Allman Brothers Live -- SAME THING -- Remembering Kofi Burbridge

A rare classic, the late great Kofi Burbridge delivers a killer performance on flute, transforming Willie Dixon’s blues hit “The Same Thing” into a slow, sultry jazz/blues fusion masterpiece. Derek Trucks’ and Oteil Burbridge’s facial expressions at the end say it all.

This was the final night of their 2010 run at the United Palace in New York City. You’ll notice Jaimoe sat this song out and James van de Bogert sat in on drums. Here is a bit of the piece I wrote for AllAboutJazz after Kofi’s passing:

Kofi Burbridge, keyboardist, flutist, arranger, and composer with the Tedeschi Trucks Band, passed away on February 15, 2019 at the age of 57. His health issues became public in the summer of 2017 when he underwent emergency heart surgery. Things seemed hopeful after his return to the band and his participation in the recording of what was to be his final album with the TTB. The aptly titled Signs, in a seeming display of cosmic synchronicity, was released on the day of Kofi's passing—giving fans a deeply personal way to grieve and celebrate his contribution to the music.

His life was an incredible musical odyssey on a road that literally stretched millions of miles. It began early, as his brother Oteil Burbridge explained to me in a 2015 interview. Kofi's teacher recognized his perfect pitch and musical gift when he was seven years old. Their father was a flutist himself, and utterly enamored with music. He had struggled with the decision to become a professional musician, but sensed he might not have the requisite talent. He opted instead for family and stability, and was understandably ecstatic when told that Kofi was musically gifted. Their father had an extensive music collection and their home was alive with music. The children were learning multiple instruments, and their father had instilled in them his passion for music.

When it came time for high school Kofi left Washington D.C. to study classical flute at the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem. While there he got into Chick Corea and began to focus on piano and jazz. In the years after graduation Kofi gigged around the Southeast. Eventually Oteil joined him in Atlanta as part of the band Knee-Deep which also included Jeff Sipe on drums. Thanks to Jeff Sipe, in the late 80s, Kofi and Oteil came into the orbit of Bruce Hampton—to whom the TTB album Signs was dedicated.

Oteil joined Hampton's Aquarium Rescue Unit and Kofi ended up in an R&B band which, long before the TTB, exposed him to touring and major venues, albeit as part of an opening act. A few years later Kofi too would join the ARU, but this was after Bruce Hampton had moved on.

Although he officially joined the Derek Trucks Band in 1999, his association with Derek Trucks goes back even further. The Southern music scene enjoys a fluid family quality and Kofi sat in with the Derek Trucks Band many times over the years before he officially joined. In fact, in 1998 Kofi joined Frogwings, which, with the benefit of hindsight, was actually a band worthy of the "supergroup" moniker. Frogwings had been formed a year earlier by Butch Trucks, the Allman Brothers Band drummer. In 1998 the revamped lineup included: John Popper [of Blues Traveler] on vocals and harmonica, Jimmy Herring on lead guitar, Derek Trucks on slide and lead guitar, Oteil Burbridge on bass, Kofi Burbridge on flute and keyboards, and Marc Quinones of the Allman
Brothers Band on percussion...

Here’s a link to the rest of the article:
https://shorturl.at/fiEL2

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