Rainforest Band
| Company type | Musical group |
|---|---|
| Industry | Music |
| Founded | 1990 |
| Founder | Merl Saunders, Muruga Booker, Jerry Garcia |
| Defunct | 2010 |
| Headquarters | United States , United States |
| Products | Music albums |
The Rainforest Band was a United States-based jam band known for merging elements of jazz, rock, world music, R&B, and funk. Established in 1990, the group released four albums and remained active for approximately ten years.
History
Formed in 1990, the Rainforest Band debuted with the Grammy-nominated album Blues From the Rainforest, a project uniting jazz keyboardist Merl Saunders, percussionist Muruga Booker, and Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia. The lineup also included Shakti Booker on vocals, Eddie Moore handling percussion, Melvin Seals providing sound effects, and Bill Thompson on drums and MIDI technology. This pioneering blend of jazz and world music earned early recognition in the Grammy Awards that year. The compositions were primarily created by Saunders and Booker, while Garcia added electric and MIDI guitar layers, integrating audio samples from the Amazon rainforest.
Although initially released under Merl Saunders’s name, later tours presented the ensemble as the Rainforest Band, designating this work as their inaugural album. Throughout a decade of performances, the band featured a fluid roster with many members affiliated with the Grateful Dead. Their dedication to environmental themes was evident, highlighted by an album titled Save the Planet So We’ll Have Someplace to Boogie and live shows often including the refrain “Every Day is Earth Day”.
Saunders’s label, Sumertone Records, produced their albums, allocating a portion of sales to support the Rainforest Action Network. In 1999, a DVD edition of Blues From the Rainforest was issued, containing original master recordings, footage from their September 24, 1990 concert at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall, a music video for the title track, and the documentary Rediscovering the Amazon, which focused on rainforest deforestation issues.
Following nearly ten years apart, Merl Saunders reunited with Muruga and Shakti Booker at the Starwood Festival in 2000. This reunion led to plans for a tour starting at Nelson's Ledges Quarry Park in 2002; however, this became Saunders’s final performance with the group due to health setbacks caused by a stroke. Subsequently, he returned to performing with a Jerry Garcia Band tribute ensemble.
Additional prominent members included Tony Saunders, Mike Hinton, Vince Littleton, Larry Vann, Michael Warren, Steve Kimock, Karen Baker, Tammy Tambora, and John Popper.
Honoring Merl Saunders’s legacy, the Rainforest Band reassembled at the 29th Starwood Festival on July 25, 2009. This iteration was led by Tony Saunders (bass), Mike Hinton (guitar), Bill Norwood (drums), Mike Emerson (keyboards), and vocalist Misa Malone. Guest artists featured Tommy Castro, Elvin Bishop, and Petty Theft. The lineup also included Sikiru Adepoju playing talking drum and Douglas "Val" Serrant on steel drum and djembe. Meanwhile, Muruga Booker formed his own version of the band and produced a CD in 2010 that showcased contributions from Badal Roy, Perry Robinson, and one of the last recordings by James Gurley.
Discography
- 1990: Blues from the Rainforest: A Musical Suite – featuring Muruga, Shakti Booker, Eddie Moore, with guest appearance by Jerry Garcia
- 1991: Save the Planet so We'll have Someplace to Boogie – credited to Merl Saunders & the Rainforest Band
- 1993: It's in the Air – Merl Saunders & the Rainforest Band
- 1998: Fiesta Amazonica – Merl Saunders & the Rainforest Band
Filmography
- 1997: A Tribute to Jerry Garcia: Deadheads Festival Japan 1997 (Japanese LaserDisc, part of the Video Super Rock collection VPLR-70650)
- 1999: Blues from the Rainforest: A Musical Suite (Mobile Fidelity, DVD release)