Guitar virtuoso wows 'em with bluesy world music

Guitar virtuoso wows 'em with bluesy world music
August 08, 2009
By RICH HOLMES
Cape Cod Times

HYANNIS – In the world of guitar heroes, Derek Trucks stands out for his lack of seeking the spotlight. Instead of grandstanding, he prefers to play as a member of his group, and puts his focus on his music.

Perhaps it's because he's been steeped in music his whole life that the whole fame thing doesn't seem to matter to him. His uncle, Butch Trucks played with the Southern Rock stars The Allman Brothers Band, and Derek, who began playing as a kid, has been touring for years with that group, replacing the legendary late Duane Allman as slide guitar player. He's also married to New England blues queen Susan Tedeschi.
In concert

Who: Derek Trucks Band

Where: Cape Cod Melody Tent, Hyannis

When: One night, Friday

Trucks takes American blues and mixes it with multi-ethnic flavors of world music. Jazz improvisation and some funk often flavor the numbers, which range from danceable Chicago-style blues to less accessible instrumentals that display his virtuosity as he interplays themes with keyboardist and flutist Kofi Burbridge and bassist Todd Smallie.

During a show Friday night at the Cape Cod Melody Tent, Trucks and his band set a pattern with their first number. Trucks started with a quiet intro of almost hesitant notes, then the group joining in to establish a solid melody, only to subside again for more subtle guitar work accompanied by percussionist Count M'Butu on congas, until all gradually rode a cresting wave of sound to a frenetic finish that had the full Tent cheering.

Through it all, Trucks played passionately, intently focused on his guitar, his eyes often closed. He stood in the center of the band, not out front with singer Mike Mattison. A standout in the band was drummer Yonrico Scott, whose strong beats powered songs such as “I'll Find My Way” off the group's Songlines CD.

Trucks paid his wife a compliment by playing her biographical “Gonna Move (Away From Here),” and Mattison's emotive delivery made it his own. Trucks added some warbling high-register slide, while Burbridge shone on electric piano.

A strong tribal vibe ran through the instrumental “Sahib Teri Bandi/Maki Madni.” Trucks launched heady bass notes that formed the basic melody, which repeated, shifted slightly, reformed and returned. The tune evoked an African or Eastern mood, and percussion completed the setting for this evocative piece.

Mattison, a souful singer with the raspiness of Tom Waits and a few mannerisms of Joe Cocker, rose to a sweet high voice for the touching “This Sky.” “All of us cry, we should be dancing. This sky where we live is no place to lose your wings, so love, love, love,” he sang. Trucks guitar ran through trills of harmonics above which floated Burbridge's flute.

Trucks traded guitars for the start of “Down in the Flood” off his latest CD, “Already Free.” He scrubbed rhythm chords until returning to his usual axe for a complex solo. Mattison added a convincing edge to the refrain in Bob Dylan's story of an errant lover facing trouble: “Betcha gonna miss your best friend now.”

Mattison, accompanied by guitarist Paul Olsen, opened for the Derek Trucks Band as Scrapomatic, putting in a half-hour set of gospel, country-flavored folk and spare down-home blues. “Killing Yourself on Purpose,” a tale of a wife pleading with her husband to not drown himself in drink, stood out for its poignancy.