It’s rare that I get a chance to see an artist more than once in a calendar year. It happened last night. I drove down to New London to see The Derek Trucks Band at the Garde Arts Center, a theater built in the ’20s, saved by the townspeople in the ’80s from becoming an open lot, and that is today completely restored and thriving.

I last saw the band at the start of their tour to promote the latest dTb album,  Already Free, back in February at the Waterbury Palace. That was an impressive show. I was familar with the group’s recordings in the studio at the time but hadn’t seen them live and it certainly was an eye opener. Simply put, dTb is one of the best bands out on the road today, Trucks is quickly becoming acknowledged as one of our finest guitarists, and along with Doyle Bramhall III probably the best practitioner of slide.

Seeing them again allowed me a closer look, not only because I was physically closer, about ninth row center, than in Waterbury, but also having seen them once I could focus in on various parts of the band while not being overwhelmed by the first experience of it.

For instance, I had a much bigger appreciation of bassist Todd Smallie this time. He was obscured in Waterbury from where I was and his sound not particularly distinct. I could see and hear him much better in New London and he showed himself to be a monster player at times, particularly on his solo spot that was a swinging, funky extended piece that played off the rhythm of Kofi Burbridge’s organ and took off into proficient flights in the higher register of the instrument.

I also noticed Mike Mattison has to be one of the most underutilized lead singers in rock and blues. It appears he’s not on stage for nearly half the set. Of course, that’s because dTb has always been an instrumental band first. It’s not a knock but he seemed absent more than at the first show.

And I was able to zone in more on Trucks’ playing. He’s such a virtuoso that on first viewing it’s overpowering. One thing that stood out, and it’s probably not any revelation, was that each solo was a complete statement. In fact, almost like a complete story. Not just in his outstanding use of dynamics, which can range from a whisper to a scream or a roar to an earthquake, but the way he constructs the solo melodically and his use of the entire neck from extensive use of the low register, something not a lot of slide players often do, to his melding of slide and single string so fluidly it’s easy to miss when he moves from one style to the other and back.

The band seemed looser than the Waterbury show, but the Palace may have been the slightly better concert. The audience at the Garde was a little older and a little more laid-back. Only one encore sort of indicated the band probably has seen much bigger receptions on this tour.

Still, it was another extraordinary night. The setlist has changed rather significantly over the course of the year. Many of the same tunes were included from earlier in the tour, but also some former staples were omitted, such as My Favorite Things, and newer, and actually some older material, was included.

Jaimoe’s Jasssz Band opened with a mixture of jazz and blues in a rather long set, more than an hour, so it was a late night. Jaimoe, one of the Allman Brothers drummers, has a unit that is at once tight, but shows off a loose, swinging feel, featuring Junior Mack, who sat in with dTb on Joyful Noise, an exciting singer-guitarist who is also adept at slide playing.

The Derek Trucks Band will be taking 2010 off, but they are touring for the rest of the year. Check their tour info and check them out.

The setlist:

Down In The Flood
Kam-Ma-Lay
Get What You Deserve
Sailing On
So Close, So Far Away
Home In Your Heart
Mahjoun
Chevrolet
This Sky
Sweet Inspiration
Afro Blue
Joyful Noise

Encore:
Meet Me At The Bottom