Phil Lesh Was the Grateful Dead’s Great Explorer

When Grateful Dead co-founder, bassist, sometime backing vocalist, and eternal experimenter Phil Lesh died on Friday at the age of 84, Deadheads were keen to let you know he wasn’t just some guy in the group. Lesh, whose roots were in the avant-garde, was one of the first musicians in rock music to play the bass as though it were a lead instrument — ironic in that he was trained in violin, trumpet, and modern classical composition before Jerry Garcia asked him to join...