead: Anthem to Beauty as Self
- 1993 · Truckin' With The Dead as Self
- 1989 · Grateful Dead: Live at Foxboro as Self
- 1989 · Grateful Dead: Truckin Up to Buffalo as Self
- 1989 · Grateful Dead: The Making of "Built to Last" as Self
- 1989 · Grateful Dead: Downhill from Here as Self - Performer
- 1987 · Grateful Dead: Ticket to New Year's Eve Concert as Self
- 1987 · Grateful Dead: So Far as Self - Bass
- 1981 · Grateful Dead: Live on Rockpalast as Self - Performer
- 1981 · Grateful Dead: Dead Ahead as Self - Grateful Dead
- 1978 · Grateful Dead: The Closing of Winterland as Self
- 1977 · The Grateful Dead as Self
- 1977 · Grateful Dead: New Jersey Half-Step Uptown Toodleloo - Live at The Capitol Theater as Self - Performer
- 1975 · Apostrophes as Self - Grateful Dead
- 1970 · Gimme Shelter as Self
- 1970 · San Francisco Rock: A Night at the Family Dog as
- 1966 · The Acid Test as Self
- Future · Grateful Dead: Bits And Pieces About... as