So I moved from the piano to the organ, and when I did that one of the first people that I knew, that I listened to, who wasn’t too far off to emulate their style was Billy Preston. I mean it’s not like I had never heard it before, but I heard it one time in church and I was just like, “Wow! Listen to that sound!” And then I knew I wanted to play organ. MS: Well, I started off on piano and somewhere I got introduced to the organ. So we’re definitely familiar with the sax sound.īL: So if you don’t mind me throwing out a few questions to take you back in time a little bit… Who were some of your early musical influences and were you classically trained on piano, or how did you come to play the keys? But outside of that he’s been doing pretty much all of our local shows. He’s been with us and he’s on a recording with us and this is actually one of the first few gigs we haven’t had him on, this Warfield gig. MS: Yeah, actually, we’ve been using Dave Ellis regularly in the Bay Area. Is that a configuration that you’ve done before? Obviously back in the day some of the older Jerry Band shows featured Martin Fierro on sax, but is that something that you guys have done before? So we went after him and he was available.īL: Well that’s going to be a great show.īL: I’m trying to think if I’ve ever seen you guys with a sax player before. So they wanted us with a special guest and I think they suggested Karl. They wanted us with a special guest and I guess that’s kind of a going thing – like John is our special guest a lot of the time – it just seems to take it over the top with a special guest. We’ve never been in a band together or anything. MS: So I’ve sat in with the Tiny Universe and in other configurations where I’ve just come up onstage and jammed, but just strictly like that. Because he has never played with us – I know him personally, and you know we have played together…īL: Yeah, I was going to ask if you guys had ever played together before and how that gig came about. MS: Yeah, that’s another one that I’m extremely excited about, with our “special guest” Karl. They’ve kind of moved to a different format – a lot of rock and a lot of other stuff – so to allow us back in there, to the place where we called home, I’m ecstatic.īL: Then you’ve got an East Coast tour coming up after that and I saw it was just announced that you’re playing the Wanee festival with special guest Karl Denson on Sax… And what’s also exciting about it to me is that The Warfield has not really been doing a whole lot of jam bands. But eventually we got to The Warfield and that’s where we’d play every time we played in the Bay Area. It was a home base for us where we could play that we moved up to, because it used to be smaller venues, like The Keystones and other little places. As you probably know, it was home for us with the Jerry Garcia Band and a lot of folks used to call it “church,” like it was their church. Melvin Seals: Yeah, I am so excited about that gig. Does that venue have any special meaning or associations for you? 20 th at the Warfield, which for many fans was synonymous with JGB. īISSList: You’ve got a big gig coming up – JGB with ‘Special Guest’ John Kadlicek, and with David Nelson Band opening – Saturday, Feb. 20 th at 8:00 PM at The Warfield in San Francisco. You can see Melvin Seals and JGB with John Kadlicek on Saturday, Feb. I was fortunate enough to speak with Melvin in advance of the show and he caught me up on his current touring schedule, how his recently announced Wanee Festival set with Karl Denson came about, and then very generously opened up to share some recollections from his days with Jerry, and before. Through the late 80’s and early 90’s, the Jerry Garcia Band was the de facto “house band” at The Warfield, so this Saturday night’s show will be a homecoming in more than one way for the San Francisco-born Seals. The Warfield was built in the 20’s and boasts all the trademark, they-don’t-make-‘em-like-they-used-to architectural flourishes of the day. This coming Saturday night, Melvin and JGB return to the famed Warfield Theater in the heart of San Francisco, site of many of his and Jerry’s greatest performances. In this role, he connects us to Jerry’s legacy and helps transport his audiences, some of whom never saw Jerry while he was alive, back to an old familiar place where everyone is welcome, the music is timeless and the grooves are non-stop. As leader of the band that he re-formed after Jerry’s untimely passing, Melvin continues to preside over the gospel, soul, blues, funk, rock, and jam-based revue that is JGB. For many years in the 80’s and 90’s as a member of the Jerry Garcia Band, Melvin Seals was a friendly and familiar figure on the right side of the stage from Jerry, only slightly obscured by his trademark Hammond organ.
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