Trey Anastasio returns to the road on Monday with the latest iteration of his Classic TAB ensemble. This version of the band adds the three-piece horn section of Jennifer Hartswick (trumpet), Natalie Cressman (trombone) and Russell Remington (sax, flute) to the basic core of Russ Lawton (drums), Tony Markellis (bass) and Ray Paczkowski (keyboards), which most closely resembles the unit that toured with Big Red in Winter ’01. While we know the members of the band, we don’t know what they’ll be playing.
For this week’s B List, we asked five members of the Hidden Track staff to pick the two songs they would most like to see Trey and Classic TAB perform on the month-long tour. Anything was fair game from Phish songs to tunes Trey played just once to covers. Let’s see what songs everyone chose and then be sure to tell us what songs you’d like to see the unit play.
It Makes No Difference
First Time Played: 02-21-2001 – Orpheum Theater – Boston, MA
Last Time Played: 05-14-2005 – Hammerstein Ballroom – New York, NY
Number Of Times Played: 14
Just five month after Phish’s first hiatus, Trey hit the road for his first solo tour since ’99 beefing up the trio format with a three piece horn section for an 11-date East Coast Swing. Mixing Phish classics with a healthy dose of new material, Ernie also peppered the setlists with a number of of unexpected covers including Stevie Wonder’s Signed Sealed Delivered and Bob Dylan’s Rainy Day Women.
Debuting on the first night of the run, and played almost every night that tour, was a take on The Band’s It Makes No Difference. Unlike the majority of the other covers from ’01, this song, which may be about as sad as they come, has managed to pop up three more times over the years. While the lyrics may not seem as poignant as when it was debuted, It Makes No Difference would provide a great slower tempo, breather song that would also give the horn section time to shine. – Jeffrey Greenblatt
Audio: 2-22-2001 Landmark Theatre – Syracuse, NY
[audio:https://glidemag.wpengine.com/hiddentrack/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/treydifference.mp3]
Liquid Time
First Time Played: Never Played Live
Last Time Played: N/A
Number of Times Played: N/A
One of my favorite sets of 2009 was Phish’s electric soundcheck at Festival 8. The hairs stood up on the back of my neck listening to Phish jam the hell out of Undermind, Gone and a track off Party Time called Liquid Time on The Bunny. This tune, which kinda sounds like Sultans of Swing, would surely benefit from horn lines and the jam would be perfect for the unit. I’m surprised Phish never played it after that soundcheck, but perhaps Trey was saving it for this band. – Scott Bernstein
Video: 10-29-2009 Festival 8 Soundcheck – Indio, CA
READ ON for more of the HT Staff’s Trey picks…
This afternoon, former 70 Volt Parade vocalist Trey Anastasio announced a solo tour that puts together the members of his Classic TAB ensemble with a three-piece horn section for three weeks worth of shows. For this run of shows Anastasio will be backed by Classic TAB members Tony Markellis on bass, Russ Lawton on drums and Ray Paczkowski on keyboards as well as a three-piece horn section featuring Jennifer Hartswick, Russ Remington and Natalie Cressman.
The tour which features 16 shows in 21 days opens in the city that Coran Capshaw built, Charlottesville Virginia at the Jefferson Theatre. Trey is bringing his band to a few states that Phish hasn’t been able to hit in their first year back, most notably Georgia as well as Kansas and the District Of Columbia. The venues are exclusively clubs and theaters and for some reason their New York City stop is at one of the cities most hated venues, Terminal 5.
Let’s take a look at the players:
Tony Markellis [bass]: The “Meatman” first performed with Trey in 1998 as part of his Eight Foot Florescent Tubes project that opened the original Higher Ground in Winooski. Trey enjoyed the experience so much that he asked Markellis and drummer Russ Lawton to join him on his first solo tour back in 1999. Tony was a member of TAB through the 2003 Spring Tour and returned for the Classic TAB shows in 2008.
READ ON for profiles on the rest of the members of Trey’s band and the full list of tour dates…
With Scotty, myself and the rest of the HT crew taking in most or all of Phish’s first six shows of their Summer tour we almost let the fact that
