When talent show hit Dancing With the Stars waltzes its way back to ABC’s primetime lineup this March, the popular series will be missing one major fixture: Three-time Mirrorball Trophy champ Derek Hough. Hough — the most-decorated pro dancer in DWTS history — is taking Season 12 off to concentrate on filming Cobu 3D, a [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Derek’
Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Band | NYE | Review
Words by: Scott Horowitz | Images by Ray Proetto
Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi :: 12.31.10 :: Florida Theatre :: Jacksonville, Florida
Derek & Susan by Ray Proetto |
Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi put their solo acts on hold in 2010 to write and make music together with a fresh new band. In April they began playing new songs, trying to find their identity. Ten months later they have evolved into a cohesive unit, putting out sets of music that flow as majestically as the nearby St. Johns River into the Atlantic Ocean. Their New Year’s Eve celebration took place near the river banks of Jacksonville, Florida.
After an opening set from Scrapmatic, the Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Band began their NYE set with “Don’t Let Me Slide” followed by my personal favorite “Midnight in Harlem,” a hopeful tune with a comforting and familiar feel. Derek & The Dominoes tune “Anyday” saw Trucks sliding up and down his guitar, evoking cheers from the attentive audience. The show took a turn down Funky Street with “Love Has Something Else to Say.” Brothers Oteil (bass, Allman Brothers Band) and Kofi Burbridge (keyboards, Derek Trucks Band) emanated fun-loving grooves from their corner of the stage all night long, making way for some patrons to sashay in their New Year’s attire up the aisles of the Florida Theatre (until being told to sit down by security).
Horn section by Ray Proetto |
Kebbi Williams flowed through his saxophone across the stage, inspiring impressive leads from Oteil. Though this marked only the second show with the horn section, put together specifically for this New Year’s run, it seemed as if they had been in the band since April. Joining Williams, on trombone, was Saunders “Service” Sermons and Maurice “Mo’ Betta” Brown on trumpet.
The execution of the Eric Clapton arrangement of “Presence of the Lord” had more and more people finding their way to their feet. However, most in the audience remained unsure of what to do with themselves physically, most remaining seated and grooving cerebrally. Mike Mattison took lead vocal duties on Taj Mahal‘s “Leaving Trunk,” which made way for new blues number “That Did It”. The verses have Mattison and Mark Rivers laying down playful background vocal harmonies with Motown-esque Aah-ooh’s while Susan sings a soulful tale of heartache.
It is no secret that Susan is a world class vocalist, but on “That Did It” her guitar skills were front and center. She laid into her instrument with enough soul and power to make the ghost of Sister Rosetta Tharpe proud. Her approach to the six-string is a no-gimmick, loud and subtle reminder that she is the mother of Derek Trucks’ children.
Derek Trucks’ role as bandleader is performed perfectly. He gives everyone else onstage the space they need to become who they are musically. At times, when all eyes turn to him for a solo, he will defer the moment to someone else. Once everybody has found themselves in their given space, Trucks’ bright red Gibson SG is implied. With a meditative expression on his face, Derek tears sonic holes in the universe; each one providing grist for the mill of his spiritual journey with a guitar.
“Learn How to Love” is a thick swamp-fueled song that Derek and Susan wrote with Eric Krasno. Max Roach’s “Garvey’s Ghost” made an appearance late in the set featuring a powerful, tribal and lyrical drum solo which started with Tyler “The Falcon” Greenwell on groove duty while JJ Johnson took lead until handing it off to Greenwell, which led to both drummers playing off of each other with brilliant melody. The other band members gave the drummers their full, conscious attention during the drum solo, including Trucks, who took a knee center-stage as if to show respect for the most ancient form of musical expression.
Derek & Susan Band by Ray Proetto |
The best, and rarest, quality of a good drummer is selflessness. Johnson and Greenwell pull selflessness out of each other creating a huge seamless rhythmic foundation on which the rest of the band rests upon. The end of “Garvey’s Ghost” began a cover of Joe Cocker’s “Space Captain.” which Derek and Susan recorded earlier in the year with Herbie Hancock at their backyard home studio.
