Various Artists – Crossroads Guitar Festival (2007)

Released almost exactly three years after the first, tremendously successful Crossroads DVD, this double-disc documents the 2007 benefit concert for Clapton’s Crossroads Center substance abuse facility. “Guitar” is the operative word here, since all the participants are six-string players. As in the last show, the genres include country (Willie Nelson, Vince Gill), gospel (Robert Randolph), Latin rock (Los Lobos), pop (Sheryl Crow, John Mayer), jazz fusion (John McLaughlin, Jeff Beck) and lots of blues (everyone else). Some performers such as Randolph, Mayer, B.B. King, Jimmie Vaughan, Robert Cray, Hubert Sumlin, Buddy Guy, and of course Clapton return from the 2004 lineup. That was a two-day event held in Dallas, TX. This was a one day — a very long day — show moved to the home of the blues, a stadium just outside of Chicago, and features a very funny Bill Murray introducing the acts.

Based on the sunlight, it seems to be in chronological order, or close to it. Each artist gets one or two tunes cherrypicked from longer sets which keeps this album fast paced, even at its three-hour length. Still, it would make sense to release more music on a separate DVD or even CD for those who would like to hear the rest of the material. That is especially the case with Jeff Beck and Robert Randolph, two artists that burn up the stage with abbreviated performances. A highly anticipated reunion with Clapton and his Blind Faith bandmate Steve Winwood results in three songs, “Presence of the Lord,” “Can’t Find My Way Home,” and “Had to Cry Today” from that band’s only album.

While it sounds fine, there is a noticeable spark and edge missing from the interaction, leaving it somewhat bland and certainly anti-climactic. Derek Trucks burns through Layla’s “Anyday,” though, and Clapton sounds inspired on “Tell the Truth,” another Layla track cranked up with Trucks taking the Duane Allman slide part. Collaborations also bring out the best in some axe slingers, with Vince Gill and Albert Lee’s hot-wired “Country Boy,” and Jimmie Vaughan fronting the Robert Cray band on a sizzling slow blues “Dirty Work at the Crossroads.” (by Hal Horowitz)

Tracklist:
01. Sonny Landreth: Hell At Home (with Eric Clapton) (Landreth) 6.38
02. John McLaughlin: Maharina (McLaughlin) 8.00
03. Doyle Bramhall II; Outside Woman Blues (Reynolds) 3.45
04. Derek Trucks Band: Highway 61 Revisited (with Johnny Winter) (Dylan) 9.17
05. Robert Randolph & The Family Band: The March (Randolph) 12.04
06. The Robert Cray Band: Poor Johnny (Cray) 6.20
07. Jimmie Vaughan: Dirty Work At The Crossroads (with The Robert Cray Band) (Brown/ Robey) 4.09
08. Hubert Sumlin: Sitting On The Top Of The World (with he Robert Cray Band & Jimmie Vaughan (Burnett) 4.29
09. B.B. King: The Thrill Is Gone (Benson/Pettie) 7.14
10. John Mayer: I Don´t Need No Doctor (Ashford/Simpson/Armstead) 7.10
11. Vince Gill: Sweet Thing (Nicholson/Gill) 5.04
12. Albert Lee: Country Boy (with Vince Gill) (Lee/Smith/Colton)
13. Eric Clapton & Sheryl Crow: Tulsa Time (with Vince Gill & Albert Lee) (Flowers) 6.32
14. Willie Nelson: On The Road Again  (with Sheryl Crow, Vince Gill & Albert Lee) (Nelson) 2.50
15. Los Lobos: Chains Of Love (Hidalgo/Pérez) 6.53
16. Jeff Beck: Big Block (Beck/Bozzio/Hymas) 5.44
17. Eric Clapton: Little Queen Of Spades (Johnson) 12.59
18. Eric Clapton & Robbie Robertson: Further On Up The Road (Robey‎/Veasey) 7.18
19. Steve Winwood & Eric Clapton: Pearly Queen (Capaldi/Winwood) 5.47
20. Steve Winwood & Eric Clapton: Had To Cry Today (Winwood) 6.24
21. Steve Winwood & Eric Clapton: Cocaine (Cale) 9.30
22. Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood: Crossroads (Johnson) 5.59
23. Buddy Guy: Stone Crazy
24. Buddy Guy: Damn Right I’ve Got The Blues (Guy) 5.21
25. Buddy Guy & Eric Clapton: Hoochie Coochie Man (Dixon) 9.18
26. Buddy Guy: Sweet Home Chicago (with Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, John Mayer, Hubert Sumlin, Jimmie Vaughan, Johnny Winter) (Johnson) 8.53

*
**

The Derek Trucks Band – Live At Georgia Theatre (2004)

Live at Georgia Theatre is the fifth album and first live album by American artist Derek Trucks and The Derek Trucks Band released in 2004.

