I get mail. In this case, comments. Here are my responses to some of them. Note: I’ve included the comment in bold italics.
The first video is based on this quote from Dickey Betts:
“There was really a certain degree of telepathy, because we created a lot of things right on stage. When you listen to it you may think—‘Well, that had to be rehearsed’—since the bass guitar with Duane and myself playing harmony lines sounds like we must have spent a month writing it.
If you listen closely, though, you can hear that one person would come up with an improvisation—a nice line that had come into his mind—stay with it, play it alone a couple of times, and then Oakley, myself, or Duane would pick up on it.
It would happen so quickly, however, that you'd think, ‘Wow, that has to be a written passage.’ Three hours was the normal set then, but we'd play five, sometimes six hours.”
COMMENT: This insight is key to appreciating the live performances early on. Unique improvisations around a central theme was a key feature of their musical identity. For me, Mountain Jam illustrates this well.
Sharing this one with y’all because it’s an ABBsolutely wonderful comment that captures the brilliance of the original Allman Brothers Band in ways I strove to when I wrote Play All Night. “Mountain Jam” is exactly what they do: unique improvisations around a central theme. This is a key feature of their musical identity. Phenomenal, phenomenal take. Love it when I get to talk to a fellow nerd who truly, truly, truly understands the mushroom magic.
These comments all came in response to one of many posts about At Fillmore East:
COMMENT: He also wanted a horn section and tried in that run of shows, but Dowd scrapped it. I think he wanted what Derek has with TTB.
This is a fact, and something I cover pretty extensively at longlivetheabb🍄com which is where I’ve taken my writing since writing Play All Night: Duane Allman and the Journey to Fillmore East.
Duane wanted horns. It’s pretty well documented that Duane was going to expand the band as much as he was able to afford. And I also agree that what Derek Trucks has done with Tedeschi Trucks Band is taking Duane’s vision and extending it into his own realm, what works best for him.
He doesn’t have the guitar partnership like Duane and Dickey. Instead, he’s got the entire band that he plays off of. Susan is an excellent guitarist and an excellent foil for him, but they don’t play like Duane and Dickey did, or Derek did when he was in the Allman Brothers Band with Warren Haynes.
COMMENT: Love that album whipping Post Mountain jam are you kidding me?
“Whipping Post>Mountain Jam” from the end of the Saturday night late show, 3/13/71—which started in the wee hours of Sunday morning—was the end of a five-show run they had at Fillmore East. And they knew they had the album in the can before they even played the late show on Saturday. So you can feel and hear a different looseness with them.
And again, “Whipping Post” and “Mountain Jam” is almost an hour on two songs, and it is some of the most glorious music they ever made, that they ever put down on tape. “Mountain Jam”—the second half—will be played at my funeral. Some of the most glorious music out there.
They had time to stretch out after Johnny Winter ceded them his closing slot on the bill.
Winter gave them the opportunity, and they delivered.1
COMMENT: Rick Derringer was with Johnny Winter’s band. He had two big eyeball patches sewn onto the back pockets of his pants. When they got to their Jerry Lee Lewis medley, he turned around and shook his butt to the entire “whole lot of shakin going on.”
This was a fun little story worth highlighting.
This was in response to a post about the Allman Brothers as a band’s band.
COMMENT: I feel like Muscle Shoals had a huge impact on ABB even though Duane was already a big blues and soul fan man there was so many different kind of people he worked with in his short time there he left with a clearer vision of what he wanted!
There’s no doubt that whole Muscle Shoals experience was just rejuvenating to Duane. There are some pretty famous quotes where he talks about getting the “jive Hollywood crap” out of his head, getting back to the South.
He thrived in the organic studio process in Muscle Shoals. They worked up arrangements on the fly and improvised solos. It was exciting and creatively inspiring.
If you listen to what he did with Wilson Pickett on “Hey Jude,” that’s exactly it. They wail in call and response, a rhythm & blues, gospel, soul, and rock & roll carried over from slavery days. That gave Duane his opportunity to start a band and stay down South. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Finally, a reminder that music is love.2
My older brother gave me Live at Fillmore East when I was 10 years old. Changed my life. My favorite band.
Your older brother is a cool motherfucker. I tried to be a cool older brother too, and introduced my brother to everything from the Beatles to Minor Threat and Bad Brains to the Beastie Boys, the Smashing Pumpkins. He actually discovered the Allman Brothers just before I did.
Oh boy! I had an older sister & her hubby. I was 5 and I’d go to their house to stay as much as I could. I had the greatest influence in my passion for music. All things Woodstock, Allman Brothers, Late 60s to about 1975. I never had a crush on Donnie Osmond..... mine was Elvin Bishop.
Here’s to the older brothers, sisters, and music lovers who nurtured and curated our interests. The ones who said, “You’re ready for this,” and handed us an album that changed our life. Fuck the gatekeepers, all of them.
🍄Play All Night! Duane Allman & the Journey to Fillmore East🍄
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