Derek and the Dominos

Derek and the Dominos was a music group formed in the spring of 1970 by guitarist/singer Eric Clapton with other former members of Delaney & Bonnie & Friends: Bobby Whitlock, Carl Radle, Jim Gordon and the later inclusion of Duane Allman from the Allman Brothers Band. They were a blues-rock band that demonstrated virtuosity at its finest and is considered to be among Clapton's very finest works.

The Layla album

The Layla LP was actually recorded by a five-piece version of the group, thanks to the unforeseen inclusion of slide guitar genius and virtuoso Duane Allman of The Allman Brothers Band. Clapton recorded most of this while lying on the floor and strung out on drugs. The band did a lot of drugs at this time, but Clapton feels it did not hurt the recording process contrary to what many other artists felt such as The Beatles. A few days into the Layla sessions, Dowd, who was also producing the Allmans, invited Clapton to an Allman Brothers outdoor concert in Miami. The two guitarists who previously knew each other only by reputation, met backstage after the show, and then both bands repaired to the studio to jam (an impromptu session which, happily, was captured on tape). Clapton and Allman "fell in love" with each other's playing and became instant friends, so Allman was immediately invited to become the fifth member of The Dominos. (These studio jams were eventually released as part of the 3-CD 20th-anniversary edition of the album.)

Related Topics:
Slide guitar - Duane Allman - The Allman Brothers Band - The Beatles

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When Allman and Clapton met, The Dominos had already recorded three tracks ("I Looked Away", "Bell Bottom Blues" and "Keep On Growing"); Allman debuted on the fourth cut, "Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out", and contributed some of his most sublime slide-guitar playing to the remainder of the LP. The album was heavily blues-influenced and featured a winning combination of the twin guitars of Allman and Clapton, with Allman's incendiary slide-guitar a key ingredient of the sound. It showcased some of Clapton's strongest material to date, as well as arguably some of his best guitar playing, with Whitlock also contributing several superb numbers, and his powerful, soul-influenced voice.

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