The triumphant vocals at the beginning of Delany & Bonnie’s “Coming Home” started the countdown to midnight. Smiles, hugs, and kisses welcomed in the New Year as the band celebrated with Ray Charles’ “Night Time is The Right Time” and Mattison’s song “Bound for Glory”. Aretha Franklin’s “Spirit in The Dark” encored the evening and sent the North Florida faithful strutting into the night.
The band is due to release their first album in June of 2011 and has dates booked in April for Australia and New Zealand.
May the best of last year be the worst of this year.
Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Band Tour Dates :: Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Band News :: Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Band Concert Reviews
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Ben Stiller Dishes On “Zoolander 2″
Listen up, Film Fans! Funnyguy Ben Stiller is dishing a few delectable deets on the long-awaited sequel to his 2001 cult comedy, Zoolander. Zolander 2 will be set in Europe and will follow male models Derek and Hansel 10 years after the events of the first film. “We’ve completed the script, Justin Theroux and I, [...]
Pretty Lights Launches Record Label; Announces New Releases
NEW MUSIC FROM BREAK SCIENCE AND PAPER DIAMOND DUE OUT JANUARY 25
![]() Pretty Lights |
Fresh off an incredibly successful year, Derek Vincent Smith (aka Pretty Lights) is ready to give his
fans a gift to start the New Year off right- the announcement of his own record label,
Pretty Lights Music, which will release
free new music in early 2011. Derek’s objectives are simple- he wants to
supply his fans, and fans of electronic music at large, with free music from the artists he believes in and
supports.
Today, he’s thrilled to announce two new digital releases (in addition to Michal Menert) on Pretty Lights
Music, both
due out January 25. Break
Science will be releasing their new EP, Further Than Our Eyes Can See, and Paper Diamond will be dropping his
debut EP, Levitate.
Download Paper Diamond’s MP3 “From Now Till” here
Download Break Science’s MP3 “Zion Station” here
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Cheryl Cole ‘planning to move to Los Angeles’
Cheryl Cole will apparently move to Los Angeles as soon as the 6-million-pound Surrey mansion she shared with love-rat footballer Ashley is sold. The ‘Girls Aloud’ singer had also clinched a one-year 3-million-pound deal to be a judge on the US version of the X Factor. American dancer Derek Hough’s stepdad Aaron Nelson recalled how [...]
Sat Eye Candy: Delaney & Bonnie
MUSIC FOR THE SAKE OF IT
While The Band have been gathering accolades as for their role as a primary influence on rock ‘n’ roll that followed, another group from the same era had almost as big an impact on the movers & shakers in the 60s & 70s (and subsequently since then). Delaney & Bonnie were a then-husband & wife rock ‘n’ soul revue that put the zap on Eric Clapton, George Harrison and scores of others. The undeniable groove and spirit of their homegrown, deliciously earthy music brought rock down from its big stages and reconnected some of the biggest players of the day with what it meant to make music for the sake of making music. This gift still reverberates in the work of Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi, Mofro, Lucero and countless others. We love giving credit to worthy ancestors at JamBase and wanted to offer up a smattering of their fine music to enrich your weekend. (Dennis Cook)
We begin with a corker featuring Clapton and Harrison along with the future rhythm section for Derek & The Dominoes.
While Dave Mason had the hit with this one, D & B do it great justice.
An early music video from the band.
The Black Crowes have taken this tune up in recent years.
There’s not much sexier than Bonnie’s wicked smile and joyous jiggling and Delaney’s slinky ass guitar work in this clip. The slide solo near the end is just ridiculous!
Another one from the same television appearance.
We conclude with a glimpse of Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett performing without one another. Delaney passed away in 2008 and Bonnie Bramlett continues to make great music today. Still, few fires that burned as briefly as theirs have been brighter or more warming to music as a whole.
Jennifer Grey Wins “Dancing With The Stars†Season 11
Jennifer Grey is having “the time of her life” after dancing her way to victory and taking home the coveted Mirrorball Trophy during Tuesday night’s 11th season finale of Dancing With The Stars. “I didn’t think I was going to compete tonight and I’m really glad I did,” the Dirty Dancing actress tearfully said upon [...]
