Gregg Allman (plays Paris)

[Ayler]

A l'occasion de concerts en solo, Gregg a donné l'entretien suivant :

Q: How is your health, first of all?

A: Real good. I took most of the year off. It was a pretty rough year for me, I can tell you that.

Q: Is this something that is now cured, or are you dealing with it on a daily basis?

A: It was cured on my tenth shot. I had to do 24 of them, once every Sunday, for half a year. It was like I was under house arrest. I didn't have enough strength to pick up the phone and say hello to my mother. That stuff is wicked, man. And now I have to take these shots to put the good stuff back in. It's like watered-down chemo. It kills everything -- the good stuff and the bad stuff.

Q: Is it like an antibiotic?

A: No, it's called peginterferon. It's some kind of chemo, I'm sure. My hair started coming out -- it's started to pick up right now. My viral load was zero on the tenth week. Dead. Dead and gone, and now I feel like I'm 30 years old, let me tell ya. After that, though, I had a bulging disk that trapped my sciatic nerve between it and a vertebra. I had to do a whole tour with the Bros like that, man. I had to walk with a cane. I was in severe pain -- I've been on stage with an abscess tooth, but this was far greater than that.

While you're playing it goes away -- it's strange, very strange. But once you stop playing and it's time to leave the stage, it's like, 'Oh God, here it comes.'

Q: But you feel good now.

A: Oh, yeah. I'm just fine. As a matter of fact, one of the reasons I booked this tour with my band is that I feel so good. I'm ready to get out there and make up for lost time. Last year (2007) was the first year since I was 14 that I didn't play on New Year's Eve. It was weird spending New Year's Eve at home.

Q: Regarding the tour .. is there something you get out of this band that you can't get with The Allman Brothers Band? Is there some aspect of this that really makes it different for you?

A: We play the songs off of my solo records, and we play some Allman Brothers songs, but they've been rearranged. We do 'Whipping Post,' but it's almost like reggae. It gets you away from the Brothers. That's the main thing of it.

The Allman Brothers is the main oyster, though, 'cause we have more fun doing that. Well, not more fun. It's just that the crowds have such a warm vibe coming off of 'em. It's really great. I get a certain amount of it with my band. But it's not like with the Brothers. But as far as playing, you get to step aside and hit another facet of the music. There's no holds barred. You can play any damn thing you want to. I mean, if you want to play the theme from 'Beaches' .. I don't think we'll be playing that one ..

Q: But you could ..

A: I don't know. I can't sing like Bette Midler.

Q: I know Jerry Jemmott is in this band. People don't know his name, but he's played on a lot of important records, going back to the '60s. Is he someone you've known for a long time?

A: Well, him and my brother (the late Duane Allman) were real, real close. Both of them being with Atlantic Records, they wound up playing many sessions together. Jemmott was at Wilson Pickett sessions, and Aretha Franklin. He was in King Curtis' band. Jemmott's incredible, man. He's like my guru. He's also a Buddhist. He's teaching me all about that, and it's so interesting.

Q: Are there plans for any new albums?

A: It's getting to be that time, isn't it? I'm set to take my band into the studio, as soon as I can find some time. And the Brothers have been talking about it. The next thing we put out will be a studio record, I'm sure. It won't be a live cut.

Q: Can the logistics of getting everyone in The Allman Brothers Band together for a recording be a challenge?

A: Well, you start way ahead of time. We know everybody's schedules for the next three years -- tentative schedules. We'll say like, 'We're gonna go in next November.' So, everybody will get advised in plenty enough time.

Source: http://www.nj.com/entertainment/music/index.ssf/2008/12/alman_bros_head_tk.html

[Ayler]

Gregg envisage un nouvel album... en solo dès qu'il aura le temps. Pour l'ABB, sa réponse reste très vague...

[Francky]

ben oui et non "The next thing we put out will be a studio record, I'm sure. It won't be a live cut."
Sachant que tous leurs concerts sont publiés...

