Good news from the
Geigh 4 Trey camp; the former Phish guitarist, current ward of the
New York State Division of Probation and Correctional Alternatives is coming out with a new, all-instrumental album which promises to revisit the Afro-Cuban big band sound that is so infectious, especially when compared with the lite-rock, easy listening crap that currently dominates his repetoire.
The line-up of musicians of the disc give me hope that it will be a good one:
The Horseshoe Curve was recorded with producer Bryce Goggin at The Barn, as well as Trout Recording in Brooklyn, NY. Alongside Anastasio, the band includes sax players Dave Grippo, Peter Apfelbaum and Russell Remington; trumpeter Jen Hartswick, trombonist Andy Moroz, keyboardist Ray Paczkowski, drummer Russ Lawton, percussionist Cyro Baptista and bassist Tony Markellis.
Now that's a lineup that I can get into. Fat Tony on bass and Russ Lawton on drums are the rhythm core of the original trio Trey played this music with when the guitarist began to feel that his Phish was getting a bit stale in 1999.
The horn section is a bit on the large size, but features two of the three O.G.
Giant Country Horns (Remmington and Grippo), and some of Trey's more recent brass collaborators, including Jennifer Hartswick, who seems to be his muse in many ways. I don't really have an opinion on keyboardist Ray Paczkowski.
The last time I saw Trey live I walked out of the show. Granted, it was his festival set at Langerado, he was repeating a number of songs from the night before, and I had other things to do and see (like rush back to the club to see the Disco Biscuits crush the crowd until after 4 a.m.), but he underwhelmed the hell out of me. I had a good time the night before at his club show in Fort Lauderdale, but it was nothing that was that good. The man can still play guitar real well, and he (and
his band... credit where credit is due) was responsible for many of the best nights of music I experienced.
This wasn't one of those nights, probably because he wasn't playing the songs that touched me so back when I spent every dime and all my free time on going to see Phish shows. The new tunes just don't do it for me in the same way. There were moments of improvisational brilliance—however short and fleeting—but they were few and far between. But there is no guitar tone like Trey's guitar tone.
I'm not going to go into the man's legal troubles and what I think of them here, except to say that I really hope that this album is the beginning of Trey Anasatasio's come back. He is way to talented to burn out and fade away, and I truly hope that he is albe to overcome the chemical demons that have been plaguing him the last few years.
And maybe, just maybe I'll get the chance to see another Phish show.
Here's hoping.
You can preorder Trey Anastasio's new album, The Horseshoe Curve, here.
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