Tag Archives: Derek Trucks

” Keep On Growin’ “–Tedeschi-Trucks Band- Florida Theatre January 16, 2015

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The happy couple onstage at the Florida Theatre. As John Hiatt says, ” it’s on the National Register ( of Historic Places) “

Concert Review- Tedeschi-Trucks Band, the Florida Theatre, Jacksonville, FL 1/16/15

” Back in the 1970s, when dinosaurs still roamed the earth”, as Patterson Hood says, a scrawny local kid with a ballcap visored way down his forehead stood boldly on the Florida Theatre stage as the opening act for B.B. King, wailing on slide guitar as if he belonged there. The King of the Blues later invited the kid to join him onstage, and hugged him afterward, telling the crowd: ” Imagine how good he’ll be when he gets to my age! ”

But it all seemed too much for any kid to live up to. Born on the First Coast into a musical heritage as the nephew of founding Allman Brothers drummer Butch Trucks, named after Eric Clapton’s alter ego with soulmate Duane Allman on arguably the greatest blues-rock album ever  , cast as a prodigy on slide before he left high school…how could anyone not be crushed or sucked in by the weight of all this? By continuing to grow, yet staying true to his roots, Derek Trucks went beyond the hype, earned his peers’ respect, and now leads the best touring band in the U.S. with his powerhouse blueswailing wife Susan Tedeschi. As the First Family of the Blues, they returned to the Florida Theatre on the heels of wildly successful tours, award-winning records, and critical acclaim. The locals welcomed them home with roaring approval throughout their pulsating two hour set.

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Derek is totally engaged…he just doesn’t talk about it!

Derek’s growth from sideman to bandleader has reflected his broad musical tastes, and the full ensemble band allows him to stretch in many directions. Beginning with the twin-drum lineup trademarked by the Allmans, the current TTB features keys, bass, two backup singers, and a three-piece horn section. Throw in Susan’s own formidable chops on guitar, and you have a huge sound base with a wide variety of ingredients. Derek’s willingness to let the band take solos and leads throughout the show kept things cooking, whether it was Kofi Burbridge on keys and flute, Kebbi Williams on sax, or the always scintillating Mike Mattison on vocals.

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Mike Mattison reaches for that upper register!

Beginning with ” Are You Ready/Made Up Mind “, the band rolled through a veritable Best Of selections from their three CDs, spiced with a few covers, including Deadrick Malone’s ” I Pity the Fool “. Fans cheered wildly as favorites ” Do I Look Worried? “, ” Midnight Up In Harlem “, and ” Idlewind ” ( with a tasty solo by Burbridge on flute) paced the set, culminating in a rousing ” Bound For Glory “. With each song, another member of the band would be featured as soloist, often extending into short jams and interplays that no doubt serve to keep the material fresh through the many nights onstage. Susan was in fine, strong voice, and seemed to be playing notably better, often trading leads with Derek before he took off into his own stringed stratosphere. The band’s sound ventured into jazz at times, veered back toward R and B, and even swung around to traditional acoustic blues.

Through the years, Derek’s onstage demeanor has changed little. The tours alongside Eric Clapton, the years next to Warren Haynes as an Allman Brother, and the side projects with roots musicians like JJ Grey have kept Derek humble and seemingly unaffected by his great success. True to form, he said nothing onstage and merely waved to the crowd at the close of the set. Paying tribute to his namesake, Derek and Susan often include a Clapton cover in their set, from Bobby Whitlock’s Dominoes rocker ” Anyday ” all the way back to Blind Faith and ” Presence of the Lord ” during the Allmans’ show at Wanee years back. This night, they returned to ” Layla” with another Clapton/Whitlock tune, ” Keep On Growin’ “, as the encore of choice, to thunderous applause from the aging boomer crowd, many of whom likely have vinyl ” Laylas ” gathering dust in boxes in the garage.

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The view from the balcony at the Florida Theatre

 

Looking back to Riley B. King’s prognostication, it didn’t take a bluesman’s lifetime for Derek Trucks to mature into a musician’s musician and a artist of commensurate stature to the King himself. All hail the new King and Queen of Blues Rock!

