Great Caesar's Ghost - Dragonfly (2015) Lossless

Great Caesar’s Ghost is a five member band from Long Island, New York. Their newest album, Dragonfly, is their eighth release since forming in 2004. The band’s first two releases, Live at Berkner Hall with G.E. Smith and One More Ride, included colaborations with G.E. Smith (Saturday Night Live, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, David Bowie). The band also released a double live album, Live with Butch Trucks, with Allman Brothers Band drummer Butch Trucks in 2012. Great Caesar’s Ghost has garnered a reputation for their unique interpretation of a generation of great American music.

Dragonfly represents two years of recording, following the death of original band member and guitarist Ray Penney in 2012. Great Caesar’s Ghost, once again, puts their own touches on two Allman Brothers standards, “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” and “Black Hearted Woman,” as well as a rendition of The Grateful Dead’s “St. Stephen,” which detours momentarily into the Allman’s “Mountain Jam”.

Great Caesar’s Ghost offers up two originals, one of which is a Santana/Allmanesque instrumental called“Dragonfly,” and “Show of Hands,” a groove oriented vocal number. The album also offers very strong versions of Neil Young’s “Cortez The Killer,” The Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil,” and Alan Tousaint’s “Get Out My Life Woman.” The group also shows off its jazzier side with a unique version of Miles Davis’ “So What.”

Band members include; Bosco Michne (guitar and vocals), Ed DiCapua (drums ad percussion), Larry Schmid (slide guitar, guitar, and vocals), Keith Hill (piano and Hammond B-3), and new member Klyph Black (bass guitar), who played for many years with The Zen Tricksters.

Hittin The Note magazine said this about Great Caesar’s Ghost:
“......Every now and then a band comes across our radar that has that rare ability to ‘hit the note.' It is even rarer for us to come across a band that can play the Allman Brothers' music so well that it gets our attention. Great Caesar's Ghost is such a band."