Pop : Gregg Allman: Moonlighting to the Blues

So he married Cher. So he’s in the movies now, making his film debut playing a heavy in “Rush,” a picture about narcs. So he has the best hair in rock ‘n’ roll (eat your hearts out, you Hollywood pretty boys).

For all that, Gregg Allman is a real blues guy. And Friday night at the Coach House here, he was doing what real blues guys do: jumping into a conducive playing situation unrelated to any career concerns.

Allman’s 80-minute set was part of a three-night club swing in which he was backed by the Mike Reilly Band, a crew of strong but unheralded Southern California players.

Allman hasn’t exactly been hurting for gigs lately: the Allman Brothers Band is a going concern, last seen hereabouts playing a brilliant Pacific Amphitheatre show that recaptured much of the expansive majesty of its 1971 landmark, “The Allman Brothers Band at Fillmore East.” Why look for action on the side when your main band is playing well and staying busy? Well, moonlighting can be a lot of fun.

One typically thinks of Allman as a brooding presence on stage, self-contained, almost impassive as he hunches over his keyboard while communing with blues demons in his memorable raspy moan of a voice. This time he was almost coltish, punctuating his singing with high-pitched barks of delight, swaying and jumping to his feet behind his Hammond B3, and even engaging in some wry byplay with the crowd.

You might expect some roughness in this sort of situation but the show was tightly played. The five-member Reilly Band was well-rehearsed, negotiating all the twists, stops and dynamic flux involved in the shifty Allman Brothers repertoire. While the concise song arrangements didn’t demand Allmans-style improvisational flights, Reilly, co-guitarist Danny Ott and piano player Sean Finnegan all had room to establish appealing solo personalities.