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    Merl Saunders is perhaps best known for his longtime collaboration with Jerry Garcia. Merl was the keyboardist on various incarnations of the Jerry Garcia Band in the 1970s (Jerry Garcia Band, Legion of Mary and Reconstruction), and Jerry appeared on several of Merl’s later albums. He has also performed with artists as diverse as Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra and Bonnie Raitt, and can be heard on the “Live at Keystone” series. Merl is still active in the “jamband” scene, touring often with his own Merl Saunders and the Rainforest Band, and more recently Merl and His Funky Friends.
    Merl Saunders has sat in with Phish on two occasions. The first was on 4/23/94 at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, GA, where he joined Page at the keyboards for renditions of “Caravan” and “High-Heel Sneakers.” Fishman, Mike and Page returned the favor later that same night by sitting in with Merl's Rainforest Band at Atlanta's Variety Playhouse. He joined the Phish stage again on 10/22/96 at Madison Square Garden; along with Buddy Miles on drums and the pleasantly outrageous “Madison Scare Garden Dancers,” Merl sat in for the encore of the classic “All Along the Watchtower.”
    Trey sat in with Merl at Burlington’s defunct Club Toast on 4/11/96; the rendition of “We All Wanna Boogie” from this gig appears on the live CD Merl Saunders With His Funky Friends. Mike joined Merl at a gig on 1/23/01 at Higher Ground in Vermont. Merl also performed with Fish, Col. Bruce Hampton and others at the tribute concert for the late Mimi Fishman on 10/5/01.
    Merl is also a “funky friend” of The Mockingbird Foundation. Merl contributed a spirited rendition of “Julius” to Mockingbird’s Sharin’ In The Groove CD; Merl and his Funky Friends were the headlining performers at San Francisco's Great American Music Hall on 7/12/01 for the CD's release party.