Hungry & refreshed, jam band guitarist Steve Kimock heads to Jergel's

MARSHALL TWP. − If you're attending concerts by nationally touring artists these days, you're seeing them at a peak time, guitar ace Steve Kimock said.

"Most are hungry to play, and had a chance to refresh," he said. "That's where I'm at."

More specifically, Kimock will be at Jergel's Rhythm Grill on Sept. 25, showcasing the skills that have had him hailed as one of the best improvisational guitarists alive (according to Jefferson Airplane guitarist Jorma Kaukonen).

Regarded as one of the founders of the post-Grateful Dead jam-band scene ― he's toured in many Dead members' side projects, while founder Jerry Garcia was a good friend and admirer ― Kimock fronts a band featuring his son John Morgan Kimock (drums, electronica), Billy Goodman (guitars, vocals), Andy Hess (bass) and newcomer Jeff Kazee (on keys and vocals), who's played with Roger Waters and Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes.

"Steve Kimock & Friends melts every genre of music into an infinite ribbon of melody, harmony, and rhythm that make you see and feel magic," the Grateful Dead's well-known historian and publicist Dennis McNally said via email about the tour. "Promise."

Interviewed this past Tuesday via phone from Seattle, Kimock talked about his Bethlehem, Pa., upbringing. Helping to broaden his musical knowledge was his aunt Dorothy Siftar, a folk singer who played the prestigious Philadelphia Folk Festival. One Christmas, she gifted him an album laden with Canadian fishermen songs.

"I probably wanted a Black Sabbath album," he said.

In 1974, shortly after high school, Kimock moved to Northern California, where he became ingrained in a music community where the Grateful Dead and compatriots dwelled.

"Everyone was just right there," he said. "They were the ones to pick you up hitchhiking, or you'd see them at the deli or at the bar."

Kimock co-formed the Heart of Gold Band with former Dead members Keith and Donna Godchaux. That band's drummer, Greg Anton, joined Kimock in the 1984 formation of Zero, an instrumental psychedelic jazz/rock/blues band that became one of the trailblazers for a new genre called "jam band."

Zero still releases albums, as does Kimock as a solo artist, giving him a wealth of material to draw on for his setlists.

"I generally won't make the setlist until I see the people who are there," Kimock said. "I try to read the audience. I ask myself what does this look like and feel like and how can I leverage the material I've got?"

What's he seen from Pittsburgh crowds?

"I'm always happy to go there and surprised by how good the gigs have been."

One setlist pick lately has been a new improvisational tune,"Bumper Jam," a jazzy tune with a unique origin. Kimock titled it from memories of when a tour vehicle box truck he was a passenger in clipped a woman's car and ripped off the bumper.

"There were parts of it all over the street, The cops came," Kimock said. "That woman was standing there looking at what was left of her plastic bumper. That song is for her."

Another of his largely instrumental setlist staples has been "Tongue N' Groove," highlighted by dramatic shifts in sonics. At times live, it's quieted to just the drummer lightly striking a snare, before a sudden build-up of strength, speed and full band intensity.

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"There's that variation of dynamics or cadence. There's a baseline that's the basic tune that you kind of go above or below to create effects," Kimock said. "The audience reacts strongly. I mean, nobody cheers a chord change."

Remains to be seen how many stories Kimock tells between songs at Jergel's, again depending on the audience.

"Telling stories is part of the tradition, though it's more about an acoustic setting," he said. "But at the same time, because a lot of my stuff is instrumental" he feels a need to add some banter.

"As long as the audience is attentive and can detect what I'm saying intelligibly," Kimock said. "If I'm able to communicate effectively, I'll definitely tell a story here and there. But if they're drunk and rowdy, what's the point?"

Kimock fondly recalls a tour stop in an industrial-looking venue in Japan, where the crowd stayed motionless and silent between songs, but leaped into full-on energy the moment the band started playing each song. Alas, American fans sometimes do the opposite.

"Culturally in America, you're playing at their party," he said. "That's all there is to it."

But this contemporary of The Dead is grateful for the opportunity to play those parties.

"It feels like raw, musical energy at this point. That's where things are right now because what a burden the past few years were when everybody had the inability to get together like normal," Kimock said. "We're all eager to scratch that itch."

(Tickets for the Jergel's show are $28 to $40 at jergels.com )

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Scott Tady is entertainment editor at The Times and easy to reach at stady@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Hungry & refreshed, jam band guitarist Steve Kimock heads to Jergel's