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Introduction from the series:
THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND - The Definitive Collection for Guitar
Guitar Recorded Versions
Three-volume, 54-song anthology with guitar tab and notation
for all of the Allmans' classics.
Volume 1: A - H
View songlist.
Inventory # HL 694932. Book $24.95 (US).
Volume 2: I - O
View songlist.
Inventory # HL 694933. Book $24.95 (US).
Volume 3: P - Z
View songlist.
Inventory # HL 694934. Book $24.95 (US).
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The Allman Brothers Band
Greg Allman Keyboards, Vocals
Duane Allman Guitar (until 1971)
Dickey Betts Guitar, Vocals (until 2001)
Berry Oakley Bass (until 1972)
Butch Trucks Drums
Jaimoe Jai Johanny Drums
Lamar Williams, David Goldflies Bass
Chuck Leavell Keyboards
Dan Toler Guitar
Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks Guitar
Allen Woody, Oteil Burbridge Bass
"The Allman Brothers Band have a unique facility. They have
this perpetual swing sensation. When they play things that are
tangential to the blues -- even when they play heavy rock -- they
swing like they're playing jazz. They're always going forward,
and it's always a groove. When you take their music apart, you
realize how exquisite and deep their playing facility and sensitivity
really is."
-- Tom Dowd, producer, Idlewild South, At Fillmore East,
Eat a Peach, Seven Turns, Shades of Two Worlds,
An Evening With, Where It All Begins.
How was a band that could crunch chords like Led Zeppelin, sting
the blues like Elmore James and swing with the cool graces of
a jazz big band born? The Allman Brothers Band was formed in 1969
when Duane Allman left Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where as a studio
guitarist he recorded with Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, King
Curtis and other R&B greats to return to Jacksonville in his
home state of Florida. Looking to strike out on his own with a
band of equally talented musicians, Allman enlisted a collection
of players with a wide range of experiences: bassist Berry Oakley
and guitarist Dickey Betts led the Jacksonville psychedelic band
The Second Coming; drummer J. Johnny "Jaimoe" Johnson
was an R&B veteran who had toured with Otis Redding, Joe Tex
and Percy Sledge; drummer Butch Trucks played with the Jacksonville
folk-rock band The 31st of February; and organist/vocalist Greg
Allman had recorded two albums with his brother Duane in the Los
Angeles-based blues-rock band, Hourglass, and was well on his
way to becoming the world's greatest white blues singer.
Together, this eclectic bunch created an utterly distinct, highly
improvisational style. Driven by Butch Trucks' and Jaimoe's relentlessly
propulsive, inventive twin drumming, Greg Allman's bluesy organ
comping and Berry Oakley's roaming, melodic basslines, Dickey
Betts and Duane Allman crafted a remarkable twin lead guitar approach.
Taking cues from jazz horn players, particularly Miles Davis and
John Coltrane, and the twin fiddles of western swing music, they
rewrote the rule book on how rock guitarists can play together,
paving the way for every two-guitar band that has followed.
The band's instrumental majesty has at times caused both critics
and fans to take the strength of their songwriting for granted.
But Hall of Fame careers are not built on virtuosity alone, and
the Allman Brothers Band has survived for a quarter of a century
and become an American institution because of the strength of
their songbook. From the beginning, the band boasted not one but
two excellent writers -- Greg Allman and Dickey Betts -- each
with his own distinct, and distinctly different, voice. Allman
has penned unforgettable metaphysical blues such as "Dreams,"
romantic paeans to heroic gypsies like "Melissa" and
eerie odes to outlaws like "Midnight Rider." Betts,
meanwhile, is responsible for intricate instrumental masterpieces
like "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" and uplifting, country-tinged
classics like "Ramblin' Man" and "Blue Sky."
This combination of great songwriting, instrumental superiority
and spiritual questing has sustained the band through Duane Allman's
and Berry Oakley's tragic deaths and a host of other personal
and professional setbacks. The Brothers have proven to be remarkably
resilient, countering each apparent knockdown blow with brilliant
albums like Eat a Peach and Brothers and Sisters. Against all
odds, the band has succeeded in the last five years at recapturing
the spark that made them America's best rock band over two decades
ago. This revival has been greatly aided by bassist Allen Woody,
percussionist Marc Quinones and guitarist Warren Haynes, a magnificent
improviser who lit a fire under Betts' playing by providing him
with his first truly worthy foil since Duane's 1971 death.
Anyone who doubts the legitimacy of The Allman Brothers Band's
current resurgence should pick up 1994's Where It All Begins,
1992's live set, An Evening With (First Set), or 1991's Shades
of Two Worlds. The strength of these recent works will silence
any naysayers and remind old fans of just why they loved The Allman
Brothers Band in the first place. There is no more adventurous,
skilled, hard-rocking -- and hard-swinging -- band around today.
-- Alan Paul, Guitar World (1995)
Duane Allman died in October, 1971, in a motorcycle crash in Macon,
Georgia. Almost exactly one year later, and only three blocks
away, Berry Oakley was killed in another motorcycle crash. The
two are buried side by side in Macon. Allen Woody passed away
in his sleep in August, 2000, and producer Tom Dowd died in October,
2002, of a respiratory ailment.
Dickey Betts was fired from the band in May, 2001 and was replaced
by Derek Trucks, nephew of drummer Butch Trucks. Betts quoted
a fax he received from the band as saying, "You have not
been performing well and our shows have been repeatedly disappointing
to both us and our fans as a result." Betts also denied having
drug and alcohol problems which would have led to his dismissal.
He now performs with his own Dickey Betts Band. The current Allman
Brothers lineup is Allman, Haynes, Jaimoe, Butch Trucks, Derek
Trucks, Marc Quinoñes (percussion) and Oteil Burbridge
(bass).
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