Tag: allman brothers

Eric Clapton, The Allman Brothers & Almost All Of Layla

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allman brothers beacon eric clapton
Playing Key to the Highway. So good.

The Allman Brothers & Eric Clapton

Beacon Theater 2009

Man, the Allman Brothers were great. I’m sorry that I didn’t realize how great they were, before they disbanded. I never saw them live to my shame. Well, if you know the Allmans at all you probably remember that they would have week long residencies at New York’s Beacon theater. During 2009 they were joined by Eric Clapton.

Clapton has been a fan of the Allmans since day one. Duane was in Derek and Dominoes, and the deluxe version that album has a long jam with the Allmans back in 1970. Amazing. The Allmans (to me) are everything the Grateful Dead are said to be.  That’s not a war cry, just an opinion.  I’ve written of my love of them before.

This show is incredible. I am in awe at the level of interplay, and musical genius, are at work here. Clapton fits in perfectly but in no way overshadows. It’s both a testament to the quality of the Allmans, as much as Eric’s. It makes me sad that he (Clapton) never again went for a real tight but loose jam band, after the Dominoes. I get it. Cream was a nightmare of drama and fighting, Blind Faith was also rife with drama (cough… Ginger Baker… cough), and then the Dominoes faded away into heroin addiction, and alcoholism.

On With The Show

SET LIST: 01. Introduction 02. Key To The Highway 03. Dreams 04. Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad 05. Little Wing 06. Anyday 07. Layla 08. Ending

As you see there is a decent chunk of the Layla album represented, both (I think), as a celebration and a homage, to Duane Allman, and all that could have been. The beauty of the set is 100% in the Layla vibe, while completely being Derek Trucks’ and Warren Haynes’ 21st Century creation. The old were great in the way that they were back in 1970. There’s no redefining or modernizing.

The rhythm section with two drummers, and a percussionist, is truly key to this performance, and the Allman Brothers Band, as a whole. Jaimoe and Butch Trucks (RIP) deepen the groove, while making the drums sound like one drummer with four arms. I love them. Oteil Burbridge plays bass so deep in the pocket that you don’t notice that he’s the mortar holding all this together.

I LOVE THIS SHOW. Watch it. Listen to it. Keep listening. It’s astonishing good. My word good not good as newspaper word good, so if you’d like a professional review of this set, here’s the original New York Times write up. Enjoy. I hope you like it.

Tedeschi Trucks Band Backstage Jam With Taj Mahal & Jerry Douglas

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So Much Talent

In One Room

I thought I have had Taj Mahal on the blog before, even performing this song. I was wrong. It must have been my old blog. It’s ok. It’s so goddamn good you won’t mind if I post two different versions. If you do mind I’m sure you’ll get over it. If you can’t get over we will be enemies. I saw John Wick. I’m ready.

The song in question is Leaving Trunk. Jerry Douglas of Union Station (and husband of Alison Krauss, who made that album with Robert Plant that sold a trillion copies) joins the Tedeschi Trucks Band backstage, for a run-through of Leaving Trunk, before the show.

It’s tight. It’s intimate. It’s awesome. It’s a roomfull of incredible musicians playing the music they love.

The video below is from 5 years earlier (2009) and it’s Taj Mahal joining the Allman Brothers Band with both Derek Truck, and Warren Haynes. It’s fucking insane. Warren’s solo is so incredible that you are almost blown away, only to be annihilated by Derek Truck’s incredible slide solo. Jesus. It’s perfect. Watch both of these, and listen. It’s worth it. Do it in two sessions if you need to. There is beauty in the world. Here is some.