This album is one of 10 “Live jam releases of this century” according to the August issue of Guitar One magazine. (by wikipedia)

Derek Trucks is a world-class slide guitarist, still only 24 at the time of this recording. Most know him as a guitarist with the Allman Brothers Band. But here, with a smoking group of collaborators, he plays an incendiary, soulful, and wildly adventurous set that challenges all the accepted rock paradigms. This is the record to turn the heads of those who haven’t gotten hip to Trucks’ bottleneck magic. This performance is so inspired, so utterly spellbinding, it transcends the genre classifications it employs to get the music across. This is a musical first to boot: this show marks the first time the quintet recorded together. Kofi Burbridge (B-3, keys, and flute) and vocalist Mike Mattison join Trucks, drummer Yonrico Scott, and bassist Todd Smallie. Master percussionist Count M’Butu from Col. Bruce Hampton & the Aquarium Rescue Unit is also on board for the gig. The band showcases only four tunes from its catalog and all of these come from Joyful Noise, its last album. The rest is a rolling plethora of jazz, funk, soul, Eastern Sufi jams, and blues tunes by Rahsaan Roland Kirk (“Volunteered Slavery”), Wayne Shorter (“Angola”), Lightnin’ Hopkins (“Feel So Bad”), Paul Pena (“Gonna Move”), Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (“Sahib Teri Bandi”), and Curtis Mayfield (“Freddie’s Dead”), among others.

The jamming is tight and full of surprises, and there is no aimless guitar wankery. This is a band that plays like a single, flowing unit, where nuance, dynamic, and intuition are the order of the evening and the modus operandi for encountering and relaying this information to an audience. Trucks is its centerpiece, of course, but he understands the value and necessity of ensemble play. While there are no dogs on this two-hour smorgasbord, the standouts are the soulful rendition of “Gonna Move,” the awesome medley of Khan’s tunes “Sahib Teri Bandi” and “Maki Madni,” the guttersnipe funk of “For My Brother,” and “So Close, So Far Away.” Unfortunately, Live at Georgia Theatre seems to be one of those albums created for fans only. It has nothing to do with the music or musicians, and everything to do with marketing by the conglomerates. You can download it digitally, and you can order it in its physical form from the band’s website, but you can’t buy it in stores. What nonsense. The labels still don’t understand how to use the Internet’s potential. After all, wasn’t it At Fillmore East, the Allman Brothers’ third album, that put them into the mass consciousness and took them over the top? This is the right time for the Derek Trucks Band to issue a concert recording. The truth remains, however, that any way you cut it, this is a live album for the ages — it’s too bad only people with credit cards get to hear it. (by Thom Jurek)

Personnel:
Kofi Burbridge (keyboards, flute, vocals)
Mike Mattison (vocals)
Count M’Butu (percussion)
Yonrico Scott (drums, percussion, vocals)
Todd Smallie (bass, vocals)
Derek Trucks (guitar)

Tracklist:

CD 1:
01. Kam-Ma-Lay” (Trucks) 8.53
02. Gonna Move (Pena) 6.29
03. Volunteered Slavery (Kirk) 4.36
04. Sahib Teri Bandi/Maki Madni (Khan) 15.21
05. Leaving Trunk (Estes) 4.58
06. I Wish I Knew (Taylor/Dallas) 5.29
07. Angola (Shorter) 10.12
08. Feel So Bad (Willis) 7.41

CD 2:
01. For My Brother (Trucks) 13.28
02. Sonido Alegre (Victoriano Ramirez) 15.14
03. Joyful Noise (Trucks) 11.58
04. So Close, So Far Away (Burbridge) 5.53
05. Freddie’s Dead (Mayfield) 10.20

*
**