As I've mentioned before I was too young to see Duane play with the Allman Brothers, but listening to this show is just good enough that I can only imagine being in his presence.

What a great slide player as well as an amazing human being. Moreover,  to think that Duane had the vision to put a band togeather with not only two guitar players, but two drummers, a bass player from Chicago and his brother playing the Hammond 3. This arraignment was unheard of back in that time period.

Thank you @andyvannoy, so much for sharing this piece of musical history that's helping to warm up the speakers in my room on one the coldest of days in February in my corner of the world.

RIP Duane, your time is done, you did well my friend!

Actueely the Grateful Dead had the same lineup of 2 drummers, 2 guitars, bass and keys.

Good point, I should have included that...Thanks @oldDog!

Thanks for linking this. Listened last night. What a rocking performance.  High energy and top shelf playing from all 6. Butch Trucks was indeed "the Freight Train ". Dickey with kicking guitar solos. Great soulful vocals from Gregg. Tasty drumming from Jaimoe. Almost like having Lionel Hampton in the band. Oakley's bass...unique and outstanding. 

And Duane Allman the sparkplug and guru of the whole thing.   What a FIREBRAND Duane was!!! High energy lead playing and simply blistering and scorching slide playing. I remember what that was like. Like an electrical current blasting off the stage and making you feel so good inside and making your hair stand up. No joke. Duane was the most high octane musician ever in the ABB. 

If Duane and Berry had lived it's likely by 1980 the ABB would have been as big as the Rolling Stones or Pink Floyd. No joke.

@olddog Butch Trucks when asked always complained the Grateful Dead was never anything like the ABB. Even the two drummers. Butch would lament Kreutzmann and Hart basically had the same style and played the same thing while Butch and Jaimoe had completely different styles and did not play the same thing yet the two styles fit and was unique and not like any other band. Plus Butch drew a distinction between Duane and Dickey that was different than The Dead guitarists. 

Well of course that is correct as they were not the same bands and played differently. 

I always got the impression Butch didn't care for The Dead and maybe the same for Gregg. But Dickey is a huge fan and friend of Jerry Garcia and Duane liked Jerry too. 

But Dickey several times in the press said he and Oakley went to Duane and said Jaimoe is a jazz drummer and doesn't give us that meat and potatoes thing we need. So why not add another drummer that plays like a rock drummer. The Grateful Dead has two drummers so why can't we? So they asked Butch Trucks to join and then they were 5 pieces and Phil Walden was expecting Duane to be a 3 piece band. Dickey said Butch set up Jaimoe perfectly to add all that tasty stuff that is typical of a jazz drummer 

But Jaimoe always said Duane told him he wanted two drummers from the beginning because James Brown had two drummers. 

When they sacked Jaimoe in 1980 and added David Toler, Butch said he regretting that vote at the very first show they did with David Toler. Said Toler played much the same as Butch did and everytime Butch started to do something, David Toler was already doing it. Butch said David Toler sounded too much like me and his brother sounded too much like Dickey. The bass player over played ( something Gregg complained about in his book) so to Butch the 1978 to 1982 band didn't have the right chemistry and when they dumped Jaimoe for David Toler and added Mike Lawler on keys it made it even worse. 

Oh well. Guess Butch had some valid points. And in 1989 they made an effort to go back to square one and 1969 with Warren Haynes, Allen Woody and Johnny Neal. Then they cut Johnny loose in 1990. Gregg said Johnny didn't fit either.

The 2 drummers thing is interesting. Personally, I like Billy K by himself better than the duo. That's not the only reason why my favorite era of GD is 71-74 but may be a contributing factor.

Also, as a drummer, I'd have a hard time playing with someone else, but then I'm not Jaimoe or Butch. It would be easy for the drummers to step on each other, but these guys have it down. Clearly, it works well for the ABB and TTB

can't wait to listen to this when I get home

Yeah I used to be a drummer too. Haven't touched them in many, many years. No place to set them up! Anyway I wholeheartedly agree with Stormyrider about Bill and Mickey. I like the Dead with just Bill. Love his snare sound. 

Butch and Jaimoe were special. I think I might like the ABB with just them compared to with Marc. I certainly lik ethe original 6 the best.

I also like the drum sound of the 70s compared to what came after. Not sure if it is the way they were mic'd or not. 

But to me, Butch and Jaimoe together cannot be touched.

And yes it is hard to play with another drummer. Especially if both of you are influenced by the ABB. Maybe because they were original and not trying to sound like anything but themselves it worked. And worked well...

@stormyrider I had an opportunity to speak with Chuck Leavell in 1976 when Sea Level played a club in Greensboro, NC. It was Chuck, Lamar Williams,  Jaimoe and Jimmy Nalls I think was the guitarists name. Butch and Dickey had just quit the ABB so I was curious what was happening with Dickey, Gregg and Butch. Chuck said they were all fed up with Gregg and Dickey had a band configured like the original 6 and he wasn't sure what Butch was going to do. Gregg was out in LA in that mess which had been a problem with the band then the drug deal with a roadie that involved Gregg was all several of the guys in the band could take with Gregg so the band fell apart.  

Here is the interesting part as we all knew basically what Chuck said. Chuck said Butch wanted to be in Sea Level so they could keep the ABB rhythm section together and they just finished the first leg of several club dates with Butch but Chuck said he liked it better with just the 4 of us and he had no idea what Butch was going to do now. 

