Were they a blues band? Rock band? Jazz band? Whatever the label, the original Allman Brothers Band of Duane Allman on slide and electric guitars, B3er and vocalist brother Gregg, lead guitarist Dickie Betts, bassist Berry Oakley and the two drumming swing team of Butch Trucks and Jaimoe were definitely the first jam band, and they show that talent on this West Coast tour during their celebrated early years. Their classic Fillmore East from the same year (1971) became an iconic album, but this 4 disc set, collected from shows at the Fillmore West (along with one 45 minute “Mountain Jam” from a 1970 New Orleans concert) is just as rollicking, urgent and, above all, filled with searing guitar virtuosity driven by the relentless rhythm section.
One of the most in-demand session musicians at the time, Duane Allman was a master of the slide guitar, and his work here on the stretched out tunes like “Whipping Post,” “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” and “You Don’t Love Me” are definitive displays of rural strings on fire. Gregg hums on the Hammond B3, and his laconic voice on red clay readings of “Trouble No More,” “Midnight Rider” Don’t Keep Me Wonderin’” define what came to be called “Southern Rock.” Oakley growls out a raucous take of “Hootchie Coochie Man” as well, and the double drum team rumbles like wave after wave at Waimea Beach as they percolate throughout and keep everything galloping forward.
The loss of Duane to an untimely motorcycle accident in October of 1971 was a major body blow to the band, but they carried on, eventually turning into today’s Tedeschi Trucks band, carrying the torch with fidelity. But make no mistake about it; this is Ground Zero.