Ned Lagin

Some Heads consider Ned Lagin a full, though little known, member of the Grateful Dead. And for several years in the early 1970s, that certainly seemed to be the case. During that time, Ned regularly sat in with the band, played with Phil and other Dead members during set break, and deeply influenced the musical evolution of the Dead.

Born in New York City and raised on Long Island, Lagin started playing the piano at age six. At the same time, he was already deeply interested in science as well as building electronic projects and learning photography. By age eleven, Ned’s interest in electronics was so developed that he built his own oscilloscope. But his musical development continued apace, and it was not too long after that he began making forays into New York to catch the first set – because his curfew prevented him from seeing more – at jazz clubs in the city.

In 1966, Lagin began studies at MIT with the intention of becoming a biologist and astronaut. His desires and outlook shifted with the political events of the sixties and ongoing US involvement in Vietnam, becoming more drawn to music and humanities. And though he still graduated with a degree in molecular biology, he started blending his interests in electronics and music in his studies at MIT and by taking additional coursework at the Berklee School of Music.

While at MIT, a friend introduced Ned to the music of the Grateful Dead and dragged him along to one of the Dead’s shows during the 1969 New Year’s run at the Boston Tea Party. As soon as the Dead started playing live that night, Lagin recognized their shared creative interests and musical approaches, this despite the fact that Ned was working more in jazz and, especially, electronic music at the time.

After the show, Ned wrote Jerry “a three-page single-spaced letter describing” his background and current electronic music compositions as well as, in Phil’s recollection, “how the intersection of music and computer technology could change the way we listened and made music.” 

Though Jerry never wrote back, the letter had made an impression. And when the Dead came to play MIT the next May and Ned introduced himself to Jerry, Garcia excitedly ran to get Phil, yelling, “Phil! I found the guy! I found the guy!” It turned out the Dead had scheduled a few extra days at MIT so that they could find Ned and experience all the campus had to offer. 

And that is just what the Dead did, in addition to playing an additional free concert on campus in support of the student strikes against the US expansion of the war in Vietnam into Cambodia and the Kent State shootings. Ned introduced the band to cutting edge research in labs across campus, jammed with Pigpen on Ned’s upright piano in his dorm room, played the very first computer game against Jerry and Phil on one of MIT’s mainframes, and invited them all to attend a concert of Ned’s own electronic music composition in the MIT Chapel.

During the visit, Jerry invited Ned out to California after MIT got out for the summer. And what a summer it turned out to be. Ned spent countless hours jamming with Jerry, the rest of the band, and others, like David Crosby, at Mickey’s ranch and elsewhere. Ned also played piano on sessions for American Beauty (he is credited on Candyman) and Crosby’s If I Could Only Remember My Name. Ned also made some of his own recordings in Mickey’s studio, including early work on what would become Seastones, Ned’s electronic music composition and album that Phil, Mickey, and Jerry, as well as David Crosby, Grace Slick, David Freiberg, and Spencer Dryden would end up playing on.

Back at MIT in the fall of 1970, Ned made his first appearance on stage with the Dead on November 5, 1970, at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester, New York, playing on The Other One> Dark Star> Saint Stephen. While Ned continued his studies as a graduate student over the next couple years, he played with the Dead as his schedule allowed. For instance, Ned took part – on organ and clavichord – in the epic Dark Star> Wharf Rat> Dark Star with the Beautiful Jam on February 18, 1971. And, every summer Ned made his way back to the Bay Area to jam with the band and other musicians, work on Seastones, and play on the Dead’s and others’ studio work.

Finally, in April of 1973, Ned moved out to California, continuing to work on Seastones and jam regularly with the extended Dead family. In 1974, he went into the studio with the band for the Mars Hotel album on which he is credited for his synthesizer on Unbroken Chain. He also toured with the Dead throughout the summer, playing Ned and Phil segments (which often included Jerry and others) during set break and, on June 23rd at the Jai-Alai Fronton in Miami, joining the Dead on stage. In the fall, Ned toured Europe with the Dead, continuing the Ned and Phil segments while playing more with the rest of the band. Ned also played three of the final Winterland shows in October.

While the Dead were on hiatus in ’75, Ned finished and released his Seastones album, played on the entire Blues for Allah sessions, and spent a ton of time jamming with the Dead and others. As the year wore on, however, he got increasingly disillusioned with the role of money and fame in the Bay Area music scene and stopped playing music entirely. 

Over the next several decades, Ned played no music at all and more or less completely lost contact with the members of the Grateful Dead. Instead, Ned pursued a career in the tech industry and developed his visual art practice. Around 1990, Ned ran into Phil, and they started talking about Jerry’s desire to re-release Seastones in full. At Jerry’s behest, Rykodisc ended up releasing the album that year. But Ned did little to support it and didn’t get back into playing music. It was not until the 2000s that Ned started to make music again. And in 2016, Ned released a second album, Cat Dreams.