The Dead’s ‘Elastic Ping Pong Jam’ During Dark Star, 1973
The Dead had certain favorite musical themes they returned to again and again over the years, so common that they have names we immediately recognize. Spanish Jam, Mind Left Body Jam, others. We know these themes, their evolution, where they usually appeared in shows.
Throughout 1973 the band riffed on what I consider one of the best themes ever and here’s an example of it, above.
As far as I can tell, the sequence does not have a name in the Dead vernacular (if I’m wrong I hope someone points it out here) - and I think it should be called the Elastic Ping Pong Jam. In every version I’ve heard, it is, IMO, an example of the Dead at their very best. Sublime.
I’ve excerpted the above version (from 6-24-73, in Portland, Oregon) with enough room for you to hear the lead-in. This jam often started in the middle of Dark Star but also arrived once during The Other One. (By 73, the Dead usually used either Dark Star or TOO as the improv vehicle of the night - seldom if ever both - and this Elastic Ping Pong Jam arrived during the height of mellow, jazzy improv jamming.)
Usually, after a few minutes of establishing solid ground with a recognizable song structure, there’d be a quiet pause, stepping back to create some breathing room, and then either Phil or Bobby or both would create the basis of this jam — a jazzy, bouncy, and structured line upon which Jerry could do whatever the fuck he wanted.
I love when the Dead fell apart into total chaos, but I also love this. It is structured, beautiful music, with that Dead weirdness giving it a cosmic oddness all the while.
And every player makes it good - makes it better. Billy, Keith, Bobby, Phil, Jerry - their playing would be missing … the theme would be less-than without them. It also helps that this particular musical motif was played in an era when Bobby’s guitar sounds was, in a word, awesome. A sound like the wind in the trees.
There is a gorgeous version of this theme that kicks in around the 3:25 minute mark during The Other One on 6-29-73 at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. But I’m including the Portland version above because it is one of the most sustained versions, and one of the most consistently good from start to finish. (They’re all good - hear for yourself.)
The Portland jam runs for more then seven minutes. While Bobby, Phil, and Billy hold the bouncing structure, Jerry and Keith add an ever-unfolding layer of colors that are true genius, as far as I am concerned.
Yeah, Jerry’s playing is flawless (and Bobby’s response as well). The overall effect is extraordinarily visual — hallucinatory. As the jam unfolds, unravels actually — because that is what Jerry makes it do, his guitar sounds unravel — I can’t help but picture a Catherine Wheel firework, spinning with jets of fire, each burst making the wheel spin, and then a new burst, a new spin, again and again. I’ve also visualized a volcanic eruption deep within the sea — Jerry’s playing is like long, unfolding tendrils of lava, cooling in spirals as it hits the cold ocean water at such depths. Each tendril has a recognizable shape, but each is also distinct in its unraveling.
Hey - what can I say - just telling you how I see it. And the beauty is, this unraveling by Jerry just goes on and on and on and on. Seven minutes. Throughout all the years of great Dead moments, turning on a dime, there are plenty sequences of pure musical genius. Few of them are this well structured for this long. This is a masterpiece.
The Dead played the theme a number of times during 1973. And (subject of another post) I have a theory that at one night they actually played an inside-out version of the jam (more on that later), which was a feat like no other.
Here’s my other theory: when Mickey came back into the band, this theme (consciously or not) became the basis for Stronger Than Dirt/King Solomon’s Marbles, on Blues for Allah.
See if you agree. Here’s all the versions of the Elastic Ping Pong Jam I’ve found from the 73 shows:
- Lincoln, Nebraska - Feb 26, 1973: starts around the 10 minute mark in Dark Star (show available as Dick’s Picks Vol 28)
- Portland, Oregon - June, 24, 1973: starts around the 6 minute mark in Dark Star (excerpted above)
- Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles, June 29, 1973: starts around 3:25 in The Other One
- William & Mary, September 11, 1973: starts out of an equally interesting jam about 10 mins into Dark Star (the segue into the jam is flawless at 11:11 mark)
- Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, October 30, 1973: 6:20 min mark in Dark Star. In this one, you can hear the guys turning it into something new, something different, after playing it on and off for the year. Weir leads the charge into that new landscape.
I suspect there are others. I am still looking for them. The earliest hint of the jam — hints in this direction are from the gorgeous Dark Star played late in 1972 at the Hofheinz Pavilion in Texas (11-19-72). Around the ten minute mark you can hear Phil and Bill create the elastic swing that’s the basis of this awesome piece of music.
One of my very favorites.
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