Vida Blue

Formed in the wake of <a href="spotify:artist:5wbIWUzTPuTxTyG6ouQKqz">Phish</a>'s 2000 hiatus, Vida Blue is the first solo project from <a href="spotify:artist:5wbIWUzTPuTxTyG6ouQKqz">Phish</a> keyboardist <a href="spotify:artist:0oRAN7x5TpAfyN2ERhvijE">Page McConnell</a>. Named after a major-league pitcher who was popular in the 1970s and '80s, the band mixed electronica with exploratory jazz, funk, and jam rock. Vida Blue toured heavily and issued a pair of albums in the early years of the millennium before going on hiatus themselves in 2004. <a href="spotify:artist:0oRAN7x5TpAfyN2ERhvijE">McConnell</a> revived the project in 2018 and they released their third album, Crossing Lines, a year later.

In 2001, nearly a year after <a href="spotify:artist:5wbIWUzTPuTxTyG6ouQKqz">Phish</a>'s break began, <a href="spotify:artist:0oRAN7x5TpAfyN2ERhvijE">McConnell</a> traveled to New Orleans, where he convened with <a href="spotify:artist:4wQ3PyMz3WwJGI5uEqHUVR">the Allman Brothers Band</a> bassist <a href="spotify:artist:5NxOynAoF4PRKsFHH5LhGL">Oteil Burbridge</a> (later of <a href="spotify:artist:4QMYdqiJf5bEC7P0EHbnxn">Dead & Company</a>) and Funky Meters' drummer Russell Batiste. <a href="spotify:artist:0oRAN7x5TpAfyN2ERhvijE">McConnell</a> had known <a href="spotify:artist:5NxOynAoF4PRKsFHH5LhGL">Burbridge</a> for over a decade, as <a href="spotify:artist:5wbIWUzTPuTxTyG6ouQKqz">Phish</a> had often shared bills with <a href="spotify:artist:2PsxRvGsP2fZqLjEbE1laI">the Aquarium Rescue Unit</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5NxOynAoF4PRKsFHH5LhGL">Burbridge</a>'s seminal early-'90s band. Batiste and <a href="spotify:artist:0oRAN7x5TpAfyN2ERhvijE">McConnell</a> had first come into contact while working on a track for Get You A Healin', a benefit album with <a href="spotify:artist:5wbIWUzTPuTxTyG6ouQKqz">Phish</a> bassist <a href="spotify:artist:2Onb70uN9rRM3VMerSpA37">Mike Gordon</a> and others.

The trio improvised a good deal of music, which ranged in tone as <a href="spotify:artist:0oRAN7x5TpAfyN2ERhvijE">McConnell</a> experimented with acoustic pianos and various synthesizers. Turntablist <a href="spotify:artist:75GlHUh2Mr5IthCCRptIQV">DJ Logic</a> joined them for a session. Ultimately, the band latched onto an electronic sound and <a href="spotify:artist:0oRAN7x5TpAfyN2ERhvijE">McConnell</a> shaped some of the material into songs and added lyrics. Following a run of introductory shows, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Elektra%22">Elektra</a> released Vida Blue's self-titled debut in 2002. Over the next year they became a staple of the jam band circuit and recorded a 2003 follow-up, The Illustrated Band, which featured four songs backed by the colorful Afro-Cuban outfit <a href="spotify:artist:4Y7qpaevPrUsSvpHtnHNUP">Spam Allstars</a>. Before <a href="spotify:artist:0oRAN7x5TpAfyN2ERhvijE">McConnell</a> retired the project in 2004, they captured a set at the San Francisco Fillmore, which was released on CD and DVD as Live at the Fillmore.

After a brief reunion followed by a four-year break-up, <a href="spotify:artist:5wbIWUzTPuTxTyG6ouQKqz">Phish</a> resumed business in 2008 and Vida Blue remained inactive until 2018, when <a href="spotify:artist:0oRAN7x5TpAfyN2ERhvijE">McConnell</a> announced they were headed into the studio. Guitarist Adam Zimmon (<a href="spotify:artist:0EmeFodog0BfCgMzAIvKQp">Shakira</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0o0rlxlC3ApLWsxFkUjMXc">Ziggy Marley</a>) was added to the lineup and the newly minted quartet released Crossing Lines in September 2019. ~ Timothy Monger & Jesse Jarnow, Rovi