Featured pop shows: Tedeschi Trucks Band, Paul Jost, and David Bromberg
Tedeschi Trucks Band No doubt the Allman Brothers' decision last month to call it quits was heavily influenced by the impending departures of mega-talented guitarists Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes, both of whom can now fully focus on their own music. In the case of Trucks, that's the 11-member blues-rock juggernaut known as the Tedeschi Trucks Band, which he fronts with his wife, singer-guitarist Susan Tedeschi.
Tedeschi Trucks Band
No doubt the Allman Brothers' decision last month to call it quits was heavily influenced by the impending departures of mega-talented guitarists Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes, both of whom can now fully focus on their own music. In the case of Trucks, that's the 11-member blues-rock juggernaut known as the Tedeschi Trucks Band, which he fronts with his wife, singer-guitarist Susan Tedeschi.
The powerhouse group's 2011 debut, Revelator, nabbed a Grammy for best blues album, and every effort since - including last year's Made Up Mind - has earned well-deserved raves. But it's the band's electrifying live performances - captured on 2012's Everybody's Talkin' CD - that truly got, well, everybody talking. Driven by Trucks' signature (and seemingly effortless) slide guitar and Tedeschi's emotive, honey-and-whiskey vocals (not to mention her also-impressive guitar skills), their shows are a joy-filled blast of blues, soul, and rock, delivered via an ever-changing set list.
With so many players - including two drummers and a horn section - a lot is happening onstage, and it's all good. Fans can expect to hear the band's own original songs, some of Tedeschi's and Trucks' earlier solo works, and a smattering of covers that can range from George Harrison ("Wah-Wah") to James Taylor ("Fire and Rain").
- Nicole Pensiero
Paul Jost
When Philadelphia singer and harmonica player Paul Jost plays with his band the Jost Project, he covers rock classics such as "Walk This Way" and "Kashmir," transforming them into frantic jazz makeovers. But when Jost is on his own, as on his new solo CD Breaking Through, he stretches out his phrases, conjures angels, and scats like mad, making jazz classics briskly new. "Days of Wine and Roses" and "Sweet Lorraine" come alive. So do Jost's self-penned tunes such as "Book Faded Brown" - they're deliciously rhythmic and confidently original. He hosts his record release party at Chris' Jazz Cafe on Wednesday with pianist Frank Strauss, bassist Steve Varner, and drummer Don Monaghan. But the day before, Jost teaches children about the lost art of scatting and body percussion at 16th and Vine's String Theory School. It's worth sneaking into.
- A.D. Amorosi
David Bromberg
Several times a year, David Bromberg steps out of his role as proprietor of David Bromberg's Fine Violins in Wilmington and onto the stage. He has made a home there since the mid-1960s, when he was part of the Greenwich Village folk scene. Although he grew up in Tarrytown, N.Y., Bromberg's Philly roots run deep: He was born here in 1945, and he's been a regular at the Philadelphia Folk Festival for decades (several early-'70s performances appear on his new collection, Archive Recordings, 1969-1979). He's a master of early-20th-century American roots idioms: bluegrass, blues, country, folk. He's just as good at covering obscure old tunes and writing new ones that cross genres. Witness last year's Only Slightly Mad. The expert string player (fiddle, mandolin, guitar) and witty raconteur will lead a quintet at the Sellersville Theater on Thursday.
- Steve Klinge