Not in Ludwig’s League

Forgive me for being a naysaying curmudgeon, but when Rip Rense compares Jerry Garcia (“An Early End to a Strange Trip,” Calendar, Aug. 10) to Miles Davis as a musical equal, it strikes me that ol’ Rip drank a little too much electric Kool-Aid. To further compare him to Wagner, Beethoven or Pharaoh Sanders, in either musical or spiritual terms, seems fatuous at best.

Sorry, but Garcia’s tone, phrasing or ideas don’t come close to either of the jazz giants. Rip, get a grip. The Dead were (apparently) a great party band--though when I saw them, it was three-plus hours of tedium. In my view, Jerry Garcia is not of the caliber to be in the Pantheon of Musical Titans where you have so cavalierly placed him.

STEUART LIEBIG, Culver City