T Lavitz first came to the attention of improvisational-music lovers more than twenty ago when he first appeared on keyboards with the influential, experimental, all-instrumental (say that three times fast) Dixie Dregs. In the intervening years T has performed with a range of performers including Widespread Panic, Bill Bruford and Jefferson Starship. Most recently, he came to the attention of jam band fans through his participation in Jazz Is Dead. Beginning on January 12, T began a brief east coast tour with an all-star line-up that has dubbed itself the Justice League. He will remain on the road in February for a month of shows with the reconstituted Dregs (who also will release a live album culled from a mini-tour last year). The following conversation touched on the Justice League, Jazz Is Dead and the Dregs. For more information on T and his projects, visit www.tlavitz.com

DB- Let's start with the Justice League. How did that come about?

TL- A Year ago I wanted to do something in the off-season, so to speak, and I put together this thing called the Hillbilly Funk All-stars, with Richie and Kenny from Little Feat, Vasser Clements and Catfish Hodge. When we played in Atlanta Jimmy Herring sat in- the two of us have been playing together for years in different things. And he said, "Man, I want to play with Richie, he's one of the baddest drummers." So we started talking and we both knew Bobby [Vega] so we said, "Let's get Bobby." That's how it started. Of course Bobby got real sick and it didn't work out but it still sounds real good. It was just something we could do where we could play different kinds of material. We're borrowing from different bands. We're doing two or three Little Feat tunes rearranged instrumentally, a couple of mine, a Dregs tune, a couple from Aquarium Rescue Unit and some other stuff we all like.

DB- Why don't you walk through the players for people who might not know the line-up.

TL- Richie Hayward is one of the most laying-it-down drummers in popular music. He's been with Little Feat for like thirty years but he's also played with everyone from Joan Armatrading to Eric Clapton to Robert Plant. He's also on the new Bob Seger album. He's in demand because the beats that he plays are unique but they're real accessible, and his timing is so great. If you want a great drummer that makes people want to move then Richie is the guy. Adam Nitti is the person we've brought in to replace Bobby Vega. He's new to me but I knew by the way Jimmy described him that he'd be perfect. He is the kind of guy who can learn something and play it right back- but play back music, not just notes. In two days he learned more than a dozen songs, none of which are easy, some of which have some real changes to them. So that's the good thing about him.

Then there's Jimmy. What can I say about Jimmy? I've known Jimmy since he was about seventeen. He used to come to Dixie Dregs gigs. I wasn't much older, I was like twenty-two. He was all nervous, "Can I shake your hand" kind of stuff and now he's one of my heroes. It's twenty years later. When he moved to Atlanta we started keeping in touch a little bit. Then he sent me a tape one time. I think it was with Oteil but before they got into Aquarium Rescue Unit, and I thought, "God that guy's getting really good." Then when we were putting Jazz Is Dead together, we were talking about all these big time jazz guitarists, and I told Michael Gaiman, "I know the guy." And now it's like he's the lead singer. By that I don't mean ego or attitude, but to me, if I know Jimmy's in a project then I know it's going to be okay. Anything that he's involved in I know is going to be good. His work ethic is really high. It's become a joke. It's eleven o'clock at night, our fingers are sore, and he says, 'You guys want to quit? Already? What's the matter with you?" It's like a marathon with him.

DB- What are the common threads among the four players in the band?

TL- These are the kind of guys that are obviously real good, who can play from straight rock and roll to what I would call jamming music- some might say Allman Brothers or Grateful Dead music. They are all musicians that can transcend chord changes, that can play a song and play it differently every night. Within the framework I guess it's like jazz but with a rock sensibility. To be able to take a simple song and treat it differently every night, which is one of the cool things we do with Jazz Is Dead. Take a song like "Dark Star" which is just a few chords, and treat it a different way every night. So I guess the common thread is we are guys who internalize a song and then listen to each other and go who-knows-where every night. That keeps it fun and fresh, so we're not playing in a disco band.

DB- Jumping to Jazz Is Dead for a minute, are there any plans for that group to come out in the spring or summer?

TL- I hope so. It's good guys and great playing. Like our manager says, the hardest part about a band is getting it into orbit. Well right now we have two CDs out and we have a web site that gets a bunch of hits, and we have message boards and stuff. A number of those gigs drew really well. It would be a shame not to do it again. He's talking about a week in Japan or maybe Europe. I agree but I don't care, I'd just like to play. I have a mantra now, I want to play good music with good people and support my daughter. If it fits in there then I'm happy.

DB- I would assume that the Dregs meet that standard as well. You were young when you joined that group, right?

TL- Twenty-two. I was in college studying music. They were there. They were seniors when I was a freshman, and I became a fan and just started stalking them right away. As music students we judged music by how much we liked it, not by how much it sold. We didn't look at the charts, at Billboard. So they were a happening thing to me, and when they called me up, I quit college in my senior year to join. I have no regrets. I could have finished the year and gotten the diploma and then gone to New York or LA and waved the diploma and said, 'Hire me, I'm good." But no one would have cared about that.

DB- And next month, again, more than twenty years later you'll be playing with Dregs again. How did that come about and how hard was it to bring together?

TL- Well Steve Morse has been doing Deep Purple for three or four years now and they're big-time over in other countries, so I guess it's a little harder than it used to be to say, "Hey Steve let's go play some funky bars." But we're all lifelong friends. They're like my brothers. Rod [Morgenstein] plays in Jazz Is Dead now, and Andy West and Dave Larue and Jerry Goodman, it's sort of a brotherhood. Well last summer the stars aligned and we were able to do a handful of dates, and we recorded three nights at the Roxy. Then Zebra said they wanted to release it. In fact I just received my test pressing and it sounds really good. Our manager in the Dregs co-manages Dream Theatre, and it turns out they're fans. We're so old they listened to us when they were kids (laughs). So they said, "Dixie Dregs, we ought to take them out with us." We're going to do a whole month in the States. They're going to present us, and hopefully their fans will say, "Damn, those old guys were good. What was their name again?" (laughs)

DB- What was it like picking up with the Dregs again?

TL- I tell you it was awesome. We recorded at the Roxy in LA for three nights. This was the same place I played with them when I was 22 in 79. So here we were, and I was looking across the stage. We actually had Alan Sloan our original violinist as a guest. So at one point I was looking across the stage at Rod, Steve, Andy and Alan, and my thought was, 'Wow, the audience got young."

DB- Along these lines how has your performance style evolved over time? Jumping back, what will you bring to the Justice League?

TL- I went to school and I learned from an early age about chops and reading and all that stuff. But the more you play on the road, you become what I guess they call seasoned or something like that. You start thinking about playing not only for yourself and the other musicians but also for the people who come to hear the band. You try to think about what they enjoy. On that level playing fast just to play fast isn't happening. The same holds true for playing avant guard or weird which some jam bands do, when, no offense, they don't know what they're doing. I can hear it. Of course some bands like Aquarium Rescue Unit and hopefully us, when they're out on a limb, they still have a clue what's going on harmonically or rhythmically.

DB- So what can people expect when they come out to see Justice League?

TL- I would think that anybody who's into music will know Aquarium Rescue Unit, the Dregs, Little Feat and Jazz Is Dead, and they can just surmise that the level of playing is going to be good. Based on what I've seen at rehearsal it's going to be a blast, the kind of thing where you're smiling while you're playing. It's like, "Wow, this sounds good, this is fun." And I think when it comes from the heart people in the audience can feel that too. We're not going to be humping mike stands or looking in the mirror too much. It's kind of music for art's sake. It's like Jimmy said, "This is for no other reason but for fun."