Howard Wales

Howard Wales, an organist, earned his primary renown through partnerships with Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia. He sharpened his abilities in the mid-1960s by supporting performers that stretched from Ronnie Hawkins to the Four Tops to James Brown, then relocated to San Francisco and entered the ranks of A.B. Skhy. Wales made his first appearance with Garcia during the guitarist’s recurring improvisational sessions alongside bassist John Kahn and drummer Bill Vitt at the Bay Area club the Matrix, and he contributed to the Dead’s landmark American Beauty LP in 1970. Their opening joint release, Hooteroll?, surfaced in 1971. In January 1972 the pair enlisted guitarist Jim Vincent, bassist Roger Troy, and drummer Jerry Love for a unit that maintained a steady performance schedule throughout the next year. Apart from an extended run accompanying guitarist Harvey Mandel, Wales issued the solo album Rendezvous with the Sun in 1976, followed several years later by The Monk in the Mansion. Appearances with Garcia grew sporadic in the period before the latter’s death in 1995, yet one of their 1970 Matrix jams received official release in 1998 as the opening installment of the ongoing Side Trips series.