Two bands that are carrying on a legacy, one sticking to one’s lane, and the other looking for other worlds.
Opening up things was the venerable and respected Little Feat, which has always been considered a “musician’s band” during its long tenure. At this stage, it’s easy to differentiate, by the grayness of hair, the long term members from the more recent artists. Still, the “song remains the same” as Sam Clayton/perc, Tony Leone/dr, Kenny Gradney/b, Billy Payne/key, Scott Sharrard/g-voc and Fred Tackett/g-voc kept to the simple ingredients that have served them well, a relentless rootsy pulse with creative solos.
Rich shades of blues and boogie were in good supply on the easy rockers like “Let It Roll” and “Hate To Lose Your Lovin”, while Payne delivered rich Crescent City piano on the swampy “Time Loves A Hero” and the guitars (and Tackett’s Milesy trumpet!) joined in for the calypso of “Dixie Chicken/Tripe Face”. The title of the stomping “Feet Don’t Fail Me Now” was a perfect summary of the band’s tenacity.
One of the first things I was advised as a music journalist was to try to understand what the musical artist is trying to convey, and then critique if they were successful at it.
I bring this up because, as one who has been a fan of the Tedeschi Trucks band since they took the mantle from The Allman Brothers band way back when, I’d always been impressed that they’ve been able to not only mix southern blues, roots, country, rock and jazz, but have grown with fresh sounds and personnel.
The band is still filled with excellent musicians, even causing Susan Tedeschi to exclaim after one tune “Isn’t this an incredible band?!?”. But the question must remain, what is the direction of the band, and is a band more than the some of it’s solos? The opening pieces such as “Here My Dear” and “Fall In“ had rich voices by Ms. Tedeschi, Gabe Dixon and Mike Mattison, yet with guitarist Derek Trucks’ guitar seemed to dominate at times, possibly due to the mix.
And then, the band needs to come to terms if it wants to be like The Art Ensemble of Chicago, as sax solos by Kebbi Williams were akin to free jazz, or if they are the new incarnation of Tony Williams Lifetime, as a long jam between Trucks, Dixon and drummers Tyler Greenwell with Isaac Eady a head banging fusion of volume and improvisation.
With soulful and poppish chorus in support, Trucks seemed like a member of the Stylistics 70 soul pop band on “Part of Me”, except for the tenor solo that soon evolved into an Albert Ayler extravaganza.
And yes, there were still blues, such as “The Sky Is Falling” and “Bring It On Home” but Ms. Tedeschi seemed strained at the vocal range, possibly again due to the mix. And while the band seemed to regain its footing and cohesion later on, with pieces such as “I Want More” and “I Can’t Make You Love Me”, I couldn’t help thinking of a line by guitarist Eric Johnson, who told me “It took me 20 years to learn to play the guitar, and another 25 to learn what NOT to play”.
It must be appreciated that the Tedeschi Trucks band is still reaching forth, it just seemed tonight that they didn’t grasp what they were reaching for.
Upcoming shows at the Greek include Dwight Yoakam 07/25, Norah Jones and Mavis Staples 08/04 and Ringo Starr 09/08