LIVE: Melvin Seals & JGB @ Cohoes Music Hall, 10/21/17

Photographs by Andrzej Pilarczyk

Organist Melvin Seals joined the Jerry Garcia Band in 1980, playing with the Grateful Dead guitarist until Garcia’s death in 1995.

Since then, Seals has kept Garcia’s music alive with an ever-evolving line-up of musicians dubbed JGB. The line-up at the band’s recent Cohoes Music Hall gig featured guitarist Zach Nugent, vocalists Shirley Starks and Cheryl Rucker, drummer Pete Lavezzoli, bassist John-Paul McLean and surprise special guest tenor saxman Ron Holloway (who has previously played Greater Nippertown with with the likes of Dizzy Gillespie and Root Boy Slim & the Sex Change Band).