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Music Calendar

Today: The late Duane Allman was born in 1946 – 66 years ago

“I will take love wherever I find it and offer it to everyone who will take it.., seek knowledge from those wiser than me and try to teach those who wish to learn from me.”
― Duane Allman

Nice tribute:

From Wikipedia:

Birth name Howard Duane Allman
Also known as Skydog
Born November 20, 1946
Nashville, Tennessee
Died October 29, 1971 (aged 24)
Macon, Georgia
Genres Southern rock, blues, blues-rock, soul, rock, jazz
Occupations Musician, songwriter
Instruments Guitar, vocals
Years active 1961–1971
Labels Mercury, Capricorn
Associated acts The Hour Glass, Wilson Pickett,The Allman Brothers Band,Derek and the Dominos, Aretha Franklin, Herbie Mann, Gregg Allman, The Allman Joys
Website AllmanBrothersBand.com

Howard Duane Allman (November 20, 1946 – October 29, 1971) was an American guitarist, session musician and the primary leader and co-founder of the The Allman Brothers Band, until his death in a motorcycle accident in 1971 at the age of 24.

The Allman Brothers Band was formed in 1969 and, unusual for the time, based in the Southeastern United States. In the early 1970s the band was hugely successful. Duane is best remembered for his brief but influential tenure in the band, and in particular for his expressive slide guitar playing and inventive improvisational skills. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Allman at #2 in their list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, second only to Jimi Hendrix and in 2011 he was ranked #9. His tone (achieved with a Gibson Les Paul and two 50-watt bass Marshall amplifiers) was named one of the greatest guitar tones of all time by Guitar Player.

Allman Brothers – Whipping Post, 9/23/70:

A sought-after session musician both before and during his tenure with the band, Duane Allman performed with such established stars as King Curtis, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, and Herbie Mann. He also contributed heavily to the 1970 album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs by Derek and the Dominos.

Duane Allman’s skills as a guitarist were complemented by personal qualities such as his intensity, drive and ability to draw the best out of others in making music. He is still referred to by his nickname “Skydog”.

Allman Brothers – In Memory of Elizabeth Reed, 9/23/70:

From rollingstone.com (100 greatest guitarists):
If the late Duane Allman had done nothing but session work, he would still be on this list. His contributions on lead and slide guitar to dozens of records as fine and as varied as Wilson Pickett’s down-home ’69 cover of “Hey Jude” and Eric Clapton’s 1970 masterpiece with Derek and the Dominos, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, constitute an astounding body of work. But Allman also transformed the poetry of jamming with the Allman Brothers Band, the group he founded in 1969 with his younger brother, singer-organist Gregg. Duane applied the same black soul and rebel fire he displayed as a sideman to the Allmans’ extended investigations of Muddy Waters and Blind Willie McTell covers and to his psychedelic-jazz interplay with second guitarist Dickey Betts in live showpieces such as “Whipping Post.” Although Duane and Gregg had played in bands together since 1960, Duane did not learn to play slide until shortly before the start of the Allmans. In his only Rolling Stone interview, in early’ 71, Duane said that the first song he tried to conquer was McTell’s “Statesboro Blues.” Allman’s blastoff licks in the recording that opens his band’s third album, At Fillmore East, show how far and fast he had come — and leave you wondering how much further he could have gone. In October 1971, eight months after the Fillmore East gigs, Allman died in a motorcycle accident in the band’s home base of Macon, Georgia.  -> Read more: rollingstone.com

 Album of the day:

Stepehen Thomas Erlwine (allmusic.com):
Whereas most great live rock albums are about energy, At Fillmore East is like a great live jazz session, where the pleasure comes from the musicians’ interaction and playing. The great thing about that is, the original album that brought the Allmans so much acclaim is as notable for its clever studio editing as it is for its performances. Producer Tom Dowd skillfully trimmed some of the performances down to relatively concise running time (edits later restored on the double-disc set The Fillmore Concerts), at times condensing several performances into one track. Far from being a sacrilege, this tactic helps present the Allmans in their best light, since even if the music isn’t necessarily concise (three tracks run over ten minutes, with two in the 20-minute range), it does showcase the group’s terrific instrumental interplay, letting each member (but particularly guitarist Duane and keyboardist/vocalist Gregg) shine. Even after the release of the unedited concerts, this original double album (single CD) remains the pinnacle of the Allmans and Southern rock at its most elastic, bluesy, and jazzy.

