The Allman Brothers call it a career

A long, strange yet remarkable chapter in the history of popular music ended early the morning of Oct. 29. The Allman Brothers Band played the last encore of its last concert ever, capping a 45-year, off-and-on career marked by the deaths of two original members, All-World guitarist Duane Allman and bass guitarist Berry Oakley, and the firing of a third founder, co-lead guitarist Dickey Betts. Between 1969 and 2014 the Allman Brothers Band also experienced other personnel comings and goings, as well as drugs, celebrity marriage and divorce, decline, dissolution, redemption, and a resurgence over the past decade during which they played their improvisational blend of rock, blues and jazz with as much fire and daring as the early, glory days.

The Allman brothers formed in March 1969. They were just achieving creative and commercial breakthroughs by 1971, when Allman died in a motorcycle accident. Oakley died on a motorcycle a year later. The band might have folded. But Allman was replaced by a pianist, the gifted Chuck Leavell, and Lamar Williams filled Oakley’s bass seat. The newcomers joined original singer-keyboardist Gregg Allman, guitarist Dickey Betts, and drummers Butch Trucks and Jai Johanny Johanson, and by 1973 the band had its biggest hit, “Ramblin’ Man,” as well as the reputation and fame to headline stadium shows and massive rock festivals. But wealth and celebrity soon helped blow out their creative spark amid drugs, betrayal, and conflicting loyalties.

The Allman Brothers Band spent much of the 1980s on hiatus while some of the members pursued solo projects. In 1989 they re-emerged. With Allman, Betts, Trucks and Johanson joined by new second guitarist Warren Haynes, bassist Allen Woody and percussionist Marc Quinones, a re-energized band issued several studio and live albums in the ‘90s. But they couldn’t tolerate success again, and by the turn of the century, Haynes and Woody had left and Betts had been fired.

Yet the Allman Brothers Band reinvented itself again. Betts was replaced by Derek Trucks, the young nephew of Butch Trucks. Haynes returned, and bass guitarist Oteil Burbridge joined Quinones, Gregg Allmann, Trucks and Johanson. Their 2003 release “Hittin’ the Note” might have been their best album since 1973. They released a series of archival concert recordings from the early 1970s, some of which were very nearly as good as the classic 1971 “Live at Fillmore East.” And they have been releasing pristine-sounding CDs of virtually every concert they have played in recent years. A fan can go on their website today and order a box set of their entire last stand of shows at New York’s Beacon Theatre. As I write this, I’m waiting for my mail carrier to deliver a 3-CD set of the final concert, which according to several published reviews was marked by fiery and precise playing and singing matched only by a few concerts over the decades.

So this time, it appears that the reports of the death of the Allman Brothers Band will stick.

A fan video (not professional quality) of “Blue Sky” from the Allman Brothers’ final week of shows at the Beacon Theatre at New York:

Sources:

Allmusic.com: http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-allman-brothers-band-mn0000745964

Allman Brothers Band website: http://www.allmanbrothersband.com/

Paul, Alan: Allman Brothers put focus on Duane at final Beacon Theatre Show”  posted Oct. 29, 2014, at Billboard.com: http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6297018/allman-brothers-band-final-beacon-theatre-show-new-york