Today’s piece is a birthday tribute to my college roommate, Gavin Martin, who once rescued me from a very unpleasant housing situation, when he advocated successfully on my behalf for a vacancy that suddenly popped up in his much cooler adjoining dorm suite – and for that, I will be eternally grateful.
The Grateful Dead have blazed a path as musical pioneers who imbue their rock music with a jazz sensibility in terms of level of musicianship and a willingness to take risks. While the Dead may have thumbed their nose at the record industry – rightly so, perhaps – the band was not above releasing a few singles over the years. I wonder how many Dead fans felt vindicated when “Touch of Grey” unexpectedly hit the Top 10 in 1987, prompting the Dead to release their first ever music video, which enjoyed heavy rotation on MTV.
Howard Wales, who played keyboards on 1970’s American Beauty (most famously, on “Truckin’“) would join forces the following year with Jerry Garcia on a “jazz-rock fusion” album entitled, Hooteroll?. “South Side Strut” was the A-side of their only and one 45 on Douglas Records, home of Richie Havens, John McLaughlin, and The Last Poets:
“South Side Strut“
Howard Wales & Jerry Garcia & horns (1971)
Jerry Garcia – Guitar
Howard Wales – Organ & piano
Curly Cook – Rhythm guitar
Martin Fierro – Saxophone, flute & horn arrangement
Ken Balzall – Trumpet
John Kahn – Bass
Bill Vitt & Michael Marinelli – Drums
Tony Bongiovi – Mixing
Russ Geary – Engineering
Billboard LP review –
Sept. 11, 1971 issue
This album features Garcia on one of the funkiest guitars ever heard in context of a pop album. Augmented by the understanding organ of Howard Wales, Garcia floats through “South Side Strut,” “Up From The Desert” and “Da Bird [sic] Song,” like he was born on the wrong side of the tracks. Garcia’s name should sell this album alone.
“South Side Strut” also served as the album’s lead-off song — but only on vinyl. The 1987 CD reissue would remove one song (“A Trip to What Next“), yet add two more (“Morning in Marin” and “Da Birg Song“), while shuffling the running order, thus demoting “South Side Strut” to track #3. The 2010 CD reissue retains the same altered sequence as the 1987 edition, thus ensuring that newer generations will fail to appreciate the song’s former exalted status as kick-off track. The song has never fully recovered.
Produced by Alan Douglas & Doris Dynamite
Mixed by Tony Bongiovi (prior to Track Recorders)
Scientific Americans –
Garcia & Wales 
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LINK to The Grateful Dead on Zero to 180
