Allmans let the music do the talking

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Allmans let the music do the talking
October 22, 2009
By CURTIS ROSS
TBO Online

CLEARWATER - There are bands that jam, and musicians who solo. Then there are bands where the music is a conversation, where the musicians listen to each other, respond to and build on what's said.

In that respect, The Allman Brothers Band is the Algonquin Roundtable of rock, an ongoing dialogue between guitars, drums and keyboards that is consistently smart, fiery and passionate.

A sold-out crowd of 2,179 witnessed the Allmans' most recent conversation Wednesday night at Ruth Eckerd Hall.

Yeah, these guys like to play. The second set was dominated by lengthy takes on "Black Hearted Woman" and "Mountain Jam (with "Smokestack Lightning" tucked inside). It would have been torture in lesser hands. Instead, it was fascinating, music created on the fly by players fueled by imagination and curiosity rather than ego.

Guitarists Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks were the primary soloists. Haynes is a meat-and-potatoes blues-rocker, but he's also incredibly fluid and capable of moments of lyrical beauty.

Trucks, who draws influence from John Coltrane and world music as well as the blues, often veered, brilliantly, into uncharted territory. But he was earthy as well, as when he tore his fret board a new one on "Stormy Monday."

Drummers Butch Trucks (Derek's uncle) and Jaimoe, plus percussionist Marc Quinones, paced Haynes and Trucks, their blend of tones and polyrhythms building to crescendos as the soloists peaked.

That flowing blend of beats is a huge part of the Allmans' sound, which rolls far more than it rocks.

Gregg Allman's Hammond B-3 organ was mostly subdued, as pianist Bruce Katz did most of the heavy keyboard lifting. Allman was spelled on vocals by Warren Haynes, and for one number, bassist Oteil Burbridge.

The set list didn't neglect the better-known numbers – "Midnight Rider," "Dreams," "Melissa," with Allman on acoustic guitar, and the set-closing "Whipping Post." But the show was less about songs than about what endlessly inventive musicians can do with them.