Despite his liver transplant and medical setbacks over the years, somehow he always managed to bounce back.
His mother lived to the age of 98, and was a frequent guest of honor at his concerts. Given their unmistakable physical resemblance, one could suspect that Gregg would be with us for a very long time. Just prior to his passing he had been recording in the legendary Muscle Shoals FAME studios, where his brother Duane had made musical history as a session player. Fans realized it was serious, yet we grew used to Gregg constantly defying the odds. Thus the news of his passing in late May of 2017 still came as a shock.
I've written fairly extensively about the Allman Brothers Band on AllAboutJazz, and this year there have been countless articles tracing Gregg's musical journey and personal struggles. Thus there's no need to revisit that here. Instead I want to focus a bit on him as a solo artist, and mention a few things about him musically which impressed me over the decades.
As some of you have surely experienced, when you closely follow an artist's career and music you develop a connection, especially with musicians and singers because their art can give you a glimpse into their soul. You know them as artists, but you don't necessarily have a clue about them as a person. With Gregg Allman that was certainly the case for me, but it went a bit deeper.
I have interviewed four members of the Allman Brothers Band who were awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, so listening to Gregg's friends talk about him gave me a deeper sense of who he was. I also did in depth interviews with two members of Gregg's solo band. Gregg graciously posted glowingly about those interviews on his FB and Twitter accounts, and that gave me a tangible insight into the prowess of his social media reach. In future posts I'll share parts of those interviews relating to Gregg.
In addition to that I was also given the opportunity to interview Devon Allman, one of Gregg's sons who is a successful singer/songwriter/guitarist in his own right. Although I wasn't too familiar with Devon at that point, after hearing his solo album I looked forward to speaking with him. When I called his cell he said he was, “taking one for the team” and driving his band's equipment truck back home from a festival. He was happy to have someone to talk to, so we chatted like two guys on a road trip, and it was a delightful interview – one that I particularly enjoyed.
What was special about Gregg?
When I thought of Gregg and his brother Duane, I considered them to be musical equals – actually that is somewhat remarkable. As I mentioned in a recent post, Duane Allman, despite dying at the age of 24 over 45 years ago, is still ranked one of the ten best rock/blues guitarists in the world. Although Gregg wasn't blessed with powerful pipes, over time he developed into one of the premier blues singers of his generation.
Beyond that, Gregg Allman was a gifted and prolific songwriter, something Duane wasn't. Gregg also had great musical instincts, and impeccable taste. Something else that stuck me as particularly impressive, was that he knew his own limitations as a vocalist, and as an instrumentalist. You can find so many examples of rock musicians who didn't have such an awareness, and their music doesn't stand the test of time. Gregg knew the limits of where his talent could safely go -- he also had wisdom and employed tasteful restraint.
He was actually a guitarist by choice, but became an organist by necessity in his early bands with his brother. Eventually he developed a great Hammond organ sound, and while the Allman Brother guitarists were pushing the envelope in terms of improvisation, Gregg constructed a series of tasteful, well conceived solos that were well suited to the music.
Fans of the Allman Brothers Band might have thought they knew Gregg musically, but when he released his first solo album after Duane's death, it was evident that there was considerably more to Gregg Allman than we had known. The album's title, “Laid Back” was the first clue that this was going to be different.
With this album another of Gregg's important qualities came into play. Gregg wasn't driven by ego, he didn't feel the need to prove he could play. Instead, he demonstrated that he was an excellent judge of talent. Throughout his solo career he surrounded himself with great musicians. Chuck Leavell, only 20 years old at the time, was one of them. His piano playing greatly impressed Gregg and the Allman Brothers who stopped by the studio. Eventually he was invited to join the band. This was another demonstration that Gregg put the music ahead of his ego – in terms of musical chops Gregg was no match for Chuck.
Here fans got their first taste of the solo artist Gregg Allman. It also demonstrated that his songwriting extended beyond the space the Allman Brothers occupied.
On his memorable solo tour in 1973, despite substance abuse that seemed to have had an impact on his voice, Gregg's version of his song “Dreams” gave fans yet another indication that he was more than a member of the Allman Brothers Band.
With Tommy Talton on guitar, Chuck Leavell on keyboards, and a large string section
After his marriage to Cher, Gregg's musical instincts seemed to have briefly forsaken him, perhaps overpowered by romance and infatuation. He and Cher put out an album that didn't work for either of them. Again despite his substance abuse problems, when it came time to tour, he put together an excellent backing band.
Over the years he released several more solo albums that always contained some gems. Particularly noteworthy was “Searching for Simplicity” during which the mature bluesman we've come to know truly emerged.
It's rare that an artist's releases late in life are on the same level as his early works. Gregg saved the best for last, his first album “Laid Back” and his final three releases, “Searching for Simplicity,” “Low County Blues,” and “Southern Blood” are his best work.
2015 – Gregg Allman "Whipping Post" | Back to Macon, GA
I Love the Life I Live (OFFICIAL VIDEO) | Gregg Allman - Southern Blood
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Allman Brothers Band photo, source www.allmanbrothers.com -- Originally b/w, colorized & effects by
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