After witnessing Trey and Classic TAB in Kansas City on Sunday night, there is only one thing to say – believe the hype – the band is playing as well as all the glowing reviews have reported, and Trey has brought his own chops to another level. With childlike passion and a ear to ear smile plastered on his face, Trey played with a relaxed confidence all night long, as visibly, happy, and excited as ever. Historically a place for different types different playing, his band progressed from a showcase of guitar acrobatics to big-band percussive grooves. But Anastasio’s current incarnation of TAB may represent the most polished alternate outlet for Trey thus far, boasting the band’s tightest playing in memory, while allowing plenty of room for his own creativity. If this version of TAB could be described in a few words, they would be be fun, energetic, and infectious. With revitalized horn arrangements, directed improvisation, and an influx of new pieces, TAB is hitting on all cylinders right now, producing music on par or surpassing anything Trey’s side project has ever done.

The role of the horn section provided the first noticeable difference in the musical makeup of this band. Playing through composed sections with new arrangements, courtesy of Orchestra Nashville’s Don Hart, Jen Hartswick, Natalie Cressman, and Russell Remington blended with the music rather than sitting atop. Hartswick noted the more integrated arrangements in a recent interview, explaining how Hart “had written really beautiful, elaborate and involved horn parts that essentially was written like an orchestra, like a string section would be.” While artistically infusing the horn section into his show, Trey noticeably carved out time for “Classic TAB” to improvise as a quartet. And with Trey and Ray Paczkowski bursting with connected ideas over a creative pocket, these scorching excursions stood out as the highlights of the show.

The style of the quartet’s playing mirrored the more compact style of 2009 Phish. No longer indulging in 20 minute “Jibboos” or “Sands,” Trey led the band in more concise jamming, sparking original ideas right out of the gates in a parallel case of musical density. Looking to Ray almost immediately in every jam, the two initiated the melodic half as Tony and Russ thumped away dynamic grooves. The four-piece worked noticeably well, as the rhythm section joined in the improv more earnestly than in the past. “Push On Til the Day” and “Alive Again,” and more specifically, “Night Speaks to a Woman” and “Money, Love, and Change” featured organic first set jams built over unique themes rather than Trey merely shredding over a groove. And during the second set, the horns left during every jam, allowing the quartet to create unique music that far surpassed anything from their 2008 “Northern Exposure” mini-tour.

During some pieces, Trey kept one or more horn players out to add to the textures, and none worked better than Remington’s flute addition to “Liquid Time.” This lyrically poignant song got into one of the most cohesive jams of the show, transcending groove and bathing in melodic improv. But the obscene, guitar-annihilation crime scene of the night came during the second-set centerpiece, “Sand.” Typical of his TAB freestyling, Trey moved between rhythm chops and soaring leads as the he led the band to their highest point of the evening. By the time he brought the song’s theme back around, the band had sculpted a nasty musical segment that blew the roof off the Uptown Theatre.

The way that Trey called the horn players back to stage also brought an interesting facet to the show. Often signaling for one or two at a time, he clearly thought about where each jam had progressed and which sounds would best blend with each piece. Eventually calling all three members back by the peak of every jam, the horns built each song back to its full form before ending. The cohesion of the horn section brought a “finished” feel to many of the songs, enhancing the overall performance