Hooteroll?

Hooteroll? is a jazz-rock fusion album by Howard Wales and Jerry Garcia.

Prior to making Hooteroll?, Wales and Garcia had played together at Monday night jam sessions at The Matrix in San Francisco. Wales had also played organ on several tracks of the Grateful Dead album American Beauty.

Hooteroll? features a few musicians who later played in Jerry Garcia side projects — John Kahn (Jerry Garcia Band and many other Garcia related groups), Bill Vitt (Merl Saunders and Jerry Garcia), and Martin Fierro (Legion of Mary).

Cover

The cover art is a painting by Abdul Mati Klarwein titled Saint John. The same painting is also on the cover of the Jam & Spoon album Kaleidoscope. Other paintings by Klarwein were used for the cover and gatefold art of the Miles Davis album Bitches Brew.

The inside cover of the album depicts a photograph of Jerry Garcia and Howard Wales smoking on an outdoor sofa. The photo is evidently reversed as Jerry Garcia's missing finger is on his "left" as opposed to his "right" hand.