Phil Lesh, musician whose virtuoso bass-playing was at the heart of the Grateful Dead’s unique sound

The fact that he had never picked up a bass before joining the band gave him the freedom to reinvent the instrument

Phil Lesh, who has died aged 84, was the Grateful Dead’s bass guitarist throughout their 30-year lifespan; his intensely melodic lines left mere timekeeping behind, providing the perfect counterpoint to Jerry Garcia’s sinuous lead guitar, particularly in the extended, mind-expanding jams that gave the Dead a unique place in rock music. “When Phil’s happening, the band’s happening,” Garcia once said.
Philip Chapman Lesh was born on March 15 1940 in Berkeley, California, where his parents had a business repairing office equipment. He began learning the violin, switching to trumpet at Berkeley High School and going on to study under Bob Hansen, conductor of the Golden Gate Park Band – sparking an interest in contemporary classical music and free jazz; Bach and John Coltrane would also become seminal influences.
He attended the College of San Mateo, continuing on the trumpet and writing arrangements for the college’s big band. In 1961 he enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley, where he befriended Tom Constanten. The future Grateful Dead keyboard player suggested that they study together under the avant-garde master composer Luciano Berio at Mills College in nearby Oakland; one of their classmates there was Steve Reich.
At the same time Lesh was working as a volunteer recording engineer at a local radio station, KPFA, and invited a bluegrass banjo player named Jerry Garcia, whom he had once heard give a thrilling rendition of a folk song at a party, to perform on the station’s Midnight Special show; they became good friends.
Lesh briefly worked for the US Post Office driving a service van, then in 1964 he saw Garcia’s new band, the Warlocks, in concert, and happened to mention that he was interested in the bass guitar, an instrument he had never picked up before. A few weeks later Garcia invited him to join.
His very lack of familiarity with the instrument gave him a unique take on what bass-playing should be, and as the band – soon to change their name to the Grateful Dead – became leaders of the LSD-drenched San Francisco subculture, Lesh revelled in the freedom of making music unlike anything that had gone before.
Not that their record company, Warner Bros, were appreciative. The label executive Joe Smith wrote to the band: “It’s apparent that nobody in your organisation has enough influence over Phil Lesh to evoke anything resembling normal behaviour.”
But the Dead consolidated their standing in the vanguard of the musical counterculture with a succession of classic albums like Anthem of the Sun, Aoxomoxoa, Live/Dead and American Beauty, and cultivated a burgeoning reputation as one of the great live bands. Lesh developed a personal following of fans who would gather beneath him at the edge of the stage, transfixed by his bass-playing (later on an unconventional six-string).
He also had a fine, high voice, helping to forge the sumptuous yet delicate three-part harmonies that were as much a part of the band’s sound as their instrumentation. He had to give up singing in the 1970s due to vocal-cord damage, but later resumed at a lower pitch. And while he was not a prolific songwriter, he was the linchpin of some of their most memorable jams, such as St Stephen and Dark Star.
The Dead carried on through the 1980s, a decade partly marred by drug problems, until Jerry Garcia’s death in 1995, when they disbanded. Lesh continued to perform with one or two spin-off bands, as well as his own outfit, Phil Lesh and Friends. In 1999 and 2000 he toured with Bob Dylan, then in 2009 he went on the road with other former Dead members, and continued to tour periodically.
In 2005 he published his memoir Searching for the Sound: My Life with the Grateful Dead, in which he described the role played by psychedelic drugs in the band’s rise: “For me and my friends, these drugs were seen as tools – tools to enhance awareness, to expand our horizons, to access other levels of mind.”
Phil Lesh is survived by his wife Jill, whom he married in 1984, and by their sons Brian and Grahame, who both became professional musicians, often playing with their father.
Phil Lesh, born March 15 1940, died October 25 2024