Category: Jam Band (Page 3 of 6)

The Derek Trucks Band: Roadsongs

July 12, 2010 / Greg M. Schwartz

RIYL: Eric Clapton, The Allman Brothers Band, Ryan Bingham & the Dead Horses

The Derek Trucks Band is finally giving way to the overdue and inevitable Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi Band (the pair married in 2001), which perhaps means the end of the road for this phase of Trucks’ career. Trucks is an amazing slide guitar talent and this is a top-rate band, but the highlights are here and there, whereas just about every song with the new Trucks/Tedeschi band is pure magic. But the foundation for the greatness of the Trucks and Tedeschi group comes from what the DTB has been laying down for the past decade. If this is it for the DTB, Roadsongs is a great swan song – it documents what a hot band this has been, while also whetting the appetite for the new band.

A top highlight is a sweet 14-minute jam on jazz standard “Afro Blue,” which serves notice on how Trucks is not just a blues master but quite the jazzman as well. There’s great flute work from keyboardist Kofi Burbridge and fantastic jazzy blues riffing from Trucks. Tunes like “Already Free” and “Down in the Flood” from the DTB’s most recent studio album crackle with energy and sweet licks on that slide guitar. Another major highlight is the sensational pairing of “Get Out My Life Woman/Who Knows,” which opens with a fabulously dirty funk groove and deeply soulful vocals from Mike Mattison before segueing into a sick jam on the Band of Gypsys classic. This track has it all – deep electric piano/organ from Burbridge in a Herbie Hancock and the Headhunters style, strong harmony vocals, a monster groove from bassist Todd Smallie and drummer Y’Onrico Scott, and Trucks tearing it up as he blends Duane Allman with Jimi Hendrix.

“Down Don’t Bother Me No More” and “Get What You Deserve” also feature hot bluesy jams, as do most of the tracks. Eric Clapton/Derek & the Dominoes covers of “Anyday” and “Key to the Highway” display the band’s love for and skill with the early ’70s classic rock for which Trucks was named, but they also highlight the DTB’s ceiling. Once you’ve witnessed the uplifting “Anyday” performed with Tedeschi and Mattison sharing the vocals, hearing it without Tedeschi just isn’t the same. It still rocks for sure, but you want more. And that sums up this album – the DTB is dishing out some of the best blues rock available these days, but adding Tedeschi just takes the whole sound to a higher dimension. Still, this is high quality stuff. (Sony Legacy 2010)

Derek Trucks MySpace page

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Robert Randolph and the Family Band: We Walk This Road

June 29, 2010 / Greg M. Schwartz

RIYL: Ben Harper, The Derek Trucks Band, Jimi Hendrix

Pedal steel guitar maestro Robert Randolph has been known more for his hot live shows than his albums, which comes with the territory when you have such instrumental talent and fit in with the jam crowd. But this album may finally help Randolph break through to a wider audience. T Bone Burnett is the producer, and he’s had a magic touch lately. Randolph says he and Burnett sat down and really examined some music history, which has served to maximize Randolph’s authentically bluesy vibe, as well as leading to some choice covers.

Opener “Traveling Shoes” is taken from an old field recording from the 1920s and finds Randolph and his sister Lenesha testifying over some gospel-tinged roots. The song sets a tone for an album that blends blues, gospel and rock in expert fashion. “Shot of Love” offers a cover of the title track from Bob Dylan’s 1981 Christian-tinged album. It’s well done, though it certainly doesn’t approach Jimi Hendrix’s iconic version of “All Along the Watchtower,” something Randolph says he was thinking about as far as trying to get into Jimi’s head on the process of covering Dylan. But Randolph strikes gold on a vibrant rendition of Prince’s “Walk Don’t Walk” that takes the funky song to a truly higher level. The empowering, feel-good jam featuring more harmony assistance from Lenesha is almost certain to become a new live favorite. There’s also a deep cover of John Lennon’s “I Don’t Wanna Be a Soldier Mama,” a well-timed bluesy lament in 2010 as the ridiculous war in Afghanistan surpasses the Vietnam War for Uncle Sam’s longest military engagement.

Another highlight comes with “If I Had My Way,” a modern version of an old Blind Willie Johnson blues that features Ben Harper guesting on guitar and vocals. It’s got an old-timey Delta blues vibe that has Randolph and Harper squaring off with great results. “Dry Bones” also builds off an old blues, which gets pumped up for a tasty workout. “I Still Belong to Jesus” has Randolph playing off his gospel roots, with his liquid steel work shining once more. “I’m Not Listening” delivers some modern blues, with Randolph calling out a century of lies for comeuppance. “Salvation” closes the album with a soulful gospel ballad, featuring piano from Leon Russell and some of Randolph’s tastiest licks.

