The wife and I caught them at BB King's in New York during an ABB Beacon Run , it was a really good time with some great playing . Not a fan of that venue but it was a smaller crowd and so we had great seats .

I saw them August 6, 1999, at The Bottom Line in NYC. They did 2 shows that night; I caught the early. They were great! It was Jeff Sipe on drums, not Billy cobham. They were all serious musical acrobats; it was a remarkable display of musicality. I found some of their studio stuff sounding a little sterile, but they were really on fire live.

[Edited on 11/23/2016 by JimSheridan]

Saw them in 98 or 99 at the Cubbybear across from Wrigley Field. Not a fan of that joint, but the band absolutely blew me away. I did not know what to expect so seeing these brilliant musicians absolutely slay the music in a whole new way was exhilirating.

Cobham was the name that convinced me to go ( how in the world did this ace jazz cat get into the Dead? ), but my eyes and ears were treated to Jimmy for the first time and it was a revelation.

When I heard he was joining the ABB, I was like, "holy cow this is going to be killer"... and of course it was!

I have a couple of Vincent Herring CDs. What I like about his playing is that he has that '50s, '60s hard bop sound which sounds like Coltrane and other sax players from that era.

I have a couple of Vincent Herring CDs.

He is great.. but this is about JIMMY Herring... thanks for reminding me about Vincent though.

I saw JID a couple of times... first with Cobham and then Sipe. First time was in Detroit and I reconnected with Jimmy after four or five years and hung out with them all. Not one of them liked the Dead or knew the music prior to the gig, which was put together by the promoter. Cobham had no interest, which is why he left after a short time - maybe just the first tour? Jimmy said, "we're the Monkees... put together by a promoter, who owns the name." But it launched his career really.

I'm shocked that Jimmy didn't like the dead. I wonder if he grew to appreciate the music through the gig?

So you think Jazz is Dead did more to launch Jimmy's career than ARU?

I have a couple of Vincent Herring CDs.

He is great.. but this is about JIMMY Herring... thanks for reminding me about Vincent though.

I saw JID a couple of times... first with Cobham and then Sipe. First time was in Detroit and I reconnected with Jimmy after four or five years and hung out with them all. Not one of them liked the Dead or knew the music prior to the gig, which was put together by the promoter. Cobham had no interest, which is why he left after a short time - maybe just the first tour? Jimmy said, "we're the Monkees... put together by a promoter, who owns the name." But it launched his career really.

I' m surprised to see that Cobham didn't know the Dead. He was in a band with Bob Weir and sat in with the Dead in 1980.

I have a couple of Vincent Herring CDs.

He is great.. but this is about JIMMY Herring... thanks for reminding me about Vincent though.

I saw JID a couple of times... first with Cobham and then Sipe. First time was in Detroit and I reconnected with Jimmy after four or five years and hung out with them all. Not one of them liked the Dead or knew the music prior to the gig, which was put together by the promoter. Cobham had no interest, which is why he left after a short time - maybe just the first tour? Jimmy said, "we're the Monkees... put together by a promoter, who owns the name." But it launched his career really.

The promoter was a guy named Michael Gaiman who is still active. He also put together Blue Floyd. He was an agent for the Grateful Dead at one time and I think was involved in The Band's '83 reunion. I loved both Jazz is Dead and Blue Floyd - both great ideas I thought.

Jazz Is Dead were still going as recently as last year with Jeff Pevar on guitar, Rod Morgenstein on drums, Alphonso Johnson still on bass, Chris Smith on keyboard, and '69-70 Grateful Dead keyboard player Tom Constanten on piano. You can hear the most recent lineup from last year here: https://archive.org/details/TC2015-08-09.jazz_is_dead_arcada_sbd

For those that torrent - there's a great partial SBD from a '99 Herring era show with some guests where they play Wake of the Flood in it's entirety: http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=554441