Origins of the Grateful Dead Orchestration Project and Notes from the Tapers’ Section - Photography & Essay Book by Jaime and Helen Baldovinos
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The behind-the-scenes story of Bob Weir's orchestration project — his vision of hearing the Grateful Dead's songs "dressed to the nines" in the lush tones of a symphony orchestra — alongside a collection of essays exploring the deeper threads of the band's lyrics.
"Our music in large measure derives from folk roots. We dressed it up a bit and made it over into what I think you'd have to call popular music. But then, if one takes an extra step and puts it into the classical realm, it serves to illustrate that there's a continuum from the simplest folk music all the way through to the most formal classical music." — Bob Weir, Marin County, CA, December 2022
Written by two of the four co-founders of the orchestration project, this two-part book chronicles the journey from its inception — over dinner with Bob, Natascha, Jaime, and Helen — to the premiere performances at the Kennedy Center with the National Symphony Orchestra.
In part one, musician and musicologist Helen Baldovinos writes the narrative of what it took to bring the project to the concert hall. In part two, history of ideas scholar Jaime Baldovinos reflects on the ties between the lyrics and the culture from which they sprang, noting the remarkable coincidence of the Grateful Dead and Silicon Valley both emerging from California's Santa Clara Valley at roughly the same moment.
In a foreword, Bob shared his vision for the project. The book is liberally sprinkled with photos of the orchestration project and of the Grateful Dead — 110 from the orchestration project, plus more than 60 from Grateful Dead shows in the 1980s — almost all taken by Jaime over the years.
Download preview images, compliments of Jaime Baldovinos, photographer.