Post Description

Frogwings - Croakin' at Toad's (2000) (KILLER FUSION)

One pleasing development in contemporary music, serving as a counterpoint to the proliferation of vacuous, lightweight teen pop acts, is the resurgence of jam bands. Near the end of their career, the Grateful Dead, the quintessential jam band, found themselves enjoying unexpectedly wide popularity among much younger fans. Then the band called Phish inherited many of their fans with their strongly improvisational music, honed by countless live performances. so that Phish has become the kind so-called cult band that the Grateful Dead was. That, in turn, had paved the way for a host of younger jam bands, some outstanding and some not so much so. Among the first-rate groups carrying on the jazz-inspired tradition of extended instrumental improvisations, are The String Cheese Incident, Moe and Strangefolk.
This week we have a very impressive recording from what could be described as a super-group jam band, comprised of fairly well-known musicians of two generations. They call themselves Frogwings, and their new CD is Croakin’ at Toad’s.

Frogwings could be described as a kind of offshoot of the Allman Brothers Band, with founding member Butch Trucks on drums, and the current percussionist and bassist from the Allmans, Marc Quinones and Otiel Burbridge, also among the ranks of the Frogwings. Other members include Butch Trucks' nephew, the teenage guitar phenomenon Derek Trucks, who has already put out a very impressive solo albumm of his own, plus guitarist Jimmy Herring of another jazzy rock band The Aquarium Rescue Unit, Kofi Burbridge, Otiel's brother on flute and keyboards, and vocalist and harmonica man John Popper from Blues Traveler, a blues-rock band which enjoyed considerable success in its own right. Making it an even more appropriate album for a jam band is the fact that Croakin’ at Toad’s was recorded live, appropriately at a venue called Toad’s, located in New Haven, Connecticut.

With four of the seven players in Frogwings either members of the Allman Brothers or associated with the group, there is naturally a musical resemblance between the styles of the two bands, but that is nothing to complain about, with the Allmans having been responsible for some of the great rock jams going back to the early 1970s. Frogwings sometimes brings in a little Latin influence, incorporates the blues, thanks to John Popper, and can get a bit jazzy, owing to the inclinations of the two guitarists.

The album begins with one of its longest jams, and one of its best. The instrumental track Kick n Bach starts with a slow groove reminiscent of the Allmans' In Memory of Elizabeth Reed. <<>> It provides ample solo opportunities, including for Otiel Burbridge with his simultaneous bass and vocals similar to his work with the Aquarium Rescue Unit... <<>> before the piece picks up and gets into a Latin-influenced beat for the second guitar solo, which I am guessing was played by Herring. <<>>

Tracks :
1.Kick N Bach
2.Hurdy Gurdy
3.Pattern
4.Eddie's Got a Boyfriend
5.Just One
6.Ganja
7.Deviant Dreams
8.Among Your Pillows

Personnel: John Popper (vocals, harp); Jimmy Herring (guitar); Derek Trucks (slide guitar); Kofi Burbridge (flute, keyboards); Butch Trucks (drums); Marc Quiñones (percussion); Oteil Burbridge (bass).

AANRADER !!!!!