Randolph and band have been honing their act for an entire decade now and We Walk This Road is their best work yet, as it has a strong flow to it and there’s no desire to skip over tracks. Randolph has evolved from young gun to seasoned master. (Warner Brothers 2010)

Robert Randolph MySpace page

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Stanton Moore Trio: Groove Alchemy

June 23, 2010 / Greg M. Schwartz

RIYL: Galactic, The Meters, Medeski Martin & Wood

One of the hardest working men in show business, Galactic drummer Stanton Moore is not the type to be content with merely releasing one of the best albums of the year with his regular band (Galactic’s Ya-Ka-May.) But while that album has some of the band’s most memorable songs in years, it dabbles in hip-hop and vocal tunes. There are probably some fans who may still prefer to hear “the redneck gangster” focus his sticks more on old school funky grooves. This is exactly what they’ll find on Groove Alchemy.

Moore is joined by longtime friends Robert Walter (Greyboy All-Stars) on organ/piano and Will Bernard on guitar for a very funky session, indeed. The album is part of an instructional book and DVD project where Moore explores the roots of classic funk drumming, which means a deep focus on what was coming from the Meters and James Brown’s band in the ’60s. The album was recorded at the increasingly trendy home studio of the Band’s Levon Helm in Woodstock, New York, which gives it a live vibe. But the sound is pure New Orleans.

Moore throws down all manner of funky beats, while Walter really goes to town on the Hammond B3 and Bernard comps out with his own funky stylings. The first couple tracks are typical Meters-style mid-tempo funk. “Pot Licker” then cranks it up a notch as Moore ups the tempo for some of his hottest work ever recorded. “Neeps and Tatties” also delivers some high-energy groovy funk, as Walter’s B3 and Moore’s drumming just go so well together. The best track might be “Knocker,” which features a super-groovy syncopated beat from Moore that instantly frees the body. Bernard adds some tasty wah-wah and Walter adds some of his best sounds too. All three elements really come together here to form that groove alchemy of the album’s title. “Shiftless” also features some superb up-tempo grooving from the trio.

There’s nothing too groundbreaking here, but all three of these guys are ace musicians, so it’s definitely a clinic in acid jazz funk. Fans of Galactic and the Meters will find plenty of what they love best. (Telarc 2010)

Stanton Moore MySpace page

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Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Mojo

June 14, 2010 / Scott Malchus

RIYL: Lucinda Williams, Jackson Browne, aging white dudes who like to toke up

Mojo is the strongest set of songs from Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers in over a decade and a half. Ever since “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” the singer and the band have tried time and again to come up with a classic album that meets the standards of their earlier work. As the band has aged into one of the stalwarts of rock and roll, they have produced music that may be biting in the lyrics, but musically and production-wise lacked a certain edge.

During the Heartbreakers rise to success in the ’70s and ’80s, there was a danger in their music, perhaps because the band members were constantly at each other’s throats. Hostility brewed beneath the surface, from the fights between Petty and former drummer Stan Lynch, to the drugs and alcohol that affected the lives of bassist Howie Epstein and keyboardist Benmont Tench. At one point, Petty punched his fist through a wall, breaking his hand because he couldn’t get a song right. That kind of passion either cause a band to implode, or the members find a way to compromise and mellow with age. For the Heartbreakers, both kind of happened. Lynch quit the band and Epstein was asked to leave; he eventually OD’d on heroin. Meanwhile, Petty achieved nova-like success and decided that it was good to be king and that he didn’t want to fight all of the time.

The past fifteen years have seen some good Petty songs, but not necessarily good Petty albums. From the sound of it, Petty and the band set out to really change that with Mojo.

“Jefferson Jericho Blues” shares some of the same looseness of early Heartbreakers deep cuts, while Mojo’s first single, “I Should Have Known It,” is the cousin of “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” and “You Don’t Know How It Feels” (from 1995’s Wildflowers). Elsewhere, there are some tender ballads, which Petty never gets enough credit for, like the country-tinged “No Reason to Cry” and “Something Good Coming.” The latter holds up with some of Petty’s best heartbreakers.

Petty once claimed that he didn’t like repeating himself and the band continues to explore other genres besides the Americana rock they are famous for playing. “First Flash of Freedom” is an extended jam featuring fine guitar interplay between Mike Campbell and Scott Thurston. It feels like it may have been inspired in a haze of second-hand smoke during some of the Heartbreakers gigs with the Allman Brothers Band. “U.S. 41” is a swampy blues stomp; “Takin’ My Time” is embedded deep in the blues; and “Don’t Pull Me Over” has a reggae groove that will likely go over well in concert.

