On a recent Friday evening, I enjoyed sharing a Japanese meal with the "Mayor of Haight Street", Merl Saunders. An undisputable legend, Merl Saunders has traded solos with the Grateful Dead, Phish, Widespread Panic, Miles Davis, Blues Traveler and String Cheese Incident. And, through his many experiences, he has become both an ambassador and expert of improvisational music. Throughout his decades of experience, this charismatic, engaging, and talented musician has earned a loyal populace of fans who well appreciate his growing legacy. And, even with all his success, Merl continues to be active in the contemporary music scene as he plays with the emerging generation of players. In short, Merl Saunders is a both a musical hero and treasure whose wealth of knowledge and experience should be heard.

DR- Let's start things off by talking about your upcoming Birthday Bash. You must be looking forward to celebrating with your funky friends, at the Great American with all of your fans [editor's note: this show took place on Valentine's day].

Merl- Yeah, it's kind of a traditional thing that we do that. Last year it was at the Fillmore. This time we're doing it at the Great American Music Hall for a couple of reasons. Because its more intimate and it's one of the first places Jerry and I opened in '72. And, I've been playing there since '71 and '72.

DR- And is the Great American your favorite venue in the city?

Merl- That and the Fillmore. I lean towards the Great American Music Hall.

DR- Let's talk a bit about some of your Funky Friends. As far as the jamband scene goes, it seems like you've done it all. You have played with Phish, Widespread Panic, and The String Cheese Incident to name just three. What does it mean to you to continue to be so involved with the contemporary generation of musicians?

Merl- Well, it reminds me of when I was coming up. I was thirteen, fourteen, fifteen and sixteen and I was playing with guys older than me. Now it gives me a chance to experiment with these groups. And, it gives me a chance to play with the younger, better musicians. It keeps me thinking young. If I was playing with musicians that weren't young I'd be sitting around at nine o'clock at night.

DR- It seems like you are always popping up in the middle of someone's set, it must be amazing to you to know that these younger musicians look up to you and respect you. They know you can hang and that you can push the envelop.

Merl- Yeah, they're good. That's one thing, I like them because they are good. The first time I went up with Phish, it was in Atlanta, Georgia. And, I got on stage and I thought, "well I'll just play the blues", that's probably all they got. And they say, "What do you want to play, Merl?" And I told them, "Let's play the blues." And they say, "You know Caravan, let's play Caravan." And I said, "what Caravan are you talking about, the Duke Ellington Caravan?" They said, "yeah, let's play that!" And I thought "Yes!", they won my heart. They reached back and played Caravan, and they played the hell out of it. They did their homework. All the groups, Widespread and Blues Traveler, I've been affiliated with them before they were big. I could tell they were going to be big, I predicted it.

DR- You have made so many guest appearances, is there any one that really stands out beyond all the others?

Merl- In every guest appearance, there is something that happens spontaneously. I walked up on stage with David Grisman, and he didn't know I was there. Once, I was playing in San Francisco, and I look up, and all of a sudden Miles Davis walks up and grabs the trumpet out of the trumpet players hands. And I'm just thinking, "Wow! There's Miles Davis, he left his club to come up and play with me!" That's a flash. Playing with the Grateful Dead at Kezar Stadium for the first time.

DR- I want to talk for a bit about the San Francisco music scene. The scene here is simply legendary, there is so much history. What does it mean to you that you to be part of the scene. You are an ambassador of the scene. What does that mean to you?

Merl- Well, it means a lot. I got my roots here, and my family is here. I just saw some pictures of the first time I played the panhandle (of Golden Gate Park) with Jerry. There were some pictures of my son, 19 years old, playing with me and Jerry. I had a great time playing back in those days. Before that, I was playing when I was thirteen and fourteen years old. I had a high school band. I used to play a theater called the Ellis Theater. They had a talent show every Monday night, well I won the best band every Monday for four solid years. When I was about seventeen, I used to hang out in Bop City and play jazz until two or three o'clock in the morning.