 

IMAG0592A hearty welcome back and Happy New Year to our Florida correspondent, Nanker Phledge… how about showing up now and then, Nanks?  – Editors

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Midnight up in Morrison– Tedeschi/Trucks Band, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, JJ Grey and Mofro

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Concert Review– Tedeschi/Trucks Band- Red Rocks, Morrison, CO 6/15/13

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You’ll just have to take my word that’s Susan and Derek. Please ask the boss to buy me better seats! The background is no banner; those are real rocks!

The First Family of the Blues brought their traveling road show back to the nation’s finest outdoor concert venue on Saturday night, still rolling from the momentum of Grammy awards, fawning press accolades, and sellout crowds generated by 2011’s ” Revelator” and last year’s live release ” Everybody’s Talkin’ “. This time, the band brought along their Northeast Florida homeboy JJ Grey with his swamp funk band Mofro and the former blues artist craving mass appeal Grace Potter in her ” sparkly white bathrobe ” (her words, not mine) for six solid hours of inspired funk, rock, blues and jazz that stoked a packed house eager to start the summer season in style. With the Phillies’ pitching staff surrendering basehits like batting practice, our arrival from Coors Field at the venerable Red Rocks was well into JJ Grey’s set, but we could hear the roaring approval of the crowd from the parking lot, where scalpers and failed Craigslist ticketshoppers pleaded in vain for spare ducats. From his backwoods hideout on the far westside of Jacksonville, JJ Grey has managed to craft his own blend of country, folk, rock, and funky blues into a style all his own, informed by a childhood on the rivers and swamps of Cracker Florida and a strong environmental conscience. JJ has become a regular on the summer festival scene and his New Year’s stands at the Freebird in Jax Beach are local legends, but his roots chops have also supported gigs like his leading of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. Promise to catch your full set next time, JJ !

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Grace Potter on stage and on the big screen, shortly before going Sharon Stone on us!

When Grace Potter appeared on the national scene some ten years ago, she lead a blues-based band playing originals and covers in a humble, unassuming style that made one think she’d slowly grow into a respected artist with a modest following. Her first shows at the Florida Theatre and  Springing the Blues were well received, but when she returned two years ago it was as if she’d fallen under a Svengali’s spell that lead her to dress like Tina Turner, dance like Madonna, and shriek like Yoko Ono. Her songs now tend toward arena anthems and bombastic hard rock, and her bookings and sales would indicate the public embraces her new persona. The set at Red Rocks had plenty of the light-show effects and screaming vocals atop searing guitars, but the best moments were when she dropped the rock-star image and showcased her voice within a comfortable register. The set’s highlight was when the band went acoustic and gathered around Grace for a mini-break that included Jerry Garcia’s Grateful Dead classic, ” Friend of the Devil “, though some would argue for the moment when Grace sat on the drum riser to take off her heels, with that white robe revealing miles of leg and evoking Sharon Stone in ” Basic Instinct”. Gabba Gabba Hey! And Grace pulled many of the aging rockers out of their seats with the band’s encore of the Black Sabbath anthem ” War Pigs “. As Grace said early on, ” we like to mix it up a little “, and she had something for everyone on this night.

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Susan and Derek on the big screen well after midnight

Susan Tedeschi had a successful career as a blues singer and guitarist before her marriage to Derek Trucks, nephew of long-time Allman Brothers drummer Butch and namesake of the Clapton monicker from Eric’s brief halcyon days with Duane ” Skydog ” Allman. The slide guitar prodigy was playing onstage with BB King at age 15, and soon moved into the Allmans lineup alongside Warren Haynes in what now stands as the most potent blues/rock band in America when Derek, Warren, and Gregg Allman’s  schedules permit touring together. After their marriage, Derek and Susan continued separate touring and recording, with occasional appearances together, such as the holiday concerts with family and friends at the Florida Theatre. Many observers concluded that Derek’s desire to explore jazz and big-band sounds would never mesh with Susan’s blues roots , but they managed to find common ground without compromising their talents and instincts on         ” Revelator “, and have toured relentlessly since. Their band includes keyboards, three horn players, and two backup singers, and much of the material begins with blues or rock and expands into jazzy improvisation. Saturday’s set included ” Don’t Let Me Slide ” and    ” Midnight Up In Harlem ” from ” Revelator “, and several new tunes from the next CD, scheduled for release on August 27. Typically, they threw in several well-chosen covers that turned out to be highlights of the evening, with Elmore James’  ” The Sky Is Crying “, and Bobby Whitlock’s Dominoes rocker, ” Anyday ” showcasing Susan’s powerfully expressive vocals and Derek’s controlled fret frenzies. The encore brought another tasty treat, with Grace returning ( this time in an impossibly short skirt that barely covered her honkytonk badonkadonk ) to trade verses with Susan on John Prine’s  ” Angel From Montgomery “.