Sat Eye Candy: Duane Allman
TRULY A HOLY ROLLIN’ SOUND
Duane Allman would have turned 64-years-old today. We couldn’t let the day pass without tipping our hat to Skydog and honoring the ever-lingering legacy of one of the 20th Century’s most influential musicians. (Dennis Cook)
We begin with some insights into Duane’s genius and contribution to music.
The combination of Duane Allman and Dickey Betts remains one of the finest, most unique pairings rock has ever produced. Here’s the pair in flight together.
Besides the Allman Brothers and his extensive session work, Duane was also a key ingredient in another of rock’s all-time greatest ensembles, Derek & The Dominoes. There’s no decent footage of him playing with the band but here’s an interesting outtake that shows Clapton and Allman sparring nicely.
Let’s jump on the stage with ABB back in the day. This is what one calls “putting your back into it.”
Another succinct blast of Duane’s studio brilliance.
Just the audio but what audio it is! This pairing of the Dead and Duane on a signature blues standard shows what honest, gritty interpreters of the blues these young cats were.
We wrap with a few more Allman Brothers moments with Duane. Rest in peace, buddy. We miss ya more than we can ever express.
Cheryl Cole ‘was given just 24 hours to live after getting malaria’
‘X Factor’ judge Cheryl Cole has revealed that she was given just 24 hours to live after getting malaria. Cheryl, 27, collapsed during The X Factor auditions after contracting the disease on a trip to Tanzania in June with dancer pal Derek Hough as he tried to take her mind off her divorce from love [...]
Julianne Hough’s Brother Approves of Her Boyfriend…
…who just happens to be Ryan Seacrest.
Dancing With The Stars’ Derek Hough recently told People Magazine:
“He fits right in with my family. Â We’re all kind of goofy and quirky, so it works out well.”
I’ll bet it works out for moon faced Derek who probably walks around with a 24/7 hard on for his sister’s man [...]
JJ Grey & Mofro: True Warhorses
By: Dennis Cook
JJ Grey by Darren Jackinsky |
Maybe it’s the pounding soul of “All,” the slinky strut of “Diyo Dayo,” the synth-dappled, switchback funk of “Hide & Seek” or perhaps the crack-your-heart-open tenderness of “King Hummingbird” but something gonna get you on JJ Grey & Mofro‘s new slab, Georgia Warhorse (released August 24 on Alligator Records). Grey and his shifting ensemble specialize in ‘getcha music,’ the sort that runs its fingers through your hair, leaves lipstick on your collar and sometimes lifts your wallet and cell phone to run up a crazy bar tab and make calls to the other side of the world. Grey’s songs are earthy in all respects – lusty and impetuous yet rooted in soil tilled with the blood & sweat of generations. And he when he steps to the mic you’ll swear Otis Redding has an illegitimate white son. There are also echoes of the young Paul Rodgers who ignited Free and Bad Company – Grey shares his knack for slow burners and ability to make rock sound magisterial – not to mention a dash or two of Grey’s personal idols like Tony Joe White and Toots Hibbert. Put it all together and one’s body and soul warms when Mofro plays.
Hibbert along with Derek Trucks guests on Georgia Warhorse, helping make it the single strongest release in a catalog without a single dud. Without reinventing the wheel – as we’ll discuss in this chat – Grey and his collaborators, particularly producer-sidekick Dan Prothero, have crafted an album that sits up straight ‘n’ proud next to anything that came out of Muscle Shoals in its heyday. More impressive than Mofro’s gift for capturing the feel of Wilson Pickett, Otis, et al. is how they make it seem like that music never went away and has been growing up right along with Grey and his boys.
Grey is man enough to declare, “Hell no, I ain’t going down on my knees,” yet enough of a dreamer to ache out loud on simmering killers like “Gotta Know,” grind passionately like a Grade-A lover man on “Slow, Hot & Sweaty” or throw his whole being open on Georgia Warhorse‘s shattering closer “Lullaby.” In short, Grey is a grand revival shaman reuniting rock ‘n’ soul in a holy orgy for common folk.
