Aidin Vaziri May 5, 2021Updated: May 6, 2021, 1:40 pm
Jerry Garcia readies his art for an exhibition in San Rafael in 1992. Photo: Vince Maggiora / The Chronicle 1992
A rare piece of art created by late Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia became available as a non-fungible token, or NFT, on Wednesday, May 5, to coincide with the 56th anniversary of the first time the band played together, as the Warlocks, at Magoo’s Pizza Parlor in Menlo Park in 1965.
The one-of-a-kind digital piece titled “Gift” was created by Garcia in 1990 and is being released by the Jerry Garcia Foundation, which is run by his fourth wife, Manasha Garcia (nee Matheson), and youngest daughter, Keelin. It is available for auction on the peer-to-peer SuperRare website, with carbon offsetting by a company called Aerial.
On Jan. 5, the Jerry Garcia Music Arts label released a new album titled, âFront Street Outtakes.â The album tracks are composed of studio outtakes from a 1994 recording session featuring Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead and Sanjay Mishra, an Indian American guitarist-composer.
The collaboration showcases a new direction the ever-creative Garcia was beginning to explore on his musical journey, said Jerry Garcia Music Arts.
The unreleased recordings on âFront Street Outtakes,â the arts and music entertainment services company stated in the press release, represent one of Garciaâs last full album recording projects completed at the Grateful Deadâs iconic Club Front Studios. The recordings originate from unedited material used in the creation of the 1995 album, âBlue Incantation.â
Jerry Garcia: Previously unreleased music out now in Front Street Outtakes
Here s something to be grateful for as we start this year: There s a new Jerry Garcia release out now, and the music is serving a charitable mission. Front Street Outtakes, released Jan. 5 via Jerry Garcia Music Arts, finds the Grateful Dead guitarist in rapt musical conversation with Indian guitarist Sanjay Mishra.
The three tracks, recorded in 1994 at the Dead s Front Street Studios, were part of a collaboration that eventually resulted in Clouds, a tender and evocative track originally released on Mishra s 1995 LP Blue Incantation.
Mishra, speaking via email with the Asbury Park Press last year, recalled that Garcia had been a fan of his 1993 debut album, The Crossing.
Aidin Vaziri January 7, 2021Updated: January 9, 2021, 9:14 pm
Jerry Garcia plays at a Grateful Dead concert at the Oakland Coliseum on Dec. 12, 1992, when the San Francisco native was 50. The adventurous Garcia always enjoyed something new, especially in the music world. Photo: Steve Castillo, The Chronicle 1992
A newly remastered collection of Jerry Garcia studio leftovers, “Front Street Outtakes,” released by his ex-wife Manasha Garcia this month includes recordings from a 1994 session featuring the Grateful Dead guitarist collaborating with Indian American guitarist Sanjay Mishra.
The songs on the set are culled from one of Garcia’s last recording projects at the Grateful Dead’s iconic Club Front Studios, using recordings left behind during the making of his Mishra’s 1995 album, “Blue Incantation,” released the same year Garcia died of a heart attack while in recovery at a drug treatment center.