Derek Trucks: Moving Forward, Back Where He Started

What If?

AAJ: Last question, if you could go back and somehow be a witness to four musical events, one each from jazz, blues, rock and classic, which would you choose?

DT: Seeing Howlin' Wolf in his element, I don't know when his peak was, as far as havin' his great bands with Hubert [Sumlin], but seein' Wolf when he was on top of his game in a sweaty club, that would be high on the list for blues.

For jazz it's a toss-up. I think the first thing that came to mind was seein' Charlie Christian at Minton's, some of those jam sessions with Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker, that would have been pretty great. But with jazz there's three, so I'm just going to throw them out! (Laughing) Seeing the Sun Ra Arkestra in the mid-'60s probably, when John Gilmore was just playin' out of his head. They were just deep into it, makin' great records, so seein' those guys do their thing. Or the John Coltrane Quartet around the time of Live at Birdland (Impulse!, 1963). So for jazz that's probably the three.



Classical, let's see, I would love to have seen Glenn Gould perform, I would love to have been there when [Krzysztof] Penderecki first broke out "Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima"—just for the craziness of it. And the riot that [Igor] Stravinsky's Firebird Suite caused, I would have liked to have been there. And from all the stories I've heard of his tone and how beautiful it was in person, I would love to have seen Joshua Heifetz.

For rock, it would be some of those famous Fillmore shows. I never got to see Duane [Allman] so that would be first on the list. You know, seeing Duane or Hendrix, or Duane and Clapton together that would have been great. Any one of those three, but I think seeing The Allman Brothers in their heydays would have been life changing.

Selected Discography

The Derek Trucks Band, Already Free (Columbia, 2009)

Susan Tedeschi, Back to the River (Verve, 2008)

Elvin Bishop, The Blues Roll On (Delta Groove, 2008)

David Sanborn, Here & Gone (Decca, 2008)

Buddy Guy, Skin Deep (Zomba, 2008)

The Derek Trucks Band, Songlines (Columbia, 2006)

J.J. Cale/Eric Clapton, The Road to Escondido (Reprise, 2006)

Susan Tedeschi, Hope and Desire (Verve, 2005)

Jerry Douglas, The Best Kept Secret (Koch, 2005)

The Derek Trucks Band, Live at Georgia Theater (Sony Music, 2004)

The Allman Brothers Band, One Way Out (Sanctuary, 2004)

The Derek Trucks Band, Soul Serenade (Columbia, 2003)

The Allman Brothers Band, Hittin' the Note (Sanctuary, 2003)

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Little Worlds (Columbia, 2003)

The Derek Trucks Band, Joyful Noise (Columbia, 2002)

Susan Tedeschi, Wait For Me (Tone Cool, 2002)

The Allman Brothers Band, Peakin' at the Beacon (Epic, 2000)

The Derek Trucks Band, Out of the (House of Blues, 1998)

The Derek Trucks Band, The Derek Trucks Band (Landslide Records, 1997)

Gregg Allman , Searching for Simplicity (Sony, 1997)

Photo Credits

Top Photo: Darren Stone

Trucks With Eric Clapton: Chris Tuite

All Other Photos: Courtesy of Derek Trucks

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