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Blues, Music Calendar

Today: Peter Green is 66

From Wikipedia:

Birth name Peter Allen Greenbaum
Born 29 October 1946 (age 66)
Bethnal Green, London
Genres Blues rock, blues, rock
Occupations Musician, songwriter
Instruments Guitar, vocals, harmonica, banjo,cello
Years active 1966–present
Labels Epic, Reprise, PVK, Creole
Associated acts John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, Fleetwood Mac,Peter Green Splinter Group,Gass, Peter B’s Looners, Otis Spann,Willie Dixon, B.B. King

Peter Green (born Peter Allen Greenbaum, 29 October 1946) is a British blues rock guitarist and the founder of the band Fleetwood Mac. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 for his work with the group, Green’s songs have been recorded by artists such as Santana, Aerosmith, Midge Ure, Tom Petty, and Judas Priest.

A major figure and bandleader in the “second great epoch” of the British blues movement, Green inspired B. B. King to say, “He has the sweetest tone I ever heard; he was the only one who gave me the cold sweats.” Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page have both lauded his guitar playing. Green’s playing was marked with idiomatic string bending and vibrato and economy of style. Though he played other guitars, he is best known for deriving a unique tone from his 1959 Gibson Les Paul.

  • He was ranked 38th in Rolling Stone’s list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”. 
  • His tone on the Bluesbreakers instrumental “The Super-Natural” was rated as one of the fifty greatest of all time by Guitar Player.
  •  In June 1996 Green was voted the third-best guitarist of all time in Mojo magazine.

Some of the best “white” blues ever – “The World Keep On Turning”:

From allmusic.com – Mark Allan:
Peter Green is regarded by some fans as the greatest white blues guitarist ever, Eric Clapton notwithstanding. Born Peter Greenbaum but calling himself Peter Green by age 15, he grew up in London’s working-class East End. Green’s early musical influences were Hank Marvin of the Shadows, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Freddie King, and traditional Jewish music. He originally played bass before being invited in 1966 by keyboardist Peter Bardens to play lead in the Peter B’s, whose drummer was a lanky chap named Mick Fleetwood. The 19-year-old Green was with Bardens just three months before joining John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, whose rapidly shifting personnel included bassist John McVie and drummer Aynsley Dunbar. A keen fan of Clapton, Green badgered Mayall to give him a chance when the Bluesbreakers guitarist split for an indefinite vacation in Greece. Green sounded great and, as Mayall recalls, was not amused when Clapton returned after a handful of gigs, and Green was out.
…read more @ allmusic.com 

Album of the day:

Fleetwood Mac (1968):

Fleetwood Mac’s debut LP was a highlight of the late-’60s British blues boom. Green’s always inspired playing, the capable (if erratic) songwriting, and the general panache of the band as a whole placed them leagues above the overcrowded field. Elmore James is a big influence on this set, particularly on the tunes fronted by Jeremy Spencer (“Shake Your Moneymaker,” “Got to Move”). Spencer’s bluster, however, was outshone by the budding singing and songwriting skills of Green. The guitarist balanced humor and vulnerability on cuts like “Looking for Somebody” and “Long Grey Mare,” and with “If I Loved Another Woman,” he offered a glimpse of the Latin-blues fusion that he would perfect with “Black Magic Woman.” The album was an unexpected smash in the U.K., reaching number four on the British charts.
~Richie Unterberger (allmuisc)

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