JamBase: One of the things you’ve done from the beginning – and the new record certainly does it – is remember that rock ‘n’ roll has hips, which has been forgotten by a lot of your contemporaries. Soul music used to be a real close relative.
JJ Grey by Melanie Martinez |
JJ Grey: Right, right, right. I want it to have the energy to rock and I want it to groove so you can dance to it. And I can’t dance worth a shit so I better find the funkiest players I can so I can get my groove on! These are all cats I’ve looked up to and I’m just lucky to get to play with them. They all understand my arrangements and the essence of what I’m trying to get musically. And with these kinds of guys playing, it’s easy. All I gotta do is show up.
JamBase: There’s been a lot of lineup changes in Mofro, and even your longest running partner, Daryl Hance, is no longer with you. How has that affected the music?
JJ Grey: Honestly, it’s always been my ship. Not to sound like an ego thing or nothing, that’s just the truth. Daryl has always supported me and now I can’t wait to help him in any way I can to help him with what he’s doing. He’s got his own tunes, like a lot of the other cats, and we will play together again. It’s hard to explain [the dynamics of Mofro] to people because it doesn’t really have an identity outside of who’s playing in it right at that moment. It’s like life – full of change.
You’ve always struck me as a road warrior. I’ve seen you a lot of times and even when you seem to be draggin’ before the show, the moment the music kicks in you spring back. Something seems to hit your bloodstream when you’re in front of a crowd.
Definitely! I tell people all the time, I never got paid a dime to play a show – all the money is just so we can get there, unload the equipment, etc. Playing the show itself is just therapy; that part’s free. Everything else is what costs us money.
Not everyone appreciates what a privilege it is to get to do what you love for living.
That’s what it’s all about, and the best way to do it is to not try to do it. Just let it happen. If you’ve got a cut it’ll heal itself if you give it time and space and let the body do what it does. It’s the same way with music. I don’t write tunes, they write themselves. I honestly can’t take credit for that. They just pop out of thin air like conversations.
I wanted to get into your longtime working relationship with Dan Prothero, who’s helmed every Mofro album with you since the start. I don’t think he gets near enough credit. Every time he works with a musician, including you, he seems to draw out the best in them.
Well, if somebody wanted to get technical about the original members of Mofro, it’d obviously be myself, Daryl and Dan Prothero. As far I’m considered, Dan is probably a bigger part of Mofro than any one individual cat that’s played with me. Luckily, Dan only wants to work with people who are 95-percent there so he only has to add about 5-percent. He wants to help you get the right sound, the right tone, and that’s what Dan’s done. It’s been great.
You’ve had this partnership over five albums. How do you think the sound has evolved? I can’t quite nail the exact differences but there’s something quite refined about the sound on Georgia Warhorse.
JJ Grey by Adam McCullough |
With Blackwater [Mofro's 2001 debut] there was a lot of shoulder shruggin’ on my part and nervousness. I didn’t know what he wanted; he didn’t know what I wanted. I don’t even know how a record came out of those sessions, and that’s not because of the musicians involved. That was my fault. I wasn’t stepping up to the plate, not so much in my takes but with the whole process. And Dan was instrumental in pushing me towards my strengths and away from my weaknesses. And when I say weaknesses, I guess what I should say is pushing me towards honesty, the things that felt genuine and honest, and away from things that felt contrived or phony. He also convinced me to learn how to play instruments. I played an instrument enough to write a tune, but going on the road I couldn’t afford to bring along the kind of band I wanted to. I wanted horns and everything on the first record and tour behind it, but I just couldn’t afford it. And I’d never played and sang at the same time before and Dan said, “You just gotta do it.” He pushed me, pushed me, pushed me.
