Caldwell Trio Should Register Instruments as Lethal Weapons!
By Chris Manson July 3, 2003 Issue

They don’t rehearse together, but they sound like they play together every night. Individually, the guys in the Jeff Caldwell Trio have been playing rock/blues/jazz for 20-plus years. Their improvisational approach gives them a loose, jam session feel that is magnificently entertaining.

Caldwell plays electric guitar and sings. Gerald “Sticks” Marshall supplies vocals and bass. Drummer Tim Dutrow also manages Soleil et Luna, where the trio plays every Thursday night starting at 8:30 p.m.

With the nickname “Sticks,” I assumed Oklahoma City native Marshall would be the drummer. “I went through piano, guitar, drums and landed on bass. Kind of stuck there. I sat in at a rehearsal with my brother’s band and when they took a break, I picked up a bass. I’d played rhythm guitar, but never touched a bass before,” Marshall said. His biggest influences musically were his mother Mary, a pianist and gospel singer, and his father Tony, who played tenor saxophone.

Marshall also plays with Donnie Sundal, who introduced him to the Destin area about two years ago. He is also one-third of Sticks and Stones, who bring a “more funky, jazzy, bluesy flavor” to Capo’s, Bud & Alley’s and the Funky Blues Shack. Before he came to this area, Marshall ran a studio for the gospel label Gee Records and had a band called Everyday People. He calls Rick Holly--a drummer based in Tallahassee and former Sly Stone band member his “brother.” The two of them play with Caldwell whenever they get the chance.

Dutrow’s busy work schedule only allows him to play drums once a week, and he really lets himself go up there on stage. “It’s definitely an outlet. It’s my passion and it’s very therapeutic,” he said. Dutrow hooked up with Caldwell years ago. “I played drums on his CD. I don’t know if the trio was my idea or Jeff’s.”

The Thrill Is Gone, B.B. King’s signature song, kicked off a fantastic set with Caldwell’s jazzy guitar approach and Marshall’s soulful belting. Next, the band tried out a new 14-bar blues Caldwell wrote, Open Your Door. Caldwell has a nice voice and could easily have found great success doing the contrived music currently in vogue on TV’s glorified karaoke competitions. “Yeah, if I was about 20 years younger,” Caldwell laughed.

Between sets, Caldwell plugged his 1999 CD and urged patrons to throw out some requests. Then Marshall sang Bill Withers’ Ain’t No Sunshine like his life depended on it. After the song, I mentioned that I’ve heard many people stretch out that “I know, I know…” vamp out to 10 minutes or more.

“I know!” Marshall said.

While Dutrow and Caldwell do some moves onstage, Marshall mostly stands still, occasionally tapping his feet or cocking an eyebrow. He is the picture of dignity, a class act. Dutrow attacks his drums like a madman, using a variety of mallets, sticks and brushes. Caldwell’s guitar playing—especially during the blues numbers—can be so frenzied you fear that he’ll break a few strings before his solo is over.

The Jeff Caldwell Trio furthered their reputations as great musicians with a jazzed-up interpretation of Jimi Hendrix’s Foxy Lady. They rocked out on their version of the Meters’ Cissy Strut. I got a kick out of watching Caldwell’s fingers dance up and down the fretboard before Dutrow delivered an energetic drum solo. “Tim’s smokin’ up here!” Marshall yelled. Steve Ferry of Donnie & Steve took over on drums during the heartfelt ballad Song for You, sung by Caldwell. “Why don’t you try a normal drum set for a change?” Dutrow kidded.

Marshall laid on some heavy funk with the Sly Stone favorite If You Want Me to Stay. Dutrow couldn’t sit this one out, and before the next verse, he was up there playing congas. Caldwell sang a verse after a Dutrow-Ferry percussion throwdown. When these guys do a song, they sound like they could keep playing forever, and who’d complain?

I caught up with Caldwell during the break. He was sitting in his car, reading the CD booklet of Stevie Wonder’s Music of My Mind. It’s his favorite album of the Motown star’s many great ones.

“Do you know these guys?” Caldwell asked as he took out Dread Clampitt’s new CD. His current listening also includes the White Stripes and Pressure Club. “That’s raw rock, ballsy and so real. The album’s called Here Comes the Trick.” In turn, I recommended the new album Up the Bracket by the Libertines, produced by ex-Clash member Mick Jones.

Caldwell spent a year in Los Angeles teaching at the Musician’s Institute, but discovered that no matter how big a performer got out there, they couldn’t play gigs more than once or twice a month. “You have to have a certain number of people in the club in order to play.

“Percentage-wise, the musicianship here blows L.A. away,” Caldwell said. “I’d go to open mikes, and 85 percent of them were not very inspiring or contrived. Here, everybody’s great. You’ve got Donnie Sundal, Rick Holly…” The list is endless.

Caldwell also appears solo at Fermentations in Seaside Sunday nights. “A very intimate, non-smoking setting. I do a lot of originals,” he said. Caldwell does his thing at Pandora’s and Bud & Alley’s on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Friday and Saturday nights, you’ll find him with the group Vibe at Helen Back on Okaloosa Island.

The singer-guitarist’s influences range from “Jeff Buckley to Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix to David Bowie.” Caldwell attributes his striking guitar style to R&B and jazz influences. “Kind of like a saxophone player doing Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix. I’m really into the soloing with rhythm,” he said. (Top)

Back to Musician Profiles