On Friday, October 25, Grateful Dead’s founding bassist Phil Lesh passed away Many music icons have been paying tribute to the beloved musician, and now surviving Grateful Dead members are paying tribute as well.

Partner “We lost a brother today” expression reading on social media. It continues like this:

Our hearts and love go out to Jill Lesh, Brian and Grahame. Phil Lesh was irreplaceable. You could hear and feel the world rising on a note from Phil District. Their bass flowed like a river. He went where his muse took him. He was just an inner and outer space explorer who played bass. He was someone who circumnavigated previously unknown musical worlds. And more.

We can count on the fingers of people who we can say have a profound impact on our development in every sense. And there are far fewer people who have been doing this consistently for decades and will continue to do so for as long as we live. What a gift he was to us. We won’t say he will be missed, because at any given moment nothing we do would be without the lessons he taught us and the lessons yet to come as the conversations continue.

Phil loved the Dead Heads and always kept them in his heart and mind. The thing is… Phil was much more than a virtuoso bassist, a composer, a family man, a cultural icon…

There will be many tributes and they will all say important things. But for us, we’ve spent a lifetime making music with Phil Lesh, and music has a way of expressing everything. So listen to the Grateful Dead and we can all take a piece of Phil with us forever.

Because this is all a dream we had one afternoon a long time ago…

At Bob Weir’s house expressionHe recalled how Lesh “introduced me (and us) to the wonders of modern classical music with its textures and developments, and soon we were trying our hands at incorporating them into what we would present.”

Mickey Hart wrote He said Lesh was “larger than life, right in the middle of the band and my ears, filling my brain with waves of bass.” Bill Kreutzmann explained Lesh wasn’t just a brother to me; he was like an older brother. A roommate. A group of friends. A mentor.”

Jerry Garcia’s family also shared the following: expressionHe writes that they will “miss his sharp dry humor, wry smiles and brilliant insights.”

Trey Anastasio, who played with Phil Lesh & Friends and at Fare Thee Well concerts, to post To commemorate their friendship, they performed a cover of “Box Of Rain,” one of the Dead’s most beloved songs, written by Lesh, with Phish in Albany on Friday. Watch below.