So, to go back and answer your question, I send him demos now that I’ve cut at home and it’s pretty close to how it sounds on the record, except we go into the studio and get someone who plays drums better than me [laughs]. We don’t go in as a band. I put the songs together and think of who I’d like to be on a cut, like Derek Trucks or whatever. I’m at a point where I can make that call. Derek was easy because he lives in Jacksonville, and Toots was easy, too. We just sent him the stuff down to Jamaica and he jammed on it and sent it back [laughs]. The point is that now with Dan we don’t have to go through a song critique period or nothing. We’re just ready to go in and do it and make it interesting with cool 70s synth sounds and such.
One picks up on the shared curiosity with cool sounds that you and Dan have. For all the production that’s layered on rock music these days, that inquisitive, distinctly human touch is often missing.
JJ Grey by Darren Jackinsky |
Chasing rabbits down holes is always fun. I’ll tell you something else that’s cool, and don’t get me wrong, I love Pro Tools and Logic – I use those things to write with and in the process of making this record these things get used – but Dan taught me not to rely on them. When things are done in the box – the controlled, computer-based box world – it has a flatness to it. There’s no spikes, no pits. No matter how great the recording or the players, it will lose something if it’s not mixed through a console. All the [Mofro] records have been done on two-inch tape. Dan mixes down off two-inch tape as much as he can, and then dumps all that into Pro Tools and does last minute editing.
Jimmy DeVito’s Retrophonics studio, where we always record, is a museum of the best gear ever made. You move something aside and there’s something else that makes you go, “Holy shit!” So you start messing around and thinking, “This vintage ’72 keyboard would be perfect on this take!” Jimmy provides that space, and I think that’s a huge part of the sound, too – Jimmy’s two-inch tape machine, his vintage amplifier collection, his guitars, his basses.
A place like that allows instinct and inspiration to take hold in the moment. Things are too neat today. You’d never get those wonderful pushing-the-meter-into-the-red moments on the classic Aretha Franklin recordings now. But that bold, ragged rush is what those songs are all about.
That’s what I push for on every record. On all my favorite records like Tony Joe White and all that Muscle Shoals stuff, when the singer gets going the tubes start to smoke and the pre-amps sizzle and it all starts to fly apart on the heavy, high, loudest notes. I love that! That’s also when guitars changed and became distorted, when the guitar player is just playing it so hard and so loud things start to bust apart. What people like Dan and I are doing is pursuing that distortion. We’re looking for the distortion that sounds like butter, not the newer circuit board distortion, which kinda shits out and sounds awful.
It’s great to see this kind of music being made today instead of it being simply something from yesteryear. These records and this sound endures because it sounds so, so, so good.
One of the things I explain to people is volume does not translate well to tape. So, when you play live you just play louder and people can feel those huge, dynamic shifts. With studio recordings what happens is people have to turn up their stereos when you’re quiet and then turn ‘em back down when it’s too loud, which led to compression. But all those old compressors gave you a form and a feeling, whereas now a Celine Dion recording might be smashed into oblivion to the point where you look at it as a line on a computer and the block volume is massive compared to say AC/DC’s Back In Black, which has these peaks and valleys that look small, not one continuous fat block of volume. Well, we know what happens when you put both on a stereo, you’ll say the AC/DC record is louder. It just seems louder because there’s not an Amex on it. These are the things Dan has taught me. Some people will say, “That’s retro,” but I say, “No, it’s just good.” The wheel is retro. It was invented a LONG time ago but it works [laughs].
JJ Grey & Mofro are currently on tour. They play The Compound in Phoenix, AZ (9/22), Belly Up Tavern in Solano Beach, CA (9/23), The Fillmore in San Francisco, CA (9/24) and the West Beach Music & Arts Festival in Santa Barbara, CA (9/25). Find full tour dates here.
JJ Grey & Mofro Tour Dates :: JJ Grey & Mofro News :: JJ Grey & Mofro Concert Reviews
JamBase | Hottest Spot In Hell
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Jennifer Grey Checks Into “Houseâ€
“No One Puts Baby in a Corner….” Dirty Dancing actress Jennifer Grey — who outdanced everyone with a raved-about Viennese Waltz on Monday night’s season premiere of Dancing With The Stars — will be heading over to guest star on FOX’s House. Other guest stars this season will be The Good Wife’s Dylan Baker, [...]