DR- How do you perceive the San Francisco music scene?

Merl- The San Francisco music scene goes way back to the days of Santana, The Grateful Dead, Starship, and Janis Joplin. The whole Bay Area is a free spirited area. In the fifties I was playing around here. I remember five blocks up from here where we're talking now, going with my buddy to a club to see Sylvester Stone. We now know him as Sly Stone. And there was no cover to get in. That was the scene.

DR- Given that the website I write for is Jambands.com, if it's okay with you, I'd like to spend a few moments talking about Jerry.

Merl- It's okay.

DR- Music aside, can you describe your relationship with Jerry Garcia?

Merl- Our relationship was very good. We were friends and musical partners. We had this charismatic thing happening between our music. We went to movies together and sometimes he would come over to the house and spend the night. He was a friend.

DR- Musically, what was it that drew the two of you together to collaborate on the different music projects?

Merl- Music, that is what brought us together. You can hear it in the records that we did together. There is something special there. As a matter of fact, I was just listening to Blues for the Rainforest yesterday, and I had not listened to it for about a year, and I thought, "Wow, it's unbelievable that this happened like that!"

DR- Is that sort of connection you felt with him something unique, or is that something you feel here and there?

Merl- It's something special. The way he played with me is not the way in which he played with the Grateful Dead. We captured it on records so that you can hear it. Certain things have a chemistry. The 49ers during the eighties had a chemistry. The Chicago Bulls had a chemistry. The New York Yankees have a chemistry. How can you explain it? No one knows, it just works. And it really works to help us reach our highest level. We could not see each other in about a year, and we could get together and it would seem like we'd been practicing four or five hours a day. That's chemistry, that's friends that know each other.

DR- I read that you met doing a session for Columbia Records. Could you give us an overview of that history?

Merl- I was helping put this album together. So I go by the studio over on Turk and Hyde early in the morning to see what's happening, and no one's there except this guitar player sitting by the piano. He was all dressed in black and he was checking me out as I walked in there. He had Levi's on with holes in them. Maybe he was looking at me because I had polyester pants, a sweater, and pennies in the loafers. But, he was playing. So, I sat down and started playing exactly what he was playing. And he went someplace and I followed him; and then I went someplace and he followed me. And we started laughing. Everybody in the studio came out listening because they knew we had never seen each other. But we were playing like we'd been playing together for years.

DR- Having worked closely with Jerry and the Dead, has made you a part of that scene. Do you ever feel that you are somehow trying to help carry the torch?

Merl- Yes and no. I'm just myself. I'm just playing my music. I remember when I was playing my music, Jerry came to me and started playing with me. And then, he took me to the Dead. I'm still playing my music and I still play my songs. When I wanted him to play on Blues for the Rainforest, I said, "look, this is what I want you to do." And he said "fine, that's great!" Everything I got involved in, he wanted to get involved in. The Twilight Zone series (Merl did some scores for the television show the Twilight Zone), I said, "Look, I'm doing the Twilight Zone Series, you want to get involved?" He said, "I live in the Twilight Zone!"

DR- Jerry's diabetic coma in July of 1986 is a remarkable story. When Jerry fell into the coma, you were in the Caribbean. From what I've read, you had a similar experience to Jerry's the day he went into the coma.

Merl- You'll have to read it in my book (laughs). I was in the Caribbean, and I was feeling very faint, so I decided to wet a towel, and put it over my body and just lay there. And I felt kind of stupid just laying there, everybody is trying to get a suntan. But, I just wanted to be cool. So, about three days later, we were back in the United States, I was in New York. And someone tells me that Jerry was in the hospital. So later, Jerry and I were talking, and I asked him what happened. He told me that he was in his bathroom getting ready to go to a gig, and he passed out on the floor, and he pulled a wet towel over his body. I asked him what time of what day it was. And I told him what happened to me. And I showed him a picture of me laying there. And we both just shivered. We both did it at the same time. A lot of things have happened between us.

