The power trio may be the ultimate configuration for a blues or rock band. Think about Cream, ZZ Top, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, Triumph, Robin Trower, ProjeKct Two (a King Crimson subproject comprising Adrian Belew, Robert Fripp, and Trey Gunn), and Beck, Bogert, and Appice (Jeff, Tim, and Carmine, respectively), for example. Even when a trio is led by someone as gifted as Jimi or Stevie Ray, each musician in the trio is still effectively out front, hiding behind nothing. They have to be on top of their game and not just playing simple rhythm because the listener can clearly hear everything. For example, when Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton played together in Cream, both were often, for all intents and purposes, soloing simultaneously.
I saw two power trios within the past week: Rush last Thursday at the Boston Tweeter Center (with my daughter), and Joe Bonamassa at the Scullers Jazz Club last night (with my brother Jim). Both bands were simply incredible.
Even though this is their 30th anniversary tour, Rush is playing better than ever. They played seemingly everything they'd ever written, and even played some covers such as The Who's "The Seeker," The Yardbirds' "Heart Full of Soul," Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues," and even Robert Johnson's "Crossroads" in a Cream-like fashion. Neil Peart performed an amazing drum solo, except that he sounded more like a whole drum orchestra all by himself. They had a camera above his head and showed the whole solo on the Jumbotron -- very cool. Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson did a little acoustic set as well. Rush wraps up their North American tour this coming Sunday in Toronto, but will begin a UK tour in September.
Joe Bonamassa! This kid is simply an unreal guitar player. In addition to their own excellent songs, this band sometimes uses their encyclopedic knowledge of blues and rock guitar to augment their songs with refreshingly inventive combinations of teasers from other songs by bands such as Yes, King Crimson, ZZ Top, and others. They even covered "Had to Cry Today" by Blind Faith, but a little faster than the original. Go see Joe if you can, you won't be disappointed.
What does this have to do with middleware? Well, I think Don Box (bass), Doug Schmidt (guitar), and I (harmonica) should form a power trio.