[Ayler]

Une jam avec Johnny Winter, Buddy Miles et Berry Oakley sur "Wasted Words" :

[Bloomers]

Une jam avec Johnny Winter, Buddy Miles et Berry Oakley sur "Wasted Words" :

elle est sur l'anthologie de Greg Allman

[Ayler]

Oui, c'est de là qu'est tiré cet extrait.

[Ayler]

Gregg Allman fait la promo de son nouvel album... et livre quelques entretiens !

Soundspike: Perhaps you could start by explaining how you define "Low Country Blues," the title of your new solo album.

Gregg Allman: I live in Savanah, GA, and that is considered low country. It's a pretty great place to live, and I just named the album after that.

Many of the artists you are covering on "Low Country Blues" have never been tapped by the Allman Brothers band or in your solo career -- Sleepy John Estes, Skip James and Otis Rush, for example. Could you talk about the importance of the selections, and how you made them?

Well, the way this all happened was, T Bone Burnett met some guy that had a [hard drive] with many thousand songs. They were old songs, some of them Billie Holiday old -- there were cuts from the '20s, '30s, '40s, '50s, obscure songs, you know? Songs that like your average Joe hasn't heard. And he said, "I'm gonna peel off about 20 of them and send them to you and see what you like, and if you don't like any of 'em, send you some more." I said, "Well all right, sure."

You have recorded Muddy Waters' first hit, "I Can't Be Satisfied." Obviously, the band has played Muddy's music for years. Can you describe what makes his compositions unique, and how you approach Muddy's music?

I guess I was about halfway through the session, and T Bone said, "Is there anything that you had written that you'd like to put on the record?" And I said, "Well, there's a couple I've written and there's this one called 'Can't Be Satisfied.'" He says, "Oh, that old Muddy Waters song?" I said, "Yeah." He said, "That'd be a great one." We did that one -- pow! That might have been our first take. We show it to the guys and man, the guys -- they learned 'em all so fast. It seemed like they understood exactly what you were saying, you know? We had real good communication. That's foremost. I mean, that's essential.

What did T Bone bring to the sessions, and how long did it take for the two of you to get on the same page?

He just seemed to have the same outlook on the same things that I did -- same likes and dislikes. He's a one-of-a-kind dude, man.

After working the same musicians for so many years, what do you discover about your playing or singing when you get in a room with musicians you have not recorded with, such as Doyle Bramhall II and Dennis Crouch?

I'm telling you, they're quite a team. I heard beforehand that Dennis Crouch was gonna be on the session. I didn't know who that was, and I checked with this friend of mine and he said "Man, he don't play anything but upright. Who's playing electric bass?" I said, "I don't know, I'll get back to ya." So then I found out that it was all gonna be acoustic bass. The first thing one thinks, being in a rock-and-roll band, is, "Are we gonna be able to hear it? Or is everything gonna sound different when Gerald Jermont, the bassist in my band, plays it?" You know, it's all electric. So anyway, long story short, Jermont went out and bought an upright, one of those electric uprights that has a long spear on the bottom of it.

Doyle, he's one of a kind. He plays backwards and upside down. I mean, he's a left-handed player, and like Jimi Hendrix, the way you pick it up as a kid -- you don't have anybody there to show you it's supposed to be like this. I had to ask him, "How in the world do you learn a new lick? I mean, you hang upside down in the mirror or what?"' He made these chords and they're just simple chords, but they were backwards -- the little high strings on the top and the fat strings on the bottom. But he was just comfortable with it, and me -- it just gets me uneasy to watch him. But, I mean, he pulls off some incredible [stuff]. Albert King played that way, so who knows?

And Dr. John?

I hadn't seen Mac [Dr. John] in about 15-20 years. I saw him once in Miami -- he was on the same billing as us. With like 15, 20 years sober, both of us talked during the whole session: "You remember the time?
We laughed at ourselves, I'm telling you. He's so funny. He's just such a righteous cat. He brought a lot of incentive, a lot of ideas, and he's real subtle about it. He's like Jaimoe in the Allman Brothers: he don't say anything unless it needs to be said.

Were you familiar with the drummer Jay Bellerose?

