For me this sums it up best: Along w/ this, it's my opinion The GD just flat out have more soul! It's a more soulful show, music, lyrics, crowd, experience, history and feeling and therefore it will age (the music) better than most. It has to do with ego! Jerry had very little ego, especially when playing. Trey forces crescendo's and jams and explosions and plays canned "hey, I'm a lead guitar player" jams all the time. Boring. With that said, I have tremendous respect for Phish and will continue to enjoy their music for years to come. I just enjoy it more on those rare, rare occasions when they just let stuff happen. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but when it does it's far more beautiful and powerful than anything you could have forced or planned. This explanation from an interview with John Kahn's ex-wife sums it up the best: John Kahn was Jerry's solo bass player from about 1970 on.

DI: Right about that time, you remade I'm a Woman.
MM (John Kahn's ex-wife): After a couple of years, I left L.A. I fell in love with John Kahn, who was Jerry Garcia's bass player for many years. He pinch-hit for my bass player, who'd gotten a sudden case of dreadful stomach poisoning. We were opening up that night in San Francisco. He showed up and learned 20 songs in an hour. He was a fantastic musician. One thing led to another, and we fell madly in love. I moved up to San Francisco to be with him. At that time, he had Ron Tutt, who was Elvis� drummer and bandleader. I loved the Garcia Band so much. Donna and Keith Godchaux were in it, and I would go moonlight with them whenever I could. I would show up with my tambourines and stand between John Kahn and Ron Tutt and play tambourine when they did �Mystery Train.� You know, I could just do that for days. Jerry enjoyed having me and eventually asked me to join the band. I did Cats Under the Stars with them and toured with them and had a wonderful time.

DI: What did you learn from working with Jerry?
MM: I learned that it isn't so much the notes or the technical perfection -- because he could flub a few notes, old Jerry, you know -- but the way he played came from the inside. He would start out on a solo and he'd just feel around. He wouldn't just come out of the gate with some rip-roaring, dazzling, fancy licks (Trey); he would sort of meander around and wait until the spirit came together. He would build a stairway to heaven with his notes. It didn't have to do with fanciness; it had to do with waiting for the spirit to descend on him and the band. When that happened, the whole audience would get it. It wasn't about, Look at me, I'm going to do something dazzling. It was more about, Let's all really feel this moment together. I've had very accomplished guitar players since then, guys who could just whip all over the guitar neck. A fabulous black guitarist from Marin County named Archie Williams, a real jazzer, could play any kind of lick -- inside out, upside down, backwards, fast, you know -- and he just didn't get it. There are a lot of other very accomplished musicians who don�t get the �Jerry thing.� They wondered, �How come he�s selling out to millions of people, audiences everywhere, and I�m so good and nobody knows who I am?� I tried to explain to them, it�s because Jerry was not playing from a place of ego. He was not playing to impress anybody; he was playing because the spirit moved him to play. And John was right there with him. It�s really just a tragedy, the whole scene that surrounded them got more and more involved in drugs. It�s a pity because it brought down two of the best musicians I ever heard or got to work with. I miss them dearly to this day. [Stanley] Mouse did a great, wonderful drawing after John Kahn passed away. Jerry�s sitting up on a cloud playing. In the first picture John, with his little hat on, is sort of flying up to meet him with his bass in hand. Then, in the next picture, they�re both sitting on a cloud jamming. And that�s just the way I have to think about them. [laughs]