After Phish finished at Shoreline in 2000, Trey’s motor kept running. Continuing to write new material, he soon needed an outlet to play it and booked a spontaneous solo tour for the Winter of 2001. For a backing band, he looked to his his trio from the Spring of 1999. Pulling his rhythm section of Tony Markelis and Russ Lawton back together for his second tour ever, this time Trey added a three-piece horn section as well. Dave Grippo (alto sax) of Giant Country Horns fame,) young Jen Hartswick (trumpet, tuba) and Andy Moroz (trumpet) formed the Burlington-based trio that spiced up Trey’s jams all tour long. Adding a genuine fusion dynamic to the band’s rhythm-focused grooves, this initial horn lineup meshed immediately with the Trey, Tony, and Ray, forming, in my opinion, the best-ever incarnation of The Trey Anastasio Band.

To his Spring 1999 staples of “Sand,” Jibboo,” and “First Tube,” Trey added new songs such as “Push On Til the Day,” “Burlap Sack and Pumps,” and “Drifting.” Trey ditched his acoustic set in favor of two electric throw-downs and the band hit the road in February for a slate of ten shows (adding one more on the spot in Atlanta after an unexpectedly high for the first.) Starting in the Northeast, the band wound their way south, finishing with a fierce four-pack in Asheville, NC, Columbia, SC, and two at The Fox in Atlanta. Spicing their sets with new covers, this version of Trey’s band featured musical conversations rather than Trey simply shredding over a thick groove. As opposed to the horns of modern-day TAB who have more composed lines, Grippo, Hartswick, and Moroz improvised right along with Trey through the fiercest and most explosive escapades, upping the onstage dynamic considerably while bringing an entirely new element to Trey’s jams.

So many musical passages stood out on this tour, but if one jam shined as the quintessential TAB 2001 excursion, it was “Sand > Quadraphonic Toppling” from Columbia, South Carolina. Delving deep into fusion psychedelia, the band threw down an extended series of textured dance grooves that were spiced considerably by horn improvisation. And then evoking memories of Big Cypress, Trey led the band through the abstract “Quadraphonic Toppling,” playing—and looping—the song’s minimalist melody himself.

Trey’s sextet existed for just a blip in time, playing only the winter’s eleven shows together. When Trey emerged with his band for the summer of 2001, he had added Ray Paczkowski on keyboards for the first time, as well as a fourth horn player, Russell Remington, on tenor sax and flute. The following summer, this lineup only grew, as Trey went on to explore Afro-Cuban grooves. But for a spontaneous stretch in the winter of 2001, Trey was discovering the power of his solo act, and his shows contained a palpable energy, bringing a buzz to the scene. Phish was done—for the moment—but Trey’s solo career was beginning to heat up.

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Jam of the Day:

“A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing” 6.19.04 II

One of the top-shelf jams of the post-hiatus era.

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DOWNLOAD OF THE DAY:

4.12.1991 Barrymore Theatre, Madison, Wisconsin SBD

Mp3 Torrent (asap), Megaupload < Links

Keeping the old-school soundboard train rolling.

I: Llama, Uncle Pen, The Divided Sky, Guelah Papyrus, The Oh Kee Pa Ceremony > Suzy Greenberg, Stash, Rocky Top, Golgi Apparatus

II: The Landlady, Runaway Jim, You Enjoy Myself, Fluffhead, Cavern, Tela, Buried Alive, Reba, My Sweet One, Good Times Bad Times

E: Contact > Big Black Furry Creature from Mars, The Squirming Coil

Source: SBD

I still remember getting the analog tape in the Spring of ’98. It was labeled “8 Foot Fluorescent Tubes,” the moniker of some local Burlington musicians Trey had assembled to play a single show at Higher Ground, a club in their home town. His band featured Russ Lawton on drums, Tony Markelis (formerly of The Unknown Blues Band) on bass, Tom Lawson of the punk outfit The Pants on a second guitar, and Heloise Williams of viperHouse on vocals. Together they ran through a stripped down set of Trey’s unplayed solo material before many more musicians joined them as The Burlington All-Stars for a second half filled with covers . But in that first set, Trey’s solo career was born.

The first two songs on the analog tape were labeled “Bing-Bong” and “Wee,” both referencing musical elements of the songs themselves. “Bing Bong” alluded to the climactic and repetitive chord change at the peak of the the song (words also sung by Williams)—a piece that would transform into “First Tube.” “Wee” alluded to Trey’s siren loops that started at the beginning a heavy groove, one of the strongest parts in the show, that would soon be known as “Sand.”Also performed in the set were the debuts of “Free Thought,” which would later appear as “Mozambique,” and a “jam” that would evolve into “Last Tube.” In between these songs, all that soon morphed into polished staples of Trey’s solo act in 1999, the band played four other pieces including the punk-inspired “Silicone Fairy” and a cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground.”

The band’s sound that night in April 1998 was raw, as this was the one and only show The 8 Foot Fluorescent Tubes ever played together. But something was there. Trey liked what he heard so much that he plucked the band’s rhythm section of Markelis and Lawton and brought them into The Barn to jam, thus beginning the the power trio—the first incarnation of The Trey Anastasio Band. The trio soon made their debut at the Very Special Arts Vermont benefit at Higher Ground, but would come together in earnest a year later, hitting the road as The Trey Anastasio Band in May of ’99. Touring in the same acoustic/electric format of Trey’s upcoming winter run, the trio threw down extended second sets filled with sweltering dance fury, in what were, perhaps, the most spectacular shredding guitar showcases Trey has ever played. But a year before he ever hit the road as a solo act—a project that would balloon to an eleven-member ensemble before returning to a quartet in 2008—Trey’s solo career was sparked with one under-the-radar gig in Burlington, Vermont.

Here’s the original setlist:

I. Bing Bong, Wee, Free Thought, Mr. Green Man, Naturally to Blame, In the Mood, Silicone Fairy, Jam > Higher Ground

Here’s the translation:

I. First Tube, Sand, Mozambique, Meatman, Shame, In the Mood, Silicone Fairy, Last Tube > Higher Ground

4.17.98 – “First Tube” debut

Jam of the Day:

“Ghost > She Caught the Katy” 7.21.98 II

Before Worcester’s recent bust-0ut, the last version of “She Caught the Katy” came out of Desert Sky Pavilion’s “Ghost” during the summer of ’98.

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DOWNLOAD OF THE DAY:

4.11.1991 The Cave, Carleton College – Northfield, Minnesota SBD

Mp3 Torrent, Megaupload < Links

Here’s another ’91 SBD, famous for Fishman’s telling of “The Prison Joke” during the encore, not to mention plenty of on point playing throughout.

I: Runaway Jim, Cavern, Paul and Silas, Tweezer, Magilla, Dinner and a Movie, Bouncing Around the Room, Foam, Carolina, You Enjoy Myself, The Squirming Coil, Chalk Dust Torture

II: My Sweet One, Reba, Llama, TMWSIY  > Avenu Malkenu > TMWSIY, The Lizards,Split Open and Melt, Lawn Boy, The Landlady > Destiny Unbound, Mike’s Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove

E: Fee, HYHU > The Prison Joke > HYHU, Possum

Source: SBD