It’s been a long time since I’ve come across a tune on YouTube that I could not bear to pause. Even longer since the artists were Florida-based. The penetratingly soulful, rock-pumped blues of Tedeschi Trucks Band’s cover of “Everybody’s Talkin’ “ had me ticking off a seat for Melbourne’s King Center for Tuesday night’s concert. As an added bonus, the center just announced that singer/songwriter Kristina Train will be joining the band as guest artist.
The husband-and-wife, Jacksonville-based team of Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi united their solo bands in 2010 so they could spend more time together. The resulting 11 musicians recorded “Revelator” the next year and won a Grammy for Best Blues Album.
“Everybody’s Talkin’ “ is the title song of their 2012 live album; that year, they played at the White House for President Obama in a program broadcast on PBS; it cuts to the president dreamily closing his eyes when Tedeschi sings, a blend of Bonnie Raitt and Janis Joplin, many say.
Tracks from their latest album, “Made Up Mind,” will doubtless be featured at their King Center appearance next week, as well as on their summer tour with the driving old-school soul band of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings.
Susan Tedeschi is no stranger to accolades: a graduate of Berklee School of Music in composition, she was nominated for five Grammies on her own. And an early album, “Just Won’t Burn,” went gold.
As for Derek Trucks, he has been listed twice on Rolling Stone magazine’s Top 100 Musicians of all time. Born in Jacksonville and a child prodigy, he started using a slide bar because his hands were too small to play. By 13 he had played with Buddy Guy and gone on a world tour with the band Thunderhawk; by 16, he had his own band; by 20, after guesting with the Allman Brothers for three years, he became a full-fledged member (he’s the nephew of Allman Brothers drummer Butch Trucks).
Tuesday’s concert starts at 8 p.m. At press time, the orchestra was sold out but there were still tickets in the grand tier.
Closer to home, another music-making couple has morphed into the swing band called Professor Pennygoode’s Mighty Flea Circus. They’ve been regularly playing for swing dancers along the waterfront on an outdoor waterfront terrace in Stuart’s downtown and have opted for a change of scenery to perform at Earl’s Hideaway in Sebastian Saturday night. The Mighty Flea Circus is the latest incarnation of Ray and Chrystine Noel, a Sebastian couple who’ve been singing together since 1993, most recently as HairPeace.
“The more dancers locally the better for us,” says Ray. “The energy that a floor full of dancers gives the band really takes our shows to a whole other level.” He says Joe and Sherri Tessier of Swingsation’s 14th Avenue Dance Studio have been a driving force getting swing dancers out to the Mighty Flea Circus performances.
Earl’s front façade typically boasts a massive rampart of motorcycles on weekends but don’t be fooled: There are mostly sweethearts out back where the music is. People dance with abandon in the sand – a plus if those boys get wobbly on their around-the-worlds.
The band’s schedule Saturday is 8:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.
Next weekend, the not-to-be-missed springtime beauty of Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales will be the backdrop for another of its Concerts under the Stars events April 25 on a grassy hill studded with huge moss-laden oaks on one of the highest points in the state. This time, the music hearkens back to the mid-20th century Gypsy jazz of France’s Django Reinhardt, with a quintet led by the world-class guitarist, John Jorgenson. Known for his lightning fretwork but also a master of many other instruments, Jorgenson has played on a number of Grammy-award winning albums in a wide range of genres. He co-founded the country rock group, the Desert Rose Band, back in the 1980s, and has worked with stars like Elton John, Pavarotti, Bonnie Raitt and Barbra Streisand.
Gypsy jazz stole his heart in 1979 and he’s since been named America’s “ambassador” for the genre; his band was the only American group ever to headline the Django Reinhardt Memorial Festival in France – a very big deal. Advance tickets are $20. You can pre-order a boxed picnic from the gardens’ excellent café, which will also be open right until the concert starts at 7 p.m. The gift shop will stay open until 10:30; it, which has things like bird feeders, wind chimes and nature guides, always has tempting plants for sale out back.
If Bok Tower seems too far to go, you can travel to 16th century Russia for $20 and a ride to the Majestic Theatre Sunday for the live HD transmission of the Bolshoi Ballet’s “Ivan the Terrible.” The epic 1975 ballet choreographed by Yuri Grigorovich depicts the life of the mentally tormented – and often tormenting – Czar of All the Russias, driven mad by the 12 girls he rejected when he chose his bride Anastasia, who got their revenge by plotting to poison her.
The ballet in two acts, at the core of the Bolshoi’s repertory, is often criticized for being overwrought and dated; on the plus side, you never know but that you may be watching its last incarnation in this live performance. For certain, it will contain some powerful dancing and a particularly gorgeous corps de ballet. With music by Sergei Prokofiev written to accompany the 1944 film, all you need to feel fully russified is borscht for dinner and Putin on the evening news.
