Trey Anastasio does swimmingly on his own July 14, 2001 - Press Enterprise (Riverside, CA) by Robert Kreutzer Phish member uses inspired arrangements in summer-tour stop at the Greek Theater. LOS ANGELES -- Trey Anastasio took a triumphant step to post Phish-hood with a nearly three-hour concert Wednesday night. With an excellent show at the Greek Theater -- the second stop of his summer tour -- heavy in pan-African rhythms and Americana stylings, Anastasio's latest vision was an exhilarating one. Perhaps no other band has kept the Grateful Dead vision -- improvisational, breezy rock loaded with '60s trappings -- alive more than Phish, and it is generally acknowledged by jam-rock fans that it was Anastasio who kept Phish afloat. The band has never formally announced a breakup, calling its separation a "hiatus." Still, few fans are expecting to be at a Phish show any time soon. The band with which Anastasio played Wednesday is but one of his involvements. He is also part of the group Oysterhead, featuring Primus bass maestro Les Claypool and ex-police drummer Stewart Copeland. The first CD will soon be released. Much of the set was road-testing new material from Anastasio, making its way to the ears of the Phish phaithphul for the first time. What gave the Wednesday show an edge over much of the jam-rock norm were terrific arrangements throughout the show. Anastasio's inspiration on this particular setup are the horns and rhythms of Nigerian legends like King Sunny Ade and Fela Kuti. The result was exciting but one much closer to home -- James Brown and Stax soul. While Anastasio's own guitar work never strayed far from its obvious traditional blues/jazz foundation, the four-piece brass section never ventured far from Memphis. The various players -- brass, rhythm and Anastasio -- were all enough by themselves to warrant cheers, and all contributed expertly to the whole. Unlike some jam-rock shows, every note had a specific purpose, not the noodling that sometimes comes off. Still, the music is built on extended soloing and improvisational playing, material definitely not geared to MTV attention spans. Starting with the shuffle, "Mozambique," the light pseudo Afro-Carribean beat and the traditional-sounding brass arrangements were more New Orleans than Lagos. The next song, "Moesha," was also like something from Congo Square, with Anastasio's licks veering a little more toward gutbucket blues with bunches of snarling but subdued notes. Not everything worked so well. The new song, "Quantegy," didn't have all of the interplay going on and just seemed to drone on for several minutes.