By this time it was well past midnight. The natural mountain amphitheater was lashed by winds that were chilling even hardy fans and playing havoc with equipment. Susan  politely thanked everyone for staying through the six-hour musical marathon, and we trudged down the hill to the parking lot to resume lives delightfully interrupted by the Rock Show.

—Your Mile High correspondent, Nanker Phledge

Joe Bonamassa

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Concert review– Joe Bonamassa at the Florida Theatre, Jacksonville, FL 12/9/12

Our man Nanker crashes the apparent Blackfoot Fan Club meeting hosted by JB!

Joe Bonamassa, Florida Theatre, 12/912

Joe Bonamassa, Florida Theatre, 12/9/12

Joe’s roots go deep in NE Florida. As he spun the tale last night, back in 1990 he visited the city with his Dad for a gig at the Jacksonville Landing with local legendary Southern rockers ( yes, Greg Allman, I know that term is redundant!) Blackfoot, which included original ( and I mean pre- “Workin’ For MCA”) and current Skynyrd member Ricky Medlocke, and earlier had a regional hit LP, “Strikes”, with the now-classic ” Train, Train “. The thirteen-year-old Joe was ” about a year and a half older” than his soon-to-be partner in mischief, Derek Trucks. The two youngsters had several hours to kill, so being boys they ” pretended to be someone else’s children” and snuck into The Landing’s anchor tenant, Hooters, where even today Joe recalls that the ” girls were really hot!”. Sidling up to the bar with a casual, ” Hi, I’m Joe, and this is my friend Derek”, the boys were soon getting the bum’s rush from a huge bouncer, directly into the custody of Joe’s Dad, who told the boy,  ” Of all you’ve done, all the hell you’ve put me through… I’ve never been so proud of you!”

Has to be head-spinning 23 years later to be “standing onstage at the sold-out Florida Theatre before a raucous crowd” , living the dreams he and Derek dared to dream. Joe did not waste the moment, rocking the house for two hours and change of acoustic blues, hard jazz-blues-rock, and straight-ahead electric blues, including covers of axemen who no doubt influenced young Joe. Walking onstage alone promptly at 8pm, clad in an elegant tailored black suit and rocking his uber-classic black high-top Chuck Taylors ( talk about old school; every baller wore them in the 60s!), Joe began with a tasty acoustic set that included a fine cover of Bad Company’s ” Seabird”. Takes some guts to cover any Paul Rogers vocals, or Mick Ralphs guitar, for that matter, but Joe has a strong, resonant voice that seems to be improving with age, and the acoustic strumming was well received.

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Joe starts ’em off soft and slow, with a bongo assist!

But there couldn’t have been five people in the crowd of aging white guys ( La Magda claimed it was at least ” six to one men” ) who came to hear anything acoustic, and soon the band joined Joe on his dazzling array of freshly-tuned axes ( yes, that was his ’64 Gibson Firebird 1 that opened) for a blazing electric set that reminded of all the greats – Beck, Hendrix, Stevie Ray- yet somehow remained his own deft, speedy style. The tunes included Bonamassa originals “Slow Train”, “Dust Bowl”, and “Midnight Blues”, and nods to giants with covers of Mose Allison’s ” Young Man Blues”, (a la Pete Townsend on  ” Live at Leeds “), Billy Gibbons and ZZ Top’s ” Pocketful of Change ” ( drunks were hollering for  ” Just got paid today”, the opening line), and an extended, blistering rave-up instrumental of Jimmy Page’s Led Zep war horse, ” Dazed and Confused”, as the finale to the encore. The band joined arms onstage for a bow, to the stomping standing ovation of the packed house.

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Joe shreds on, neither dazed nor confused!

In the wake of this fabulous show and the revelation of the Trucks connection, I’m calling out Mayor Alvin Brown to clear the Landing for a guitar heavyweight slugfest reuniting the Hooters crashers. Smokin’ Joe versus the scion of the First Coast First Family of the Blues. Come on, Mister Mayor, make it happen!

