Trey Anastasio Is All Funk, No Phish, on First Solo Tour

Trey Anastasio has found the funk. For his first tour as a solo artist, the guitarist and primary songwriter for Phish has left that band’s baroque song structures behind and dug his heels into big, brassy grooves that take their cues from James Brown, Little Feat and Fela Kuti. Anastasio’s L.A. solo debut at the Greek Theatre on Wednesday was less jam band and more jam on it.

He was working with a larger band than Phish’s four-piece lineup. While bassist Tony Markellis and drummer Russell Lawton provided supple grooves underneath, a five-piece horn section dipped and swooped around songs that took a world tour of dance styles. With its stutter-step syncopation, “Push On ‘Til the Day” was Anastasio’s tribute to James Brown’s great band the JB’s, while “Money, Love and Change” was a groove under a gospel tent.

Elsewhere, traces of African highlife, reggae and merengue could also be heard. Anastasio kept things loose, allowing the songs to spill out into long yet disciplined jams, while he alternated between soaring leads and chicken-scratch accents on guitar.

There was a conspicuous absence of Phish material during the nearly three-hour performance, but it hardly seemed to deter the faithful, who kept trying to dance in the aisles, despite the admonishments of the security corps.