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Song Review: Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders - “Finders Keepers”

Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders.

They go together like rock ‘n’ roll. Like rhythm & blues, like jazz and fusion and like electric Kool-Aid and acid tests.

On the upcoming three-disc set Garcia Live Volume Six: Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders, July 5, 1973, Lion’s Share, out June 24, guitarist Garcia and keyboardist Saunders are joined by a powerhouse rhythm section comprised of drummer Bill Vitt and bassist John Kahn, and a trumpeter whose name is lost to history.

The the namesake duo’s instrumental version of the Chairmen of the Board’s “Finders Keepers" is one of the 14 tracks the band laid down that night and it’s a doozy. It finds Garcia and Saunders, on clavinet and organ, digging deep into a funk-filled groove as they and their mates unwind the song’s infectious theme for more than nine minutes.

Despite featuring half of the original Jerry Garcia Band in Garcia and Kahn, this quintet sounds nothing like JGB and bears little resemblance to the Grateful Dead; even Garcia’s guitar tone is unfamiliar as he occasionally flirts with riffs that recall “After Midnight.” This group hews closer to another of Garcia’s extracurricular bands, Legion of Mary, with a jazz sensibility, a funktastic sense of rhythm and a like-minded ability to improvise.

“Finders Keepers” features jamming without meandering, soloing without dominating and five musicians who are clearly playing for nothing but the fun(k) of it. The less-than-spectacular recording just adds to the amiable ambiance captured inside the 200-capacity Lion’s Share all those years ago.