Throughout the album, Campbell and Thurston trade guitar licks with relish and Tench displays some of his finest organ playing and piano textures in all of the Heartbreakers long history. As usual, Ron Blair (the band’s original bassist who came back to the fold after Epstein was canned) holds things down with sturdy, unobtrusive bass playing.

Still, there is a sameness to this lot of songs that, unfortunately, must be attributed to drummer Steve Ferrone. The longtime session player plays with such precision and technical prowess that it lacks any personality. If the Heartbreakers are one thing, it’s a band full of personalities, from Blair’s dyed black hair to Campbell’s dreads to Petty’s entire personality. There are some tracks on Mojo in which Ferrone seems to find that Heartbreaker groove, but these are only moments. Frankly, it just doesn’t sound like the Heartbreakers, at least, not the Heartbreakers we’ve all come to love. Alas, it’s not our band but Petty’s; and if he’s happy with a human metronome behind the drum kit, then fans will have to live with it (seriously, the drums on “Let Yourself Go” and “Running Man’s Bible” could have been programmed in Tench’s organ, they’re that lifeless).

For this reason, despite the strong number of songs (there are a couple fillers- the curse of the CD age) repeated listens of Mojo may breed familiarity of the songs, but none of them really scream “classic.” (2010, Reprise)

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers official site
Click to buy Mojo from Amazon

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Grace Potter & the Nocturnals: Grace Potter & the Nocturnals

June 11, 2010 / Greg M. Schwartz

RIYL: Fleetwood Mac, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Ryan Adams & the Cardinals

This is technically the band’s fourth studio album, but the eponymous release marks a new era for the group. Former bassist Bryan Dondero has been replaced with Catherine Popper (formerly with Ryan Adams & the Cardinals), and this change has created a new synergy for the band. Popper helps balance the gender dynamic with her harmony vocals and she drives the songs higher with her superior jam skills on the bass. Rhythm guitarist Benny Yurco has also been added to the lineup, helping lead guitarist Scott Tournet, drummer Matt Burr and keyboardist/guitarist Potter to embiggen their sound, as they’d say on “The Simpsons.”

The album is a showcase for Potter’s dynamic vocals and melodic rock style, but it also feels like a coming-out party for what in hindsight will probably be viewed as the band’s classic lineup. Potter has her mojo working from the start in “Paris (Ooh La La),” a high-energy sexual rocker. “Oasis” comes down a notch, but then builds back up as Potter’s voice and Popper’s bass seem to sync in with each other. “Medicine” cranks it back up with a another blast of down and dirty groove rock where Potter sings about a mesmerizing gypsy type of woman not unlike herself.

Lead single “Tiny Light” shows off the new lineup at its best. The overall sound conjures visions of Rumors-era Fleetwood Mac, before blasting into the stratosphere with a big jam driven by Popper’s dynamic bass line. The song also features some of Potter’s best lyrics, which acknowledge the chaos of the early 21st century but ultimately lead to an uplifting catharsis. The song also gives a snapshot of the band’s live power with the jam at the end, where Tournet rips a sonic blast of lead guitar and Potter belts it out to the extreme. Potter’s softer side shines on piano-driven ballad “Colors,” where her delicate vocals dedicated to the twilight time of day are sure to melt hearts. “Only Love” provides a another high-energy blast of skillfully layered blues rock, a sound that is the band’s bread and butter.

The second half of the album isn’t quite as strong as far as memorable songs, although the band’s sound remains vibrant. “One Short Night” is a catchy number with a funky flavor about a questionable night out, while “Low Road” explores a bluesier territory with Potter still shining on vocals. “Hot Summer Night” is another sexy rocker similar to “Medicine” and “Only Love.” It would be nice to see Potter explore a wider variety of sonic flavors, but there’s no doubt this is one she’s very good at. “Things I Never Needed” closes out the album with a contemplative and endearing ballad. The first half of the album gets four stars, but the second half gets only three, so that’s three-and-a-half overall. This is a very good album, but the next one should be a true classic.

The band’s five-star live show is where they shine the brightest. When Potter & the Nocturnals played at Austin’s SXSW Festival in March, they highlighted the new material and knocked it out of the park with high-energy, jam-heavy performances in both an evening headliner show and a day-party performance. The band was good in 2008, but this version is at a higher level. Whoever orchestrated Popper’s entry into the band on bass should win rock ‘n’ roll’s “general manager of the year” award for the transaction. (Hollywood Records 2010)

Grace Potter & the Nocturnals MySpace page

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