Johnson resurrects the Grateful Dead with latest symphony
July 2, 2007
What do you get when you cross a classically trained composer with the psychedelic sounds of famous rock band the Grateful Dead? Why, a Dead Symphony, of course. And that’s no joke for LaGrange College professor Lee Johnson, who is receiving rave reviews for his sixth symphony, aptly titled “Dead Symphony No. 6.”
“The idea was born in the head of Mike Adams, a music producer in Atlanta,” said Johnson, Fuller E. Callaway Associate Professor of Music. A devoted Deadhead, Adams longed for a classical take on his favorite band.
“After Jerry (Garcia’s) death, he decided that this idea had to be pursued in earnest,” Johnson explained. “I ended up being the one who was approached first to see if this was even a remote possibility.”
The first obstacle was that Johnson had no familiarity with the Dead’s music. So he immersed himself in the prolific band’s lengthy catalog of songs. Before long, he came across his first inspiration.
“‘China Doll’ was the first piece that I found as a new student of the band that told me that not only was this going to happen, but that it was going to be successful as composition,” Johnson said. “I’ve guess I’ve written enough music to know what good music should have in it.”
From that small seedling grew symphonic treatments of 10 classic Grateful Dead songs, including “Here Comes Sunshine” and “Mountains of the Moon.” The off-and-on process took 10 years before Johnson was ready to record the collection, which is book-ended by an overture and finale.
To capture his vision, he chose to collaborate with the Russian National Orchestra, a Grammy-winning group he has worked with before.
The recording sessions in Moscow provided the challenge of incorporating another of the Grateful Dead’s trademarks into the work: improvisation.
“How can you take a band that is known for its improvisation and then transfer it … into the world of the whole symphony?” Johnson said.
His rendition of “Stella Blue” provided the perfect opportunity. It includes sections where certain instruments are allowed to extemporize, often a challenge for classical musicians.
While Johnson had some initial concerns about how his Russian partners would take to that section, he found that they knew exactly what to do.
“The beauty of this is that improvisation got to be experienced by the orchestra as well,” he reports.
Released on CD on May 29, “Dead Symphony” has met with strong public interest and positive reviews. Johnson has conducted more than 40 media interviews, including ones with both Reuters and AP, and the work has received airplay on XM radio.
Next, he hopes for a symphony to schedule a live performance of the work.
Learn more about “Dead Symphony No. 6” here.
