Fifty years after the Grateful Dead cut Blues for Allah, Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble took the whole record on the road and played it front to back. Live Dispatch Vol. 1: Blues For Allah ’26 is the document of that run, and it lives right here at Relix.
Was is a natural to take this one on. The six-time Grammy winner and Blue Note Records president has long been woven into the Dead family, and he's a member of Bobby Weir's Wolf Bros. Blues for Allah has always been the Dead at their most adventurous, loaded with jazz-tinged harmony, odd meters, and open space to stretch out. Putting it in the hands of a Detroit soul-jazz band just makes sense.
The Pan-Detroit Ensemble is a nine-piece crew of Motor City heavyweights, including longtime Was collaborator Dave McMurray on sax and Luis Resto on keys, with trombone, trumpet, guitar, drums, percussion, and vocals from Steffanie Christi’an. Their sound runs on steamy jazz, juke-joint blues, and loose-limbed funk. Crowds have been singing along to "Franklin's Tower," "Crazy Fingers," and "The Music Never Stopped" all tour long, and you can hear that room energy on this release.
Whether you caught a stop on the tour or wish you had, this is a must-have for any Head who loves hearing a classic reimagined.
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