It is what it is, and who was I to say anything? This band preceded me the whole concept of the band preceded me.' I’d say, ‘You know we need some uptempo material, it’s just putting me to sleep the band is putting me to sleep.’ At first I’d say these things, and then I just decided to go with it. The relatively languorous tempos were dictated by Garcia and Kahn, much to the chagrin of longtime drummer David Kemper: 't bothered me from the very beginning.

Rock versions of contemporary Americana were also prominent. However, the group eschewed the former band's avant-garde and world music influences in favor of a slower, groove-based ' bar band' approach strongly oriented toward rhythm and blues (the band often featured female backing vocalists characteristic of the genre), gospel music and reggae.

Like the Grateful Dead, the Jerry Garcia Band played rock music that was influenced by blues, folk, country, and jazz in an improvisatory milieu that largely served as a framework for Garcia's solos. Jerry Garcia's musical interests were famously varied, and this was reflected in the diverse music played by his band. Melvin Seals had the next longest tenure, serving as keyboardist from 1980 onward. The one constant member besides Garcia himself was bassist John Kahn, who served as Garcia's principal musical collaborator outside of the Grateful Dead after 1970. Over the years, the lineup of the Jerry Garcia Band changed many times.

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