Review and photos by Stanley Johnson
Prior to the Tedeschi Trucks Band concert at the Egg in Albany, NY I made a list of the many times I had see Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi play locally. I was astonished to find I had seen Trucks in his band or the Allman Brothers Band at least 19 times and Tedeschi on six occasions I could remember. Clearly, I’m a fan.
No surprise to me. I remember an Alive At Five concert on Broadway in Albany, probably in 1997, which was Truck’s first appearance locally with the Derek Trucks Band. I was alone at the fence in front of the stage and the rest of the crowd was back in the beer section. Within about a minute of Derek’s first solo, the area in front of the stage filled up, as if the crowd couldn’t believe what they were hearing.
It was about a year later, during the DTB’s first show at Northern Lights in Clifton Park, when it became clear to me that Trucks was not just another guitar player. During Rastaman Chant, Trucks flew a solo that hit notes so high and breathtaking that it felt like he was channeling the spirit of Duane Allman.
Since those early days, I’ve tried to see him whenever he came around. The first time I saw Susan Tedeschi, she was backed by Double Trouble, Stevie Ray Vaughn’s backing band. It was the first of two exciting performances at the Empire State Plaza, the vast concrete, steel and glass area which includes The Egg, the NYS Museum, and the Capitol Building. Even in this big venue I was struck by her voice which had a clarity and tone not unlike Bonnie Raitt, but also a deeper and earthier blues moan and wail that brought to mind Janis Joplin.
Trucks and Tedeschi have been married for about 11 years now and have two children. They had occasionally played together before the formation of the Tedeschi Trucks Band, such as at another Alive At Five on the Hudson Riverfront in 2004 and at a 2003 Gathering of the Vibes Festival in Mariaville, southwest of the Capitol.
This new band was huge by Egg standards. Bassist Oteil Burbridge, from the Allman Brothers Band, and his brother Kofi, a DTB alumnus, were joined by drummers Tyler Greenwell and J.J. Johnson, and vocalists Mike Mattison, another DTB veteran and singer for Scrapomatic (who opened the show) and Mark Rivers. The band’s horn section included Kebbi Williams on Saxophone, Maurice Brown on Trumpet and Saunders Sermons on Trombone.
This large band has a muscular sound that handles ferocious flights by soloists countered by deep percussive rumbling from the rhythm section, occasionally tempered by a meditative sweetness in some passages that are direct results of Derek’s studies with Indian Sarod Master Ali Akbahr Khan and English Guitar Master Eric Clapton.
The TTB’s theme of family and friends on the road together is a direct descendent of the amazing music created when Beatle George, Clapton, Dave Mason, Joe Cocker and other members of the reigning British Invasion carried the mantle and handed it back to the American gospel, blues and roots musicians, including Delaney and Bonnie, Leon Russell and others, with more than a passing nod to Sly and the Family Stone and folk-rock troubadours like Fred Neil and John Prine.
That this band is a vocal band with very strong songs backed by virtuoso players was the real revelation during the Egg concert. Indeed, it was Susan Tedeschi who was often in the spotlight and it was her night to shine. During the previous times I had seen her I had never seen her achieve the intensity she reached during this show. It was jaw dropping to be caught off guard when I realized the raw power coming from her.
I had actually expected the fireworks from Derek and Oteil, and they didn’t disappoint, often running solos counter to each other on the high and low end of the scales. The horns were also surprising. I figured I might hear some Coltrane-style playing from saxophonist Williams, but the unmistakable Miles Davis phrasings from Brown on trumpet were a joy. Trombonist Sermons brought, along with drummers Greenwell and Johnson, a real New Orleans flavor to the evening.
Highlights were “Midnight In Harlem” (with delicate slide), “Don’t Let Me Slide,” “Love Has Something Else To Say,” “Learn How To Love” (a Led Zeppelin groove), “These Walls” (with an Indian sarod-like intro) and the vocal barn-burners “Until You Remember” and “Bound For Glory,” which brought a standing ovation for Tedeschi. The audience remained up and dancing for the Sly Stone encore medley. All in all, it was too much fun for a weeknight.