— Phledge notes that the more they count the votes,  Florida is a certified blue(s) state!

Tedeschi / Trucks Band

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Fresh from the center of the musical universe, Morrison, CO, comes the latest from Phledge–

CONCERT REVIEW: Tedeschi / Trucks Band at Red Rocks, August 30, 2012

When Derek Trucks was 15 years old, I saw him open a show for blues legend BB King at the Florida Theater in Jacksonville. At the time, BB was riding the long-overdue resurgence of blues music, finally getting his due as an artist and performer, and playing with mega-acts like U2 on “ Rattle and Hum”. It was with no exaggeration that he was introduced as “ The King of the Blues”. So it was no small gesture when Riley B. invited the local kid back onstage to play a number with him, and while awash in applause afterward, cradled the wide-eyed, ballcap-wearing, barely-look-at-you teen in his arms and announced, “Just think how good he’ll be when he gets to be my age!”

The big man from Indianola, Mississippi was a freakin’ Nostradamus. It might have been last year, it might have been a couple years back, but at some point it happened, and can no longer be credibly denied: Derek Trucks is our greatest living blues guitarist.

Now, “I know what you’re thinkin’ “ ( and it’s not, “did he fire six shots, or only five?”).
You’ve heard Clapton say years back that Buddy Guy is “easily, and by far, the best living blues guitarist”. You’ve seen Jeff Beck return to touring with a vengeance, evoking memories of the trailblazing days with the Yardbirds and those two incendiary LPs with the then-unknown Scot singer Rod Stewart, “Truth” and “Beck-Ola”. You’ve seen guys like Joe Bonamassa and Warren Haynes play with speed and feeling that, for the moment, seems untouchable. But spend one night listening to Derek, either with the fine TT Band that blasted Red Rocks last night, or with the ridiculously talented Allmans lineup that also includes Haynes, and I dare you to tell me that anyone is better.

And with my favorite female blues singer, the other half of the First Coast First Family of
the Blues, Derek’s wife Susan Tedeschi, scorching the landscape with vocals that Janis, Aretha, or Billie would embrace, this is one formidable band before they even leave the house to head for the gig. Add the Allmans’ bassist Oteil Burbridge and his brother Kofi on organ, sterling horns and backup vocals, and the classic Allmans two-drummer attack, and you have a Dorsey or Ellington-like Big Band playing straight blues, jazz, and new landscapes in between. The sold-out crowd at Red Rocks began roaring early on, as Susan belted out gems from the Grammy-winning ( not that that means much; ask Mojo Nixon!) CD, “ Revelator”, and choice unexpected covers like George Harrison’s “ Isn’t It a Pity?”, the Elmore James classic “ Sky Is Crying” and the encore of the Bonnie Raitt signature “Give It Up”.  Susan has a deft ear for covers; when the Allmans played Red Rocks three years ago, she joined them onstage for a great version of Clapton’s Blind Faith chestnut, “ Presence of the Lord”, and two years ago at WanneeFest she wowed with a remake of the Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett rocker, “ Comin’ Home”, another
nod to Derek’s namesake, in that Clapton played on that track with Delaney and Bonnie before the “Layla” sessions. ( As Casey Stengel used to say, “you can look it up!”).

Throughout the show, Derek modestly strolls about the stage, never addressing the crowd, intently monitoring the band’s sound. His playing is frightfully fast at times, but always seems under control, and intended purely for sonic effect, not showmanship. John Mayall used to say that slow blues are the hardest to play, because your mistakes are so evident. So when the band slowed down for twelve-bar blues, or dropped volume for jazzy wandering, Derek’s skill was most apparent. And none of the annoying guitar tech running onstage with a freshly-tuned axe; Derek never put down that red guitar, and tuned his own instrument quickly between songs, or during band solos. Cool!

This band is worth seeing just for the guitar playing and singing, and the material is clearly blues-based.  But Derek is much more than a bluesman, and as noted, this band covers a lot of ground that is more jazz than rock or blues. You may have come to the show to rock out, and you may not dig everything they play, or feel like you had to hear a “banjo bass” solo before you died. But the joy of hearing an ensemble of talented musicians’ inspired playing melts away boundaries and genres, and reminds that “good music is good music”, whatever you wish to call it.

Get out and see this band. Then get back to me on that Best Guitarist thing.