Legion of Mary (band)

For other uses, see Legion of Mary (disambiguation).
Legion of Mary
OriginSan Francisco Bay Area
GenresRock
Years active1974–1975
LabelsRhino
Past membersJerry Garcia
Merl Saunders
Martin Fierro
John Kahn
Ron Tutt

Legion of Mary was an American rock band, formed by Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead and his friend and musical collaborator Merl Saunders.[1][2][3] The band existed from July 1974 to July 1975, and played about 60 live shows.[4] Its members were Garcia (guitar and vocals), Saunders (keyboards and vocals), John Kahn (bass guitar), Martin Fierro (saxophone and flute) and Ron Tutt (drums). The previous lineup of the band, with Paul Humphrey on drums, is sometimes also referred to as Legion of Mary,[5] but later research has shown that they did not use the Legion of Mary name.[4]

In their concerts, Legion of Mary played rock music that had an eclectic mix of influences, including blues, funk, reggae, rock and roll, and especially jazz.[6] Performances included extended improvisational solos, which Garcia made famous with his role in the Grateful Dead.

  1. ^ McNally, Dennis (2002). A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead. New York: Broadway Books. p. 480. ISBN 0-7679-1186-5.
  2. ^ Jackson, Blair (1999). Garcia: An American Life. New York: Penguin Books. p. 263. ISBN 0-14-029199-7.
  3. ^ Clarke, John Jr. "Former Grateful Dead Keyboardist Merl Saunders Dies", Rolling Stone, October 24, 2008.
  4. ^ a b Jackson, Blair (2005). Liner notes for Legion of Mary: The Jerry Garcia Collection, Vol. 1.
  5. ^ Scott, John W.; Dolgushkin, Mike; Nixon, Stu (1999). DeadBase XI: The Complete Guide to Grateful Dead Song Lists. Cornish, New Hampshire: DeadBase. pp. 403–405. ISBN 1-877657-22-0.
  6. ^ Trager, Oliver (1997). The American Book of the Dead: The Definitive Grateful Dead Encyclopedia. Fireside. ISBN 0-684-81402-1.