For Winwood, pairings are a plus

[Refugee 7]

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

With Steve Winwood. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the St. Pete Times Forum, 401 Channelside Drive, Tampa. $29.50, $55 and $99.75. (813) 301-2500; www.stpetetimes forum.com.

Two musical legends who have played together only once before join forces for a stop at the St. Pete Times Forum.

Steve Winwood and Tom Petty bring their disparate yet highly appealing musical stylings to Tampa, combining for the first time since a George Harrison tribute at Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

As Winwood prepared to play onstage with Petty for the first time a few weeks ago in Philadelphia, he pondered their highly anticipated summer tour.

"At first, I was slightly curious, as his music and my music are at slightly different places on the spectrum, so it was interesting to see how it was going to work," Winwood said. "So far, it's been going great."

While Petty's own star is shining brightly -- he's coming off a well-received Super Bowl halftime performance and a sold-out 30th anniversary tour -- Winwood is adding plenty of new fans as his world music muse takes him in exciting new directions.

Much of that sound can be found on 2008's "Nine Lives," a CD that Winwood drew largely from sound checks and jams as he and band mates practiced. Many of the tunes bear a Brazilian influence, thanks to guitarist Jose de Almeida Neto. Neto's fondness for his home country's traditional music comes through in pieces like the odd time signature of "Raging Sea." In "Hungry Man," his guitar work harkens not only to Brazil but to the classic rock masters.

"He lives in America, but he's very much Brazilian at heart," said Winwood of Neto, with whom he co-wrote many of the CD's offerings. "He was also influenced by Led Zeppelin and Hendrix, and so he somehow manages to combine these jazz, rock and world music elements with the harmonic and rhythmic structures of Brazilian music."

Another cut, "Dirty City," features the easily recognizable solo guitar licks of Eric Clapton. Clapton and Winwood have been friends since early childhood, when they shared records and Clapton tutored him on guitar. Their first official collaboration was in the late '60s with Blind Faith, and their friendship remains strong.

They showed that no chemistry had been lost through the years with a blistering performance at the Chicago Crossroads Blues Festival in July 2007 and again in February during three sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden.

"Since I've played with him in the late '60s, he's become not only a great singer but a great band leader and musical director," Winwood said. "He's also very generous inasmuch as he always wants me to play guitar solos on his songs and sing parts with him."

Winwood is generous as he recalls others who have come before. He reflected on the recent passing of Bo Diddley, with whom he played on the soundtrack of "Blues Brothers 2000." "Maybe not one of the most memorable movies ever, but it was interesting and it brought together a lot of good musicians and Bo was one of them," he said. "There's a quote I heard today that I think Bo made himself: He held the door open for a lot of musicians and was left holding the door."

To Winwood, music is in a better place today than the days of his most recent successes. He scored 1980s solo airplay with "Arc of a Diver" and "Back in the High Life," which followed critically acclaimed '70s classics such as Traffic's "The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys."

"There were those big corporate pressures and involvements to work with certain producers," he said, "and now we're in a period where a lot of the big corporations are breaking down and I think on the whole that's good for music. It opens up many more avenues for their music to be heard."

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080709/FEATURES/807090703/1006

[WildflowerNJ 136]

Man, I sure wish I could go to this show and see these guys again....

Jose is an amazing guitar player, I love watching him play.....thank you for this article, Linda....I love reading these.....

I heard Steve is going to be playing up until the New Year...I sure hope he comes to my area again.....