Apparently Chuck Leavell liked it better when Jaimoe played alone. But by the time Sea Level recorded their second album Chuck had replaced Jaimoe with, I think his name was, George Weaver. And he hired Davis Caulsey on guitar and Randall Bramlett on sax.  Jaimoe was still in the band but only on percussion and appeared on about 4 of the tracks on Cats on the Coast. Shortly afterwards Jaimoe quit saying Chuck was too picky and wanted to be the best piano player in the world. 

Next thing I knew Gregg, Butch and Jaimoe sat in with Dickey and Great Southern in Central Park and did an Allman Brothers set and that the band was back together. This was summer 1978. Phil Walden wanted Chuck and Lamar to come back and for Phil Chuck and Lamar played on show with the ABB in August 1978 at the Capricorn picnic but Chuck said it still felt like it did the last several months the ABB was together so he and Lamar passed. 

@stormyrider

   I saw BR once. Wasn't a rock or blues  show but tight 20 piece band. Some say BR is overrated. Maybe. Also maybe some of that was his attitude.  For example in 1969 he said he could blow Gunger Baker off the stage any day of the week. That angered a lot of rock fans as at the time Cream was highly regarded. 

You think BR is overrated?

To me the big drum solo in the middle of the above link DOES blow Ginger Baker off the stage but I love Cream and Baker.

I saw BR is a small club with his band in the very late 70s or maybe early 80s. Had a seat to the side so I could watch his feet too. Just jaw dropping good. There are so many great drummers in the world but to me no one could move with such finesse, power and make it look so effortless. Maybe that is not the words I need to use. idk.

Also the sound of his drums always got me too. Just right. Maybe his style and sound wouldn't fit every musical situation but damn he was a force. 

That said I like tons of drummers. Too many to name. And why bother... we all know what we like anyway. 

Anyone have thoughts to the ABB drum sound over the years? Love talking about this stuff. 

I

Butch and Jaimoe!!!

They are not in the same league as Buddy Rich but few if any rock drummers can play like the old jazz/big band drummers of the 40's. 

Butch and Jaimoe together is my favorite drumming. In the 1970's Butch and Jaimoe were more separated and different than the 90's and 2000's to me especially after Marc Quinones was hired by Butch. Jaimoe seemed to pull back and not add a lot of his little tasty fills. Indeed in a 1993 interview he said Marc is playing where I use to play so I've had to pull back. But rather than being mad Jaimoe said " I'll just find some new places and things to play". 

Once in an interview Butch said when asked about Jaimoe said " I love playing with Jaimoe. Our styles just fit so well. Jaimoe isn't the best drummer out there but NOBODY does what Jaimoe does". Butch also said when Berry Oakley was in the band Butch had to stay home much of t  he time because Oakley was all over the place and would take off with Duane and Dickey. But with Larmar Williams playing like a bass player, I can move out now when I want and do some fun things. 

Here is a live version of Liz Reed from 1973. Larmar Williams is playing more like a traditional bass player but he is so tasty too. And Jaimoe and Butch are completely different in their styles and can be heard clearly as different players instead of the wall of percussion coming off the stage that I often experienced in the 90's and 2000's and especially after Marc joined. 

Turn this link up loud and listen carefully to Butch, Jaimoe and Lamar. It is simply outstanding to me. 

@stormyrider watching Jaimoe in his band as the sole drummer on traditional ABB material is a real treat. Understated yet really dynamic, he still manages to fill the spaces in between without just keeping time.

Great posts/clips & Butchy was all that too re playing ABB stuff solo - reminds me I gotta get a Freight Train or Les Brers show sometime, those were among his last shows & posters here said they smoked

the guy is a flat out beast on BHLT’s take of Jessica, as he is on the whole CD (Stonybrook March 1983) - also 2 others from B&S, RMan & Sbound

sure looking forward to these clips, esp 6/5/71, thanks andyvannoy et al

Hey Robertdee I whole heartedly agree with that 1973 show at Nassau Coliseum being a great listen of Butch and Jaimoe. They were GREAT together. 

@stephen I saw Betts, Hall, Leavell,  Trucks twice and it was Butch alone and Butchie didn't need Jaimoe to sound good. He was awesome on drums. 

One of the shows was taped and is on YouTube. Little beer joint in Roanoke, Virginia called the Coffee Pot.  So surprising Dickey, Chuck, Butchie and Jimmy Hall would play such a small place after filling up Coliseums coast to coast as the Allman Brothers with Wet Willie opening. 

Apparently the color Coffee Pot footage is not on YouTube now. Here is BHLT and Jessica at the Capitol Theater in Passaic,  New Jersey. 

Sorry about the Chuck Leavell Pink Floyd cover link. I posted that yesterday and somehow my phone put it in there again.

so many things on this thread - sorry if I go out of order

This is a great show. I wish there was a better recording. The songs evolved from the versions in March AFE

Liz Reed from 73 was interesting. You could really hear the different approaches in drumming. I'm assuming Jaimoe was on the left, a more jazz oreiented approach than Butch. Of interest, compared to AFE version, this was a little slower and didn't have nearly the fire that the AFE version had. Dickey was more subdued as well. As many people here have said, Duane added the spark. 

I listened to AFE (Deluxe Edition). I could essentially only hear drums on the R channel - the drums on the left were much lower in the mix so I couldn't compare the 2. I'll have to check out the FW version and maybe some of the Feb 70 to compare. 

Will report back

RE Buddy - amazing solo. The guy had great chops. That said, for me, a great drummer serves the music, adds to the music, and fits in well with the band. It's not about great solos. I find them boring after a while.  In Buddy's band, Buddy doesn't serve the musice, the music serves Buddy. I'd rather listen to Elvin Jones, Art Blakey, Tony Williams. We may agree to disagree.