When I walked into the studio, I saw all these drums sitting around in the middle of the floor because they hadn't set up yet. These drums looked like they had come from different parts of the world. None of them matched; there was no two alike. I thought, "Maybe this is a guy just leaving," you know, this is the set before ours. I just thought this guy's either real good or real bad. But I kinda leaned more toward the real good, and sure enough. This guy ties these things to his legs -- it's like big grapes -- and they have birdshot in them. Or they'll have little metal things and he mics them all with these little teeny-tiny mics. And he only ever used one stick -- ever. To hit the other drum, he'd use a tambourine or a maraca. He's an incredible drummer. On "Floating Bridge," especially. He really shines on that one.

You have one new song, "Just Another Rider," on the album, which you have been playing with the Allman Brothers Band. Will that become more prominent in shows? What about that song made you want to put in a lineup with all of these vintage blues tunes?

Warren [Haynes] came to see me in New York, and we finished the track up. I said, "This sounds perfect for my record. I'm not sure I'm gonna use it, but I'm gonna try to get it in there." And he said, "Fine," but I don't think I did it like he wanted it done. There was a horn part that he wanted to [repeat] over and over, but I tried it and it was too repetitious. I thought it came out real good. It's one of the best songs on the record.

You return to the Beacon with the ABB in March. Do you have any health concerns? Are there limits to your activities?

No, I feel great. Totally excited to get back to the Beacon. We are going to play 13 nights, over 200 shows total at the Beacon, actually. That's a venue record.

Source : http://www.soundspike.com/features/tour/1398-gregg_allman_tour_q_a_gregg_allman.html

[Tontonjimi]

Une jam avec Johnny Winter, Buddy Miles et Berry Oakley sur "Wasted Words" :

Elle date de quand cette jam?

[Ayler]

Je n'ai pas l'info !

[Ayler]

Gregg Allman to Publish 'Unflinching' Tell-All Memoir of Allman Bros. and Beyond

[Bloomers]

Une jam avec Johnny Winter, Buddy Miles et Berry Oakley sur "Wasted Words" :

Elle date de quand cette jam?

1974 dispo sur l'anthology de Greg

[Francky]

Personne n'avait parlé du concert du Grand Rex le 29 juin ? Je trouve pas.

J'ai hésité longtemps à prendre mes places parce que le Grand Rex c'est toujours très, trop cher, et aujourd'hui, divine surprise, elles sont en "promotion" à 37,45 €
et même 32 au balcon.

A ce prix là faut plus hésiter. Je n'ai aucune idée d'en quoi consiste la promo ni jusque quand ça dure.

[Francky]

Qui vient ce soir alors ?

[Ayler]

Malheureusement pas moi.

[Michel]

Grand soir.
On ne sait plus depuis combien de temps, il n'est pas venu en France, (1991?)
On est au premier rang enfoncés dans les fauteuils.

Tift Merritt ouvre la soirée pour un set acoustique et au piano excellent, bourré d'énergie et de feeling.
Petit entracte, et une légende monte sur scène, Gregg Allman, 40 ans de carrière, un nom mythique aux USA, le co-fondateur de l'ABB, et honte et désespoir, le Grand Rex est loin d'être complet.
Mais on va mettre l'ambiance !
Le groupe est particulièrement excellent, un guitariste, Scott Sharrard, racé, excellent à la slide aux interventions tranchantes, une rythmique calquée sur celle de l'ABB, d'une efficacité discrète mais redoutable, un saxo au son superbe et Bruce Katz au piano et orgue qui mime ses interventions.