Robert Schimmel Dead — Comedian Schimmel Dies Of Injuries Sustained In Car Crash
Robert Schimmel, the controversial comedian best known for his envelope-pushing work on The Howard Stern Show and NBC’s Late Night with Conan O’Brien, died in a Phoenix hospital Friday evening as a result of injuries he sustained in a recent car accident, according to the comic’s longtime spokesman, Howard Bragman.Schimmel, 60, was the passenger [...]
Cheryl Cole, Derek Hough romance is a “cover-upâ€, says Amir Khan
Boxer Amir Khan has revealed that Cheryl Cole’s romance with dancer pal Derek Hough is a trick to keep paparazzi at bay. Amir, 23 said that Cheryl confessed to him she is not Derek’s girlfriend. The pair enjoy cosy nights in front of the telly but are more like brother and sister than lovers. “I [...]
Cheryl Cole and Derek Hough ‘are a couple’
Cheryl Cole and her dancer pal Derek Hough are a couple, says ‘X Factor’ pal. Show choreographer Brian Friedman, 33, has met up with them since they flew to Los Angeles nearly two weeks ago. “I’m very close to them both. They’re amazing people and make a great couple,†the Mirror quoted Friedman as saying. [...]
Adam Deitch Joins Pretty Lights
ADAM DEITCH REPLACES CORY EBERHARD
![]() Adam Deitch |
From www.prettylightsmusic.com:
“Derek will be performing along side a new drummer, Adam Deitch.
Adam is basically one of the illest drummers out there right now and when his style combines with the PL style, it
approaches sweet style overload. The combo of Derek Vincent Smith & Adam Deitch will undoubtedly bring the the
PL
shows to new heights… get ready. Find out more about Adam Deitch.”
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Derek Trucks Guests On New JJ Grey Album
TOUR STARTS AUGUST 21 IN HOXEYVILLE, MI
![]() Georgia Warhorse |
Guest guitarist Derek
Trucks joins swampy, funky roots rock artist JJ Grey on “Lullaby,” a highlight of the new album Georgia Warhorse,
nailing his performance on the first take.
Grey says, “He’s a one take person. It sounded like the greatest take of all time. He insisted we do two, three more
takes but we used the first take. It was just awesome. To me, he’s in the category of Louis Armstrong.”
Trucks admires Grey’s abilities as a writer as well, saying, “It’s a real skill to be able to take your life and what you do
and just put it to music where it actually translates, where you can trace those threads back. I enjoy that about JJ’s
music.”
Grey’s new album Georgia Warhorse comes out August 24 on Alligator. His previous album Orange
Blossoms hit #4 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart.
JJ Grey & Mofro
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Cheryl Tweedy says boyfriend Derek Hough saved her life
Girls Aloud member Cheryl Tweedy has revealed that had it not been for her boyfriend Derek Hough insisting that medics carry out further tests, she would not be alive today. Tweedy, 27, said that a medical blunder left her just hours from death, and that she only pulled through because Hough, 25, insisted on further [...]
Cheryl Cole eying to hit it big in US
Cheryl Cole is eyeing to become a US superstar and if all turns out well then she will be seen in American ‘X Factor’ as well as in ‘Dancing With The Stars’. Officially, she has told ‘X Factor’ boss Simon Cowell she will be ready to rejoin the show in the last week of August. [...]




Derek & Susan by Ray Proetto
Horn section by Ray Proetto
Derek & Susan Band by Ray Proetto
Las Tortugas V by Chad Smith
Las Tortugas V by Chad Smith
Lebo by Chad Smith
Allie Kral by Chad Smith
ALO & Friends by Chad Smith
Pimps of Joytime by Chad Smith
Bill Kreutzmann by Chad Smith
Nicki Bluhm by Chad Smith
The Mother Hips by Chad Smith
Yonder Mountain String Band by Chad Smith
JJ Grey by Darren Jackinsky
JJ Grey by Melanie Martinez
JJ Grey by Adam McCullough
JJ Grey by Darren Jackinsky
