Duane Allman – from a Guitar Player article

[GnLguy]

What Duane accomplished in 10 short years is amazing
Leading session player Muscle Shoals, co-founder of one of most influential bands of all time, still regarded as one of greatest slide players of all time and contributed to one of the greatest albums in rock history
He was an important part of the music of the late 60s/early 70s, as we all know there was such an explosion of music in that time period. Great new talent was constantly being signed.
Thankful for You Tube posting a lot of the bands of that era that many have forgotten about.
Was a great time to be a music lover
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“One of Duane’s closest friends was Jerry Wexler, head of Atlantic Records and one of the most perceptive men in the recording industry. I asked him how he first heard of Duane. “My first knowledge of Duane came when Rick Hall played for me on the telephone from Muscle Shoals a playback of Wilson Pickett’s “Hey Jude,” which Rick had just finished producing. I was knocked out by the lead guitar I heard all through the record, and because I was familiar with the several session guitarists in Muscle Shoals I realized I was hearing a new player. It was Duane, of course, and I asked Rick to put him on the phone. That was the beginning of a close relationship, business and personal.
“Rick Hall had Duane under contract and I purchased it from Rick for Atlantic Records for $15,000. At this time it was a steep expenditure, because Duane didn’t sing, write, nor did he have a band. I was encouraged to buy Duane’s contract by Phil Walden, who became his manager and who built the Allman Brothers Band. Phil set up Capricorn Records, backed by Atlantic, which became the distributor for Capricorn, and the Allman’s were Capricorn’s first, and ultimately most successful, project.”
At that time Duane was playing a Gibson Les Paul gold top and a Gibson SG through two 50-watt Marshall amps driving two Marshall cabinets containing eight J.B.L. D-120F speakers. Sometimes on gigs he would play through a Vega P.A. system. In studio work he also used a Fender Stratocaster with Fender Twin Reverb amp. He never modified his equipment in any way throughout his career.
Wexler continues, “while the band was being formed, we used Duane as a session guitarist with Aretha Franklin, Delaney and Bonnie, King Curtis, Boz Scaggs, Ronnie Hawkins, and Eric Clapton. These sessions were cut mostly in Criteria, Miami; Atlantic, New York; Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
“Duane loved to play and he loved hanging out with musicians and music people. He came to visit with me often, at my houses in Florida and Long Island.”
There would usually be other musicians around such as Delaney, Curtis, Doctor John, and Eddie Hinton. Duane taught Eddie how to play bottle slide; he used a little glass pill bottle, Coricidin type, and once wrote to the manufacturer telling them what he used them for and they in turn sent a whole case to him. He used to give these out to his admirers.
Wexler goes on, “His playing was incredible. He played great, authentic blues, and he phrased like the great black guitar players, playing beautiful melodic segments. He was a masterly player, way beyond the chops problem – and being born and raised in the South, the blues came naturally to him. He didn’t have to learn them off phonograph records. He was a great acoustic guitar and dobro player. [He used a Gibson Heritage and a National Steel]. He even produced a slide effect manually when he wanted to. He played excellent bossa nova and jazz when needed, and when he jammed, he showed a good grounding in bop, and played a terrific country guitar, a la Hank Garland or Chet Atkins, as the spirit moved him.
Duane Allman “Just Rock On, And Have You A Good Time”
(first published in ‘Guitar Player’, May/June 1973)

[San Luis Rey]

Thanks Keith,
I love hearing the inside scoop about musicians from back in the day. The Wilson Pickett version of Hey Jude is a favorite of mine. Cool story about Duane’s unmodded gear too.

Mike

[GnLguy]

San Luis Rey wrote:

Thanks Keith,
I love hearing the inside scoop about musicians from back in the day. The Wilson Pickett version of Hey Jude is a favorite of mine. Cool story about Duane’s unmodded gear too.

The whole unmodded thing is interesting for sure. The music that has stood the test of time was played on instruments that would be considered substandard today.
An interesting thing about the Layla album is the amps used.
EC used a 50’s model Champ and Duane used an original non-reverb Princeton – no effects, no huge wall of amps and the Layla album has been one of the most influential albums of all time.
And when he was questioned about it, Duane talked about it like it was just another recording session like he’d played on at Muscle Shoals – with the exception that he had total respect for Eric.

So many recordings were like that, where outstanding players came together and collaborated on great material and the music stood the test of time.
And as mentioned, many of the instruments would be considered inferior by today’s standards

[Author]

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