In Memoriam: Gregg Allman

This is a post I never thought I'd write, so soon.  The music world, has lost a legend, as Gregg Allman has died at age 69.  This is all too significant for me.  For the last 14 years, since 2003, I had become a diehard fan of the Allman Brothers Band and their unique music, which started the so-called "southern rock" movement of the '70s, but they were so much more than that, also forging the jam band scene.  Their music was an amalgamation of any kind of American roots music you could think of, from traditional blues to soul, to country, to jazz, to rock, but delivered in their own way.  They were one of the first bands maybe along with the likes of Cream, Jimi Hendrix Experience, and the Grateful Dead, to feature a lot of improvisation in their music and like the great masters of jazz, take it to places that were far beyond any possible limits.

My first Allman Brothers recording was the "Decade of Hits: 1969-1979" record, but then, I delved further into the great albums of the Allman Brothers Band, especially their greatest masterpiece, "Live at Fillmore East" from 1971... one of the greatest albums in rock and roll history and perhaps the greatest live album of all time.

I also discovered a couple of their other great early '70s masterpieces "Eat A Peach" and "Brothers & Sisters".  What made the Allman Brothers' music so significant, was that at the time, they revolutionized rock and roll as a racially integrated band from the southern United States.  Gregg and Duane Allman grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, and then, the Allman Brothers Band formed in Jacksonville, Florida, and eventually moved to Macon, Georgia where they started their run of success with several different bands before the Allman Brothers Band actually formed.

Their first two recordings, their self titled 1969 debut, and it's follow-up, 1970's "Idlewild South", though revered by fans, didn't take off in a way the band had hoped.  But "Fillmore East" put them on the map and is one of if not arguably the great live rock and roll record ever.  After Duane Allman's death in a motorcycle wreck in 1971, the band did not know where to go, and also, after losing bassist Berry Oakley in an eerily similar motorcycle crash a year later, that was when things hit bottom.  Through years of trials and tribulations which fans have no doubt read about, the Allman Brothers Band, after being reformed in 1989, they began to climb the mountain of success once again, and the summit of this mountain had to be reached with what was ultimately their last studio record, 2003's "Hittin' The Note", and subsequent tours that came after it.

Each time I saw the band in person, they seemed to get even better than they were before, and rise to another level.  The music was familiar, but Gregg and the rest of the band would always push themselves to another level, and there is this euphoria in their music, that few other bands can match, for diehard fans.  When the Allman Brothers called it a career in 2014, Gregg continued on, reforming his solo band that he'd gone on the road with during some of the more turbulent years of the Allman Brothers' existence, particularly between 1977 and 1979 (during which time, Allman was of course married to Cher), and then, there was a longer breakup between 1982 and '89.

But, for the next quarter century of their career, despite lineup changes and a falling out by some band members with former lead guitarist Dickey Betts, the band just continued to rise on a plateau continually, and the music got better and better.  The twin lead guitars (we know all the great guitarists who played with the Allman's, including Duane).  But, Gregg Allman's soulful voice and his Hammond organ, they also set the tone for who and what the Allman Brothers Band were.  There will never be another one like him.

https://www.jambase.com/article/allman-brothers-band-keyboardist-gregg-allman-died-1947-2017

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/27/arts/music/gregg-allman-dead-allman-brothers-band.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0

https://tomcaswell.net/2017/05/27/the-road-goes-on-forever-rip-gregg-allman/

Rest In Peace, Gregg Allman.  Your brother Duane, has reached out his hand, and called you home.