#john molo

Archival “Unbroken Chain” Captures Phil Lesh & Friends at 2005 Apex

Despite more than 100 musicians passing through its revolving doors over a quarter-century of concerts, Phil Lesh & Friends were an “Unbroken Chain” anchored by their namesake former Grateful Dead bassist.

Released in wake of Lesh’s Oct. 25 death, an audience-shot video of the Oct. 9, 2005, lineup performing “Unbroken Chain” in New Jersey illustrates and soundtracks Lesh’s counterintuitive wisdom.

With Barry Sless on lead guitar, John Molo manning the kit and Mookie Siegel on keys, the band (with Larry Campbell and Chris Robinson playing electric and acoustic guitar, respectively) nails the “Chain”’s tricky tempo changes and polyrhythmic instrumental sections with the tightness of a seasoned group of players.

Lesh sings his composition passionately, while both holding down and pushing along the song with his inimitable style of bass playing. It serves as a reminder of the new ground Lesh continued to explore in his post-Dead career and stands as another reason to thank the folks who spent decades recording Lesh’s exploits so the rest of us may revel in them for decades more.

Setlist: Phil Lesh and Friends | Skull and Roses Festival Day 4 | Saturday April 22, 2023 Phil Lesh - bass guitar, Grahame Lesh - guitar, Duane Betts - guitar, Jason Crosby - keyboards, John Molo - drums, James Casey - saxophone, Natalie Cressman - tromb

Setlist: Phil Lesh and Friends | Skull and Roses Festival Day 4 | Saturday April 22, 2023Phil Lesh – bass guitar, Grahame Lesh – guitar, Duane Betts – guitar, Jason Crosby – keyboards, John Molo – drums, James Casey – saxophone, Natalie Cressman – trombone, Jen Hartswick – trumpet Phil Lesh and Friends will also be playing later today, Sunday April 23, closing out the 5th and final day of the…

Song Review(s): Phil Lesh Quintet - “Night of a Thousand Stars,” “New Speedway Boogie,” “Dear Mr. Fantasy” and “Shakedown Street” (Live, March 6, 2024)

A bunch of “Wheel” teases - that’s who the Phil Lesh Quintet are.

Taking the stage March 6 in New York, the band sung an a cappella section of the Grateful Dead number before rolling into “Night of a Thousand Stars” an original from its 2002 album, There and Back Again. A bit rushed, it was nevertheless a fine performance and a real treat to hear this long-neglected gem from Lesh’s small stable of self-penned material.

The same preference for sprightly tempos marked the version of “New Speedway Boogie” that followed on the band’s generous livestream sampler from the gig. Keyboardist Rob Barraco sung this one and the mid-song jam found the musicians slowly tearing the music apart, eventually devolving to the threads of formless, but not uninteresting, improvisation, before they pieced it back together for the final verse and a cappella conclusion.

A prime example of how post-Grateful, Dead music should be explored.

Warren Haynes was back on the mic for “Dear Mr. Fantasy,” another quickly paced number that found the singer engaging with fellow axeman Jimmy Herring in a thrilling inter-verse duel that continued until bassist Lesh and drummer John Molo nudged the Traffic song toward Jamaica and a reggae jam that eventually led to more vocals and the outro.

Haynes kept on singing when an atypically slow “Shakedown Street” emerged from the post-“Fantasy” silence. The song’s essential backgrounds were rough and the livestream faded before the track ended. Seemingly no great loss, given this “Shakedown” didn’t seem destined to seriously poke around, though Sound Bites’ll never know for sure.

No matter. In the nearly 55 minutes of music that the band gave away, it reinforced why its now-periodic reunions are so highly anticipated and why - when it was a going concern during the aughts - the PLQ was such a beloved institution.

Grade card: Phil Lesh Quintet - “Night of a Thousand Stars,” “New Speedway Boogie,” “Dear Mr. Fantasy” and “Shakedown Street” (Live - 3/6/24) - B/B+/A-/I

With Stanley Jordan Co-piloting, Phil Lesh & Friends Find the Promise of Darkstarathon

Everyone except Grahame Lesh was seated when Darkstarathon episode 7 began its journey across the cosmos.

And of course drummer John Molo, keyboardist Jason Crosby and pedal-steel guitarist Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz were. And being 84, Phil Lesh can do whatever the fuck he wants.

Which brings us to Stanley Jordan, whose unconventional playing style lent a bit of jazz to the proceedings as Lebowitz, Crosby, Molo and Lesh the elder kept things misty and primordial while Lesh the younger occasionally quoted the titular song.

Before long, even he was seated on his amp as this Darkstarathon lived up to the series’ initial promise of a never-ending “Darkstar.” Episode No. 7 is 27 minutes of instrumental music in which the spirit of adventurism ruled and in-the-moment composition and improv was all that mattered.

A hint of “West L.A. Fadeaway” bubbled to the surface around the 13-minute mark before elements of “Slipknot!” emerged over Molo’s marching fills.

As this dissolved, Lebowitz switched to acoustic and the band gurgled back down to formlessness as young Lesh strummed major chords and the sextet remained on the fly.

“Cassidy?”

No.

“Scarlet Begonias?”

No.

“I Know You Rider?”

