For most of the 1970s, keyboardist Merl Saunders was Jerry Garcia's main musical foil away from his main band, allowing the Grateful Dead icon a chance to really broaden his horizons. Dates from 1973 at San Francisco's Keystone with bassist John Kahn and drummer Bill Vitt have yielded three CDs' worth of material--Volume 1 and Keystone Encores augment this particularly strong set. Here the quartet tackles a pair of rollicking rockabilly numbers, a blues staple, a wonderfully touching, soulful ballad, and the standard "My Funny Valentine," the latter delivered in a rather exploratory style. --Marc Greilsamer