The Allman Brothers Band

The Allman Brothers Band is a pioneering and innovative Southern rock and Blues group from Macon, Georgia originally popular in the 1970s, described by Rolling Stone's George Kimball in 1971 as "the best damn rock and roll band this country has produced in the past five years" http://www.superseventies.com/allmanbrothers.html.

Beginnings

The band was formed in 1969, consisting of Duane Allman (slide guitar and lead guitar), Gregg Allman (vocals, organ), Dickey Betts (lead guitar, vocals), Berry Oakley (bass guitar), Butch Trucks (drums) and Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson (drums). The actual Allman Brothers, Duane and Gregg, had originally been in a garage band called the Escorts, then the Allman Joys and finally the Hour Glass. The Hour Glass had released two failed albums from Liberty Records, they were all released from the contract except Gregg, who Liberty thought might have some commercial potential. Duane Allman, with a stint as a session guitarist in Muscle Shoals, Alabama behind him, started jamming with Dickey Betts, Butch Trucks and Berry Oakley in Jacksonville, Fla. Duane brought in Jaimoe, a drummer he had played with before and the nucleus of the band was formed. Gregg was in LA fulfilling the HourGlass contract with Liberty Records. He was summoned back to Jacksonville by Duane to "fill out the band and sing."

Related Topics:
1969 - Duane Allman - Slide guitar - Lead guitar - Gregg Allman - Organ - Dickey Betts - Berry Oakley - Bass guitar - Butch Trucks - Drums - Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson - Garage band - Liberty Records - Muscle Shoals, Alabama

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The Allman Brothers Band played numerous concerts in the south before releasing their debut album, The Allman Brothers Band. Critics loved it, but the blues-rock album found few listeners, attracting only a cult audience. Most of the record had a blues-rock sound, but "Dreams", a spacey number in 3/4 time, would provide the framework for some of their best jams.

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Idlewild South (1970), the followup, produced by Tom Dowd, was a massive critical success, and managed to be quite lucrative, as well. The upbeat "Revival" and the moody-but-resolute "Midnight Rider" showed the band getting more adept at shorter, radio-friendly song forms. (It was after this that Duane Allman recorded the classic Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs with Eric Clapton's Derek and the Dominos group.)

Related Topics:
Idlewild South - 1970 - Tom Dowd - Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs - Eric Clapton - Derek and the Dominos

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1971 saw the release of a live album, At Fillmore East, recorded in March of that year at the legendary rock venue, the Fillmore East. The album was another huge hit, and is now remembered as one of the best live albums of all time. It showcased the band's unique mixture of jazz, classical music, hard rock, and blues, with arrangements propelled by Duane Allman and Betts' dual lead guitars, Oakley's long, melodic "third guitar" bass runs, the rhythm section's pervasively percussive yet dynamically flexible foundation, and Gregg Allman's gritty vocals. The band's rendition of Blind Willie McTell's "Statesboro Blues" was a straight-ahead opener, the powerful "Whipping Post" became the standard for a long, epic jam that never lost interest, while the ethereal-to-furious "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" invited comparisons to John Coltrane.

Related Topics:
1971 - At Fillmore East - Fillmore East - Jazz - Classical music - Hard rock - Blues - Blind Willie McTell - Statesboro Blues - John Coltrane

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The Allman Brothers received the honor of being the last act to play the Fillmore East before it closed in June. The final shows there achieved legendary status, partly due to bands literally playing all night; in 2005 Gregg Allman would relate how the jamming musicians lost track of time, not realizing it was dawn until the side doors of the Fillmore were opened and the morning light poured in. The band continued to tour; decades later, a special-order recording of one of their final concerts in this lineup, SUNY at Stonybrook 9/19/71, would be released. It reveals that Duane Allman's slide guitar playing on "Dreams" and other songs was reaching the farthest reaches of that instrument and his imagination.

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