Biography Brent Mydland

1 biography

1.1 life
1.2 beginning of music career
1.3 grateful dead

1.3.1 keyboards used when grateful dead
1.3.2 other bands/activities during tenure grateful dead


1.4 death
1.5 legacy

biography
early life

born in munich, germany, child of u.s. army chaplain, mydland moved san francisco parents @ age of one. mydland spent of childhood living in antioch, california, hour east of san francisco. started piano lessons @ age 6 , had formal classical lessons through junior year in high school. in interview commented sister took lessons , looked fun me, did too. there piano around house , wanted play it. when couldn t play beat on anyway. mother, graveyard shift nurse, encouraged mydland s talents insisting practice music 2 hours each day. played trumpet elementary till senior year in high school; schoolmates remember him practicing on accordion, piano, every day after school.

in late teens went , saw lot of groups, , thank god did, because didn t last longer. when asked if had musical aspirations in high school admitted wanting high school band teacher or something, played trumpet in [marching] band... senior year got kicked out of [marching] band having long hair... told me, sorry, ll lose points long hair, end of [marching] band career. gave trumpet , concentrated on keyboards. brent graduated liberty high in nearby brentwood, california, in 1971.

beginning of music career

of musical experiences mydland has stated: late high school got playing rock n roll friends , had start beginning almost, because if didn t have piece of music in front of me couldn t much. changed outlook on playing real fast after that. think dope had that.

influenced rock organists such lee michaels, ray manzarek , goldy mcjohn of steppenwolf. mydland in series of local bands. in late 1960s bought first albums jefferson airplane , grateful dead, , during interview stated in band used sing morning dew , did morning little schoolgirl, too.

when asked if scene, based heavily on extended jams, had influenced him musically @ said: while, yes, never find people make kind of music sound good. d jam along , then.. s nice have people add , change it, instead of, ok, ve got part; gets boring fast.

he went on state that: in senior year got guitar player; knew drummer , bass player both pretty good. serious about 6 weeks or so, , kind of fell apart. ended living in quonset hut in thousand oaks, california, writing songs , eating lot of peanut butter , bread , whatever else around. in 1 of bands, played guy named rick carlos , got call john batdorf of batdorf & rodney, asking him come l.a., play them. couple months later looking keyboard player sing high parts, went down there , joined band. got tour them great experience. after fell apart, john , put silver; silver lasted 2 years. put out album on arista , going second clive davis, arista s president, kind of choked .

after silver bummed around l.a 6 months , hooked weir through john mauceri, d played in batdorf & rodney, , joined bob weir band. bobby, @ first, d him: well, should play instrument on song, or other instrument? , d say, don t care. why not play 1 time , other next time if feel it. loosened me lot , got me more improvisation. liked lot.

grateful dead

mydland joined grateful dead in april 1979, replacing keith , donna godchaux had decided start own band. after 2 weeks of rehearsals, played first concert band @ spartan stadium, san jose, on april 22.

mydland became integral part of dead owing vocal , songwriting skills as keyboard playing. snappy piano fills , screaming organ leads added needed energy music. combined tenor singing founding members weir , jerry garcia provide strong three-part harmonies on live favorites. fit band s sound , added own contributions, such in go heaven (1980) featured 2 of mydland s songs, far me , easy love you, latter written frequent weir collaborator john perry barlow. on next album, in dark (1987), mydland co-wrote defiant favorite hell in bucket weir , barlow; penned train song tons of steel.

built last (1989) featured several more of mydland s songs: moody little light , environmental song can run, live-performance-driven blow away , poignant take home, lullaby written barlow mydland s 2 daughters.

mydland wrote several other songs played live not released on studio albums, including don t need love, never trust woman, maybe know, gentlemen start engines, , love doesn t have pretty; last 2 written barlow. co-wrote revolutionary hamstrung blues phil lesh collaborator bobby petersen, although song performed live once.

his high, gravelly vocal harmonies , emotional leads added band s singing strength, , incorporated scat singing solos. mydland s vocals added color old favorites such cassidy, mississippi half-step uptown toodeloo, ramble on rose, band s weight , , wrote own verse willie dixon s little red rooster. sang lead on many covers, including traffic s dear mr. fantasy, beatles hey jude , , meters hey pocky way.

mydland s last show grateful dead on july 23, 1990 @ world music theater, in tinley park, illinois. last song sang day weight. portion concluded words, gotta go, friend can stick around.

in 1994, inducted rock , roll hall of fame member of grateful dead.

keyboards used when grateful dead

while godchaux had preferred play piano @ concerts, mydland keen experiment different sounds during live performances. changed setup add new sounds. however, mydland have liked able play acoustic grand piano during concerts well, telling keyboard magazine in 1982, d use acoustic more often, there s no room it. had used acoustic grand during grateful dead s acoustic concerts in fall of 1980. used rented harpsichord during these acoustic concerts, told keyboard magazine, never did feel comfortable thing.

mydland played several different electric pianos , synthesizers throughout tenure. piano sounds came fender rhodes 1979 through 1981, , yamaha cp-70 in 1982. during time used analog synthesizers including minimoog, , sequential circuits prophet-5. in 1983, began using yamaha gs-1 digital synthesizer, replacing analog synthesizers , electric piano. in mid-eighties, added e-mu emulator ii arsenal. in mid 1987, brent s setup changed once again. bob bralove had been hired grateful dead program , maintain new midi systems. gs-1 , emulator ii replaced new kurzweil midiboard midi controller, connected roland mks-20 piano synthesizer, other controllers custom voices edited , mixed bralove , mydland. during time, mydland became adept @ layering sounds (such piano , strings, etc.), , subtly changing sound throughout songs.

he perhaps best known mastery of hammond organ, , had b-3 ten modified leslie speakers in setup entire tenure. grateful dead purchased 3 b-3 organs use when joined band, , owned several b-3 organs @ time of passing. b-3 played majority of tenure grateful dead, known once being covered stickers, used keyboardist jeff chimenti during live performances. present @ 50th anniversary fare thee concerts in july 2015.

other bands/activities during tenure grateful dead

after joining grateful dead, mydland played in bob weir s bobby , midnites during 1980 , 1981.

in 1982, recorded , mastered solo studio album, never released.

in summer of 1985, performed dead drummer bill kreutzmann in band kokomo along 707 s kevin russell , santana s david margen.

in 1985, performed @ haight street fair weir, john cipollina, , merl saunders, among others.

in 1986, mydland formed go ahead several san francisco bay area musicians, including bill kreutzmann, former santana members alex ligertwood on vocals , david margen on bass, guitarist jerry cortez. band toured during time jerry garcia recovering diabetic coma, , briefly reunited in 1988.

he did numerous solo projects , performances, duo performances bob weir numerous times throughout 1980s, weir on acoustic guitar , mydland on grand piano.

brent had love harley davidson motorcycles, , avid rider. harley owned mydland featured on 2013 episode of pawn stars.

death

brent mydland passed away @ home on road in lafayette, california, on july 26, 1990, shortly after completing grateful dead s summer tour. buried @ oakmont memorial park in lafayette, ca.

legacy

mydland s contributions dead s sound wide-ranging. chemistry late band catalogued in grateful dead s album spring 1990 features 6 full-length shows last year band. in liner notes, grateful dead lyricist robert hunter said of mydland: