Skydog!
"You gotta strive to play a kind of music that’s honest to yourself."
Sending this out, as I do every year for Duane’s birthday. If you’re a longtime subscriber, you’ve encountered it before.
Howard Duane Allman was born November 20, 1946 in Nashville, Tennessee. He led a truly remarkable life.
On January 1, 1969, Duane wrote his goals for the upcoming year:
“This year I will be more thoughtful of my fellow man, exert more effort in each of my endeavors, professionally as well as personally. Take love wherever I find it, and offer it to everyone who will take it. In this coming year I will seek knowledge from those wiser than me and try to teach those who wish to learn from me. I love being alive and I will be the best man I possibly can.”
By that March, he founded the Allman Brothers Band. It is that story I tell in Play All Night! Duane Allman and the Journey to Fillmore East
In honor of Duane’s birthday, here’s an excerpt from Chapter 1, “Duane’s Musical Ethos”
Duane Allman was a generous spirit
This was particularly true when it came to other musicians. He had broad likes with just one requirement:
“Anybody that’s playing good, I admire them.”
He cited the inspiration of jazz and blues masters Miles Davis, Roland Kirk, Muddy Waters, and B.B. King.
He didn’t just emulate these heroes—“being influenced shouldn’t mean sounding like or copying anyone else”—he instead made his own sound from their inspiration.
As ever, Duane’s greatest influence was in-house.
“I don’t know how much other musicians have influenced the sound of the band, but probably not very much. I think the guys in the band have influenced each other a lot.”
“Being influenced shouldn’t mean sounding like or copying anyone else.”
Fellow musicians found Duane exceedingly encouraging and kind.
“Duane was a creator and motivator,” recalled Floyd Miles. “One of those people that would get the best out of you. It was always, ‘You can do it, let’s work on it and we can do it.’”
“Whenever anyone played with Duane,” Johnny Sandlin remarked, “he would bring out the best in them. Not that it was a competition, but he was an inspiration.”
“He was the first person I knew, musically, who always found something good to say about fellow musicians,” Joe Marshall, a friend from Duane’s early touring days, recalled. “Whenever he and I would hear another musician or group who maybe wasn’t so great, he would always find something positive to say, even if it was just, ‘Hell, Joey, at least they’re trying.’”
Atlanta jam-band stalwart Bruce Hampton, then leader of the avant-garde, blues/rock Hampton Grease Band, was one such benefactor. “Duane liked our band. He liked the spirit of it,” Hampton said. “Did the big brother act and took us under his wing. Without him I doubt if anybody woulda ever had a music career.”
Duane valued making music in tandem with others and eschewed all talk of competition.
“I’m with the other guitarists, not against them. I know there’s always gonna be somebody better anyway, so why fight that?”
“Duane had the technical proficiency, but never sold it,” recalled Bill Graham. “There was no, ‘Can you top this?’ He never tried to beat you.”
“He always wanted to play with you,” Tommy Talton of Cowboy said. “He had flames coming out of every note he played; but he didn’t throw it at you. He just did what was necessary at the time.”
The restraint is notable.
Yes, Duane was an amazing guitar player. But his virtuosity extended beyond mere technique, he regularly demonstrated an uncanny ability to know when and how to unleash. This is particularly evident in his studio playing at FAME beginning in late 1968 and continuing through March 1969 when he formed the Allman Brothers Band.
“I’m with the other guitarists, not against them. I know there’s always gonna be somebody better anyway, so why fight that?”
Recording studios are often awkward environments, particularly so for musicians who thrive on improvisation. The precision and time constraints of the studio often hamper and stunt in-the-moment creativity. Such was not the case with Duane.
“Duane would do things that were not extremely difficult,” Sandlin recalled, “but were so appropriate so fitting, and so tasteful. Somebody with all that power, all that ability and technique, and he could sit there and play a simple rhythm part…. He was into the total concept of the song.”
“He just had impeccable taste,” Phil Walden said. “He only played what needed to be played.”
“A consummate musician,” Tony Glover observed, “totally dedicated to music and playing it right. He had a real passion and intensity for it.”
Said Jaimoe, “Duane just loved to play. He was not the type of cat who would try to intimidate someone or whatever—he just played.”
On the cusp of stardom as a solo artist, Duane pulled together a group of musical equals.
His new ensemble was a band foremost.
Duane would not dominate the group.
“They never ceased to be a band, or became a vehicle for Duane Allman,” critic Jon Landau remarked. “A pure music band that would work hard, work honestly, but would not compromise for anyone, no matter what the cost—a band he could play with, not over or against, or through: a group of partners.”
“Allies working together, sharing a mutual love.”
In founding the Allman Brothers Band, Duane carved a niche that allowed pursuit of his musical vision, one based on his band members’ abilities and an original take on their combined musical roots. The arrangement was egalitarian. He called it “allies working together, sharing a mutual love.”
Jaimoe, Berry Oakley, Dickey Betts, Butch Trucks, and Gregg were musicians whose musical ideas, values, and abilities reflected Duane’s own. The original musical vision was his, but his personality was such that he allowed each musician wide berth in how he incorporated his own vision into musical mélange.
Though he rarely had to assert his leadership (band dynamics from 1969 to 1971 were remarkably calm), he was the ABB’s undisputed leader. “Duane was the Douglas MacArthur of that band,” said Bruce Hampton. “It was his band and he let you know that you were in his band.”
“There was no question that it was his band,” roadie Red Dog noted, “even with Dickey, who was a pretty strong character in his own right.”
EXCERPTED FROM Play All Night! Duane Allman and the Journey to Fillmore East
Playlists
Here are two playlists that go well with today’s post:
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Terrific to read a Roland Kirk reference. Great piece.
Playing their kind of music is what the great ones do. They hear something, they feel something, they bring together influences and express it their way...and many times the folks managing the business don't see it or get...because it's new and different. Talent and tenacity pay off....some people really are not suited to do anything else, but create what becomes the soundtrack of our lives...