Grateful Dead star’s college recording surfaces

Al Molina, who played alongside Lesh in the college band, remembered his former classmate as a prodigious talent with ranging skill and an interest in the Bay Area’s budding counterculture.

By the time Lesh reached College of San Mateo, he was already an accomplished child violinist whose passion was developing into interpreting and writing popular jazz tunes for the school band, said Molina.

“Phil, with his enormous ears, he started transcribing sophisticated arrangements and had the band play them,” said Molina. “Then he started writing originals for the band.”

Lesh went on to play first chair trumpet in the band, alongside Buddy Powers and Molina. During their time at the local college, their most notable performance took place on the main stage at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1960.

Molina said he did not play on the recently surfaced four recordings with Lesh, but fondly remembers the era when so many young, talented musicians were assembled in the same band.

Former college band director Bud Young is owed much of the credit for luring young talent from across the Bay Area to the College of San Mateo, and establishing the jazz band as a force, said Molina.

Young’s presence was essential in Lesh attending the college, as was the case for many young musicians who eventually went on the play professionally, said Molina.

“If you wanted to be a jazz player, you had to go study under this guy,” said Molina. “His program was very high end.”

The jazz program not only helped launch the careers of Lesh and Molina, who still plays professionally at 82 years old, but a variety of others who toured the nation and world.

Following his term at College of San Mateo, Lesh went on to enroll at the University of California, Berkeley, where he met future Grateful Dead keyboardist Tom Constanten. Eventually the two met frontman Jerry Garcia and the band formed, leading to tremendous critical acclaim and cultural influence.

As a teen, Molina said he watched Lesh’s interests transform as a new decade began and youngsters started flocking to San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district to be a part of the growing counterculture movement.

“Next thing I knew, it was the Summer of Love,” said Molina.

As the Grateful Dead’s notoriety grew, Molina said he fell out of touch with Lesh. But many among the community of local artists benefited from the band’s influence, said Molina, as Lesh and his fellow musicians were frequently willing to share their platform with longtime friends.

“He was always an artist. He always had artists around him. And when Grateful Dead made it and he started making money, he started supporting all these people,” said Molina.

For his part, Molina said his path crossed with Lesh only once since their time at College of San Mateo when he and some friends traveled to Marin County to perform at Lesh’s music venue Terrapin Crossroads.

Though his contact with the rock hall of famer is limited, Molina still keeps in touch with many of those who he grew to knew during his time with the jazz band. And while most of his former classmates have retired their instruments, Molina, who is a regular performer at Brisbane’s 7 Mile House restaurant, said he plans to keep on trucking.

“What am I going to do? Retire and watch TV? Forget it,” he said.

Visit archive.org/embed/phil1959-04-05.pitch.dehiss.upgrade.flac&playlist=1# to hear the Lesh recordings.

austin@smdailyjournal.com

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