DR- Thanks for sharing all those personal memories, on a lighter note, is it true that Jerry Garcia first got you to sing?

Merl- Yes. He said, "I can't do this all by myself, I need help. Sing this song."

DR- My final question about the Grateful Dead is this: in your opinion, what did the Grateful Dead really do for music, what will their legacy be?

Merl- I don't have to really say too much about it, just look and see what's happening. There is no happiness, no friendliness between them, check it out. Everybody is after one another. My man is gone. I love them all, but Jerry is gone. There was a show on MTV which showed who was the best of different decades. And in the seventies they mention the Grateful Dead. You know who they showed: Jerry by himself. He didn't ask to be put in the spotlight, that was his charisma. He detested notoriety. So, they will go down in history as one of the most outrageous bands in history. They do what they do, and no one can do it like they do it. But, it's over. Just like the 49ers, it's over (laughs).

DR- I'd like to get some of your thoughts on the contemporary music scene. As we've already talked about, you have had a chance to play with some of the current jambands. Which of these bands are among your personal favorites?

Merl- The ones I hang out with, that's the next generation, I can hear it. Phish, Blue Traveler, and String Cheese Incident. String Cheese Incident, this song they are playing, Freedom Jazz Dance, what made that happen was Miles Davis. We played that song twenty five years ago and everyone asked what is that song. Well, these are the youngsters that are picking up the songs that we did twenty five years ago. This generation is listening, they are all ears. They are not listening to Johnny One Notes.

DR- How do feel that this genre of "Jamband" has changed from the Grateful Dead in its early stages to today's bands?

Merl- I think today's bands are taking the feeling of what the Dead did, the two drummers and jamming for a half an hour, and they're taking it to another level.

DR- In a couple of other interviews I've done, I asked Karl Denson and Michael Kang about this new catchphrase, "Jamband". We have this new category of music where Widespread Panic, String Cheese Incident, and Medeski, Martin and Wood, three very different bands, all can be grouped in the same family (of Jamband). What are your thoughts on this, does it make a bit of sense?

Merl- Yes it does. Every band you just named, they are good musicians.

DR- You just did a tour with Melvin Seals. How did that tour go for you?

Merl- Very good. We've been friends for over twenty years.

DR- I have read that you are an avid environmentalist, thus the Rainforest Band and Blues For the Rainforest CD. Could you tell us about this aspect of yourself?

Merl- Yeah, well that's what actually took me out of retirement. I was a musical director at a hotel for a few years, and while I was there, I was working on this project Blues For the Rainforest. I did it in my own studio, and did it with three musicians who believed in what I believed. And, we put a Rainforest Action Network card in every CD. And, it worked. We gave some of the proceeds to the Rainforest Action Network. And, I never knew it was going to be as big of a hit as it is. It touched so many people from the ages of three to ninety three. We ended up taking a trip and going to the Rainforest. That's where Rainforest Action Network album, Fiesta Amazonica was done. In that album, there is a song called "Dance of the Pink Dolphins" because I saw pink Dolphins when I was over there. And in that album I sing a song about children and the environment where my grandkids sing with me.

DR- Another thing I want to ask you about is your family. I've noticed your Dad and Great Aunt at a couple of shows, and I believe they both are incorporated into your website. Also, you've played with your son, Tony. You've got Susan involved (Merl's daughter). Can you tell us a bit about the importance of family in your life?

Merl- I'm blessed to have my family around me. Within a range of twenty miles, that's my whole family.

DR- Finally, I would like to give you a chance to send a message out there to all of your loyal fans out there before we close this out.

Merl- Come and see us and get a natural high listening to music. Stay focused because you can do anything you want to do. The only thing I can say is just get high on music; it is the highest high I've ever been. And keep on keeping on, keep it real!