JGB is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 rock band

Rock Band

Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...

 led by Melvin Seals

Melvin Seals

Melvin Seals is an American musician, best known as a long time member of the Jerry Garcia Band.-Early life and career:...

, who plays electric organ

Electronic organ

An electronic organ is an electronic keyboard instrument which was derived from the harmonium, pipe organ and theatre organ. Originally, it was designed to imitate the sound of pipe organs, theatre organs, band sounds, or orchestral sounds....

. Its mission is to continue the musical legacy of the Jerry Garcia Band

Jerry Garcia Band

The Jerry Garcia Band was a San Francisco Bay Area rock band led by Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. Garcia founded the band in 1975; it remained the most important of his various side-projects until his death in 1995...

, of which Seals was a long time member.

History

As noted in Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

, "... when Garcia passed away in 1995, and the Grateful Dead

Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...

 went on hiatus, Seals took charge. Under his leadership, the slightly renamed 'JGB Band' pays tribute to Garcia by performing his songs and remaining faithful to his style."

In 1996, Seals played several concerts with Jerry Garcia Band bassist

Bassist

A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...

 John Kahn

John Kahn

John Kahn was an American rock bass player. For a period of about twenty five years Kahn was Jerry Garcia's principal collaborator outside of the Grateful Dead.-Biography:...

 and other former members of that band. Their idea was to continue playing the same music with everyone except Garcia himself. However, Kahn died three weeks later, and Seals and the others continued without him. The membership of JGB has continued to evolve over the years.

On July 30, 2004, Melvin Seals

Melvin Seals

Melvin Seals is an American musician, best known as a long time member of the Jerry Garcia Band.-Early life and career:...

 was the first Jerry Garcia Band

Jerry Garcia Band

The Jerry Garcia Band was a San Francisco Bay Area rock band led by Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead. Garcia founded the band in 1975; it remained the most important of his various side-projects until his death in 1995...

 member to headline an outdoor music and camping festival named in honor of Jerry Garcia, called Grateful Garcia Gathering. Jerry Garcia Band drummer David Kemper

David Kemper

David Kemper is a drummer. He was a long-time member of both the Jerry Garcia Band and Bob Dylan's band . He was with the Jerry Garcia Band for the last eleven years of Garcia's life...

 joined Melvin Seals & JGB in 2007. To date, other musicians playing with JGB have included Donna Jean Godchaux, Mookie Siegel, Pete Sears

Pete Sears

Peter 'Pete' Sears is an English rock musician. In a career spanning more than four decades he has been a member of many bands and has moved through a variety of musical genres, from early R&B, psychedelic improvisational rock of the 1960s, folk, country music, arena rock in the 1970s, and blues...

, G. E. Smith

G. E. Smith

George Edward "G. E." Smith is an American guitarist. He was the lead guitarist in the band Hall & Oates and the musical director of Saturday Night Live. Smith was lead guitarist of Bob Dylan's touring band from June 7, 1988 to October 19, 1990...

, Barry Sless

Barry Sless

Barry Sless is an American musician from Baltimore, Maryland. He is skilled at both traditional six-string guitar and the pedal steel guitar.-Performances with:*David Nelson Band*Phil and Friends*Moonalice*Kingfish*Great American Taxi*Rowan Brothers...

, and Robin Sylvester

Robin Sylvester

Robin Sylvester is a London born musician, living in San Francisco, who is best known for his ongoing work with RatDog. Although primarily a bass player, he plays several instruments, including the guitar and keyboards, and has done extensive arranging....

.

External links

• JGB official website
• Melvin Seals official website
• JGB collection at the Internet Archive
  Internet Archive
  The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
  
  's live music archive