From February 1971 to July 1975, Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders played many live shows together when the Grateful Dead were not on tour. Their band's lineup for the Lion's Share concert was Garcia on guitar and vocals, Saunders on keyboards and vocals, John Kahn on bass, and Bill Vitt on drums. A few days later, the band played two shows at the KeystoneinBerkeley, California, that are documented in the albums Live at Keystone, Keystone Encores, and Keystone Companions.[5]
At the July 5 Lion's Share concert, a trumpet player whose identity is no longer known sat in on the second set.[1]
OnPopMatters, Jedd Beaudoin said, "A total of eight official releases from that [Garcia and Saunders] partnership exist, including a 1974 date from the Keystone. But this one, tracked at the small-ish Lion's Share just after Independence Day '73, is the one that takes them all.... The song selection is choice and the group sounds hungry for new musical heights.... Now, if we could just find out who the heck is playing trumpet we'd be in great shape."[7]
Doug Collette of All About Jazz called the album "a distinctive entry in the solo discography of guitarist/songwriter/vocalist Jerry Garcia," and noted that it "documents a starting point for ongoing endeavors he would refine the remainder of his life."[6]
Writing for No Depression, Mike Seely commented: "The music doesn't merely distract you; it teleports you to another sphere of reality. You're lost out there with Jerry, uninterested in heading home. You forget about life for awhile, which isn't too far removed from being gratefully dead."[8]
A reviewer for Aquarium Drunkard stated: "intimacy and freedom were on the menu that night while outfitting themselves with a wrecking crew of a rhythm section... this new set adds an additional 3 hours to the party that (seemingly) never wants to end."[9]
Jeff Wilson of The Absolute Sound remarked: "it's nice to hear a musician whose improvisational wizardry can match Garcia's, as Saunders delivers solos as colorful, unpredictable, and yes, 'mind-blowing' as the Fat Man's."[10]
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