Tedeschi Trucks Band

Greek Theatre

Los Angeles, CA

November 1

Susan Tedeschi stepped into the Greek Theatre spotlight on this crisp evening in Los Angeles and repeated to the 5,500 in attendance what her husband Derek Trucks had said to her moments before; Tedeschi Trucks Band were going to keep playing until they got kicked off the stage.It’s a big tent the group puts up these days, with room enough for the guitar geeks, blues aficionados, jazzbos, soul supporters, and ‘70s rock devotees, as well as fans of the duo’s earlier solo works and of course, the Allman Brothers Band, from which Trucks had departed just three nights prior following the legends’ New York City send-off. At just under two hours, the 11-piece ensemble’s set crackled through the autumn air, displaying a peerless brand of musical alchemy as easily cool and consoling as white hot and ascendant.

Bundled up in mostly black and grey attire, the band pushed the starter on “Let Me Get By,” leaving space for Kofi Burbridge and his increasingly impressive keyboard workouts, then into the Made Up Mind title cut, the latter spotlighting vocalist Mark Rivers’ pleading accompaniment.Fellow harmony singer Mike Mattison took his turn in the lead for the Derek Trucks Band nugget “Don’t Miss Me,” and the zigzagging, atonal combustion of Kebbi Williams’ saxophone, with Trucks drawing down on his “Swamp Raga” intro dovetailing into the neo-classic “Midnight in Harlem.”While this collective is conspicuous in its efforts to showcase the myriad top-shelf talents of each member, no more so is it evident the dizzying command of Trucks as a virtuoso guitar player or Tedeschi and her note-perfect, street-wise angel of a voice than on “Midnight,” easily the concert’s moment of conversion.

Steered by bassist Tim Lefebrve and accented by the trio of horns, “There’s a Break in the Road,” the 1969 hit from soul power Betty Harris covered by Tedeschi on her Back to the River album, also acted as notice for her own guitar prowess before the group shifted into an acoustic mini-set.Handclaps in unison, at times spooky, “Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning,” called the children to the revival, leading into Trucks conjuring Elmore James on “Done Somebody Wrong.”Dedicated to any grieving for loved ones, “Shelter,” off the band’s Grammy-winning Revelator release, closed the unplugged portion.The third act breezed in on “Idle Wind,” featuring Burbridge’s delicate flute and the dual drumming of J.J. Johnson and Tyler Greenwell, while guest guitarist and opening artist Gary Clark Jr. brought his heavy blues to “I Pity the Fool.”A rollicking rendition of the Derek and the Dominos’ “Keep on Growing” left only the extended “Bound for Glory,” and encore “The Storm,” one more opportunity each, respectively, for Burbridge and Trucks to burn down the house.

There was a perceptible clarity about this performance, a palpable feeling of possession.Gone was the notion of this being Trucks’ “other” project. Certainly few artists can claim to have both the improvisational capability and substantial repertoire of songs that belong to Tedeschi Trucks Band. Having completed a fourth year of an annual multi-night residency at New York’s Beacon Theater in September, and Trucks’ full-time commitment firmly in place, the changing of the season this night offered an apt metaphor for a band prepared and deserving of inheriting the mantle left by The Allman Brothers Band.