Reconstruction was a band formed in 1978 by
John Kahn initially to occupy him while
Jerry Garcia, his long-time musical collaborator, was busy with the
Grateful Dead. The band's original
guitar player was
Jerry Miller, best known for performing with
Moby Grape. In March 1979, Garcia took over guitar duties officially.[1]
The band performed while the Grateful Dead was on a brief hiatus, switching keyboard players from
Keith Godchaux to
Brent Mydland, and continued well into 1979. The band varied its styles from previous Garcia/Kahn/Saunders collaborations to more of a disco and jazz sound.
Performances
Reconstruction performed only for an eight-month period in 1979. The band's first performance was January 30, 1979 at the Keystone in
Berkeley, California. Its last performance was on September 22, 1979, at the Keystone in
Palo Alto, California. During that period, the band played 57 concerts, all of them in
California and
Colorado.