AARP Hearing Center
Phil Lesh, a classically trained violinist and jazz trumpeter who found his true calling reinventing the role of rock bass guitar as a founding member of the Grateful Dead, died Friday at age 84.
Lesh’s death was announced on his Instagram account. Lesh was the oldest and one of the longest surviving members of the band that came to define the acid rock sound emanating from San Francisco in the 1960s.
“Phil Lesh, bassist and founding member of The Grateful Dead, passed peacefully this morning. He was surrounded by his family and full of love. Phil brought immense joy to everyone around him and leaves behind a legacy of music and love,” the Instagram statement reads in part.
The statement did not cite a specific cause of death and attempts to reach representatives for additional details were not immediately successful. Lesh had previously survived bouts of prostate cancer, bladder cancer and a 1998 liver transplant necessitated by the debilitating effects of a hepatitis C infection and years of heavy drinking.
Although he kept a relatively low public profile, rarely granting interviews or speaking to the audience, fans and fellow band members recognized Lesh as a critical member of the Grateful Dead whose thundering lines on the six-string electric bass provided a brilliant counterpoint to lead guitarist Jerry Garcia’s soaring solos and anchored the band’s famous marathon jams.
“When Phil’s happening the band’s happening,” Garcia once said
Drummer Mickey Hart called him the group’s intellectual who brought a classical composer’s mind-set and skills to a five-chord rock ‘n’ roll band.
Lesh credited Garcia with teaching him to play the bass in the unorthodox lead-guitar style that he would become famous for, mixing thundering arpeggios with snippets of spontaneously composed orchestral passages.
Fellow bass player Rob Wasserman once said Lesh’s style set him apart from every other bassist he knew of. While most others were content to keep time and take the occasional solo, Wasserman said Lesh was both good enough and confident enough to lead his fellow musicians through a song’s melody.
“He happens to play bass but he’s more like a horn player, doing all those arpeggios — and he has that counterpoint going all the time,” he said.
More From AARP
Ron Ely, TV’s ‘Tarzan,’ Dies at 86
He played an updated version of the vine-swinger in the 1960s showSinger-Songwriter and Actor Kris Kristofferson Dies at 88
The activist, country music legend and ‘A Star is Born’ star wrote ‘Me and Bobby McGee’ and other classicsTito Jackson, Member of the Jackson 5, Dies at 70
The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer was part of the hit group whose songs included ‘I Want You Back’ and ‘ABC’Recommended for You