Jaimoe keeps the Allman Brother’s sound alive at Infinity Hall

The Allman Brothers Band has a wild history that involves more than its share of death, drugs, booze and blues. The band played through several iterations from 1969 until 2014. For most of that time, it was powered by the rhythm and texture of its two drummers, Butch Trucks and the enigmatic Jaimoe. On Thursday, Nov. 12, Jaimoe will get back behind the drums to bring the music of the Allman Brothers to life with Friends of the Brothers at Norfolk’s Infinity Hall.

Jaimoe, born in 1944 as John Lee Johnson and also performed under the name Jai Johanny Johanson, was already an accomplished drummer before he met guitarist Duane Allman in 1967. Trained as a soul and jazz drummer, he started playing R&B at a young age and eventually made his way to Otis Redding’s band before Redding died in a plane crash at age 26. Jaimoe had an effortless texture to his drumming that set him apart from most drummers of the day, who were frequently enlisted to hold the beat rather than contribute to a bands’ musicality.

Though the Grateful Dead had already been playing with two drummers for a couple of years, it was still a highly unusual arrangement. When Duane Allman put his band together, he was looking for something similarly unconventional. The harmonizing guitars that the Allman Brothers Band would eventually be known for demanded another layer of sound to really set it apart from traditional blues. To give it that undefined X factor, the band paired the straight-ahead rock and blues drumming of Butch Trucks with Jaimoe’s more rhythmically intricate jazz and R&B style. The result was an unmitigated success. Jaimoe provided that intangible texture for that classic Allman Brothers Band sound.

While his contribution was integral to the music, his presence was not always welcome at Southern venues. As a Black man playing in a band with a bunch of long-haired white boys, the group was forced to sign “race waivers” stating that it had a black man in the band and that the white members would take responsibility for his actions. When told Jaimoe wouldn’t be permitted onstage in Florida, the band famously responded, “if he doesn’t play, we ain’t gonna play.” It’s partly due to the racist attitudes in the south that Gregg Allman rejected the term “Southern rock” for the more appropriate “progressive blues.”

Throughout the Allman Brothers Band’s 45-year history, Jaimoe played with the band for extended periods but was absent for most of the 1980s. He rejoined the band in 1989 and remained through its final performance in 2014. That break in the 1980s gave him time to develop Jaimoe’s Jasssz Band, which takes a more R&B-influenced approach to the progressive blues sound of the Allman Brothers Band.

In 2017, Jaimoe’s Allman Brothers Band drummer, Butch Trucks, died. To commemorate Trucks’ life, friend, writer and musician Alan Paul, who wrote a best-selling book about the Allman Brothers Band, gathered a group of musicians with deep connections to the band for a tribute concert. These were musicians who’d played with original members of the band in their many side projects. Among them were Junior Mack from Jaimoe’s Jasssz Band; guitarist Andy Aledort, who played with Allman Brothers Band guitarist Dickey Betts for 12 years; and keyboardist Peter Levin, who had played with Gregg Allman’s solo band.

The shows were so successful that Paul knew he had to keep it going, and formed Friends of the Brothers. More than a tribute band, Paul sees the act as a way to preserve the music of the historic band. With a lineup of seasoned musicians steeped in the Allman Brothers tradition, they have mastered that progressive blues sound.

Paul had spent countless hours talking to and playing with Jaimoe before asking if he’d like to join the project. For the past two years, Jaimoe, now in his 80s, has been adding the signature texture that helped set the Allman Brothers Band apart from everyone else who simply played Southern rock.

For tickets, visit www.
infinityhall.com.