Yes. But wordless with the guitarists lightly tracing the vocal lines.

Minute 23: “Darkstar” re-re-emerges; Grahame Lesh, Lebowitz and Jordan “singing” with their respective six-strings.

Shall we go?

Indeed.

Read Sound Bites’ previous “Darkstarathon” coverage here.

Peter Rowan Leads Phil Lesh & Friends into the Woods on “Clubhouse Sessions”

- Big band includes Stu Allen, John Molo, Barry Sless, Holly Bowling, Elliott Peck, Jason Crosby and Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz

Peter Rowan came to the Terrapin Clubhouse and took Phil Lesh & (a large group of) Friends into the country and bluegrass.

With the octogenarian - but not in the way - Rowan and Lesh at the helm, a stellar band of relative whippersnappers featuring guitarists Stu Allen, Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz and Barry Sless (pedal steel); singer Elliott Peck; drummer John Molo; fiddler Jason Crosby; and pianist Holly Bowling added respectful modernity to songs from Old & In the Way, Rowan and the Grateful Dead.

Though this was a one-off band for Episode 4 of Lesh’s “Clubhouse Sessions,” it couldn’t have been more tight but loose on “Dupree’s Diamond Blues,” which peaked as first Bowling, then Crosby and Sless transformed the studio into a dusty, Old West saloon. It’s a magical bit of musical inspiration made possible by players adept at picking their spots, Molo’s agile, light-touch drumming and a sonic approach that left room for Lesh’s bass to gurgle to the surface.

There’s not a wasted second in the 40-minute performance video, bookended as it is with a version of “Midnight Moonlight” that nods slyly to “Throwing Stones” and a “Dire Wolf” that finds Sless recalling Workingman’s Dead-era Jerry Garcia on the sit-down guitar.

Peck sings “Ripple” beautifully with Lesh taking over as the band crosses the bridge and Rowan reminds listeners he can still yodel on “Land of the Navajo.”

Beyond grateful for this magical offering.

Read Sound Bites’ coverage of the previous “Clubhouse Sessions” here.

Holly Bowling is MVP of Phil Lesh’s “Clubhouse Sessions” Episode Two

If she isn’t Phil Lesh’s best Friend, Holly Bowling is undoubtedly the most musically valuable.

The pianist was onboard alongside the former Grateful Dead bassist; guitarists Grahame Lesh and Daniel Donato; singer Nicki Bluhm; and drummer John Molo for episode two of Phil Lesh & Friends’ “Clubhouse Sessions.” And while everyone played an important role - save for Bluhm, who was stuck shaking a tambourine and/or her body, given only a few lines to sing - Bowling, who brings a bit of Keith Godchaux to the music while being her own musician, was the woman of the half-hour.

Donato, too, conjures the Father Band, as he echoes Jerry Garcia’s tone more hauntingly that anyone since a young Steve Kimock came on the scene. In fact, the licks he plays on the Grahame Lesh-sung “Black-Throated Wind” are downright ghostly.

Donato, who has a high, feminine tenor, sung a triple-time reading of “Ship of Fools.” And while his voice - he also sings “Row Jimmy” - is the type Dead Heads will likely love or loathe, the radical change to the music served the dirge-like composition exceedingly well and demonstrated the worthiness of messing with arrangements.

But it just sounds silly and like a cover band when groups pull stunts like trading verses as Grahame Lesh, Bluhm and Donato do on “Tennessee Jed.” In these moments - and during Lesh the younger’s frankly terrible singing on “Me and My Uncle” - it’s Bowling who saves the music, playing colorful, imaginative solos that remind listeners why the Grateful Dead turned to pianists Godchaux and Bruce Hornsby over the course of their long strange trip.

While “Clubhouse Sessions” are expressly for the ears, the eyes will get a smile in seeing how the band members’ clothes miraculously change throughout the video, as if it was a poorly edited movie.

Read Sound Bites’ coverage of episode one here.

Inaugural Darkstarathon is Long, But Not Particularly Strange or Trippy

Phil Lesh’s long-promised, inaugural “Darkstarathon” is long at 42 minutes, but not particularly strange or trippy.

It also does not resemble what Lesh described in November 2023 as a “‘Dark Star’ that pauses but never ends.”

As with his first “Terrapin Clubhouse Session,” the former Grateful Dead bassist was joined by guitarists Grahame Lesh and Daniel Donato; drummer John Molo; singer Nicki Bluhm and pianist Holly Bowling - the star instrumentalist in the bunch.

“It’s in everyone’s power to suggest a song, even if the song is not on the list,” the elder Lesh told his collaborators before they started off with a brief segment of the titular number.

“If we’re in a key and it gives you an idea for something … start playing.”

He’s taken at his word as someone later nudges the band toward “Here Comes Sunshine.” The musicians play a few bars before perhaps realizing they couldn’t pull off the vocals and moving on.

And to erase any doubt, the session ended with Grahame Lesh and Donato singing “When I Paint My Masterpiece” as a triple-time shuffle that worked neither musically nor vocally.

In between come versions of “Franklin’s Tower” (with Donato on vocals), the Dead’s 1970s arrangement of “Good Lovin’” (G. Lesh) and a Bluhm-sung “Morning Dew.”