Le show démarre avec deux morceaux des albums solos de Gregg et une superbe reprise de Juste Like A Woman, et comme le dit JC c'est du caviar, un son superbe, la voix de Gregg exceptionnelle, un groupe d'une cohésion musicale forte, et des interventions royales des différents solistes.
Première chanson de l'ABB et pas n'importe laquelle avant Just Another Rider un des superbes titres de Low Country Blues.
Le percussionniste prend le lead vocal pour You Must Be Crazy, et encore deux titres du petit dernier, puis Dreams qu'on ne présente plus et une excellente version de Before The Bullets Fly écrit par Warren Haynes qui précède Melissa, du grand art avec Gregg à la guitare.
Grand moment de beauté pure, d'émotion pour moi, partagée avec Isabelle et Catherine de chaque côté et JC et Manu qui n'en perdent pas une miette, à plusieurs reprises, sans se concerter, on fera des standing ovation à la fin des morceaux.
Les standards de l'ABB sont aussi au rendez-vous avec Whipping Post et Statesboro Blues pour un final et un rappel somptueux.
Deux heures de bonheur, de cette musique qui respire le blues et l'Amérique par tous les pores de la peau.
Il dira à l'année prochaine, moi je ne suis pas sur que je pourrais attendre....et l'idée d'un petit tour à New York pour le Beacon Run 2012 grandit, grandit, grandit........

A noter la fantastique qualité individuelle des musiciens, un vrai bonheur de les voir de si près....


01 "Don't Keep Me Wonderin'" (IDLEWILD SOUTH - 1970)
02 "I'm No Angel" (Gregg Allman I'M NO ANGEL - 1987)
03 "Just Like A Woman" (Bob Dylan's cover...)
04 "One Way Out" (EAT A PEACH - 1972)
05 "Just Another Rider" (Gregg Allman LOW COUNTRY BLUES - 2011)
06 "You Must Be Crazy" (Floyd Miles on vocals)
07 "These Days" (Gregg Allman LAID BACK - 1973)
08 "Tears, Tears, Tears" (Gregg Allman LOW COUNTRY BLUES - 2011)
09 "I Can't Be Satisfied" (Gregg Allman LOW COUNTRY BLUES - 2011)
10 "Dreams" (THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND - 1969)
11 "Before The Bullets Fly" (Gregg Allman JUST BEFORE THE BULLETS FLY - 1988)
12 "Melissa" (EAT A PEACH - 1972)
13 "Going Back To Daytona" (Floyd Miles on vocals)
14 "Ridin' Thumb" (King Curtis' cover)
15 "Midnight Rider" (IDLEWILD SOUTH - 1970)
16 "Whipping Post" (THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND - 1969)
ENCORE
17 "Floating Bridge" (Gregg Allman LOW COUNTRY BLUES - 2011)
18 "Statesboro Blues" (AT FILLMORE EAST - 1971)

Gregg Allman - Lead Vocals, Organ, Guitar
Floyd Miles - Percussion, Lead Vocals on two tracks
Scott Sharrard - Guitar
Bruce Katz - Keys
Steve Potts - Drums
Jay Collins - Horns
Jerry Jemmott - Bass

[Francky]

bon, j'étais en train d'écrire quand ça a planté.
Tu me retires une épine du pied Michel. toujours un plaisir de te serrer la pince à la sortie, la prochaine fois faudra qu'on fasse un peu mieux.
Deux heures de bonheur en effet. Je m'attendais pas à ça. Une superbe alliance entre les grands standards de l'ABB, les superbes compos du dernier disque et du bon vieux blues traditionnel chanté par le vieux pote Floyd Miles qui a initié Gregg à la musique quand il avait 14 piges.

Michel, Idlewild south c'est pas un album solo de Gregg !!!!!!!!

La grande surprise c'est la perfection de ce line-up qui n'en est qu'à son deuxième show puisque la tournée a commencé deux jours plus tôt en Espagne. En fait même s'ils sont rôdés sur l'ensemble du concert, aucun n'a joué sur Low CountrY blues !

Scott Sharrard est parfait dès le début à la fois en lead et en slide, respectueux de la grande tradition. Talent à suivre. Jay Collins aussi, et le mariage des deux et un bonheur.
Ça me fait penser à l'anecdote citée dans SKYDOG. Juste avant les sessions du Fillmore East le groupe répétait avec une section de cuivres. Tom Dowd arrive de Rome juste avant et dit qu'est-ce que c'est que ce bordel, virez-moi tout ça, l'ABB c'est deux guitares et basta, et ne tolère que les interventions discrètes de Tom Doucette à l'harmonica.
Mais depuis.... (surtout depuis '90 et l'arrivée de Warren) les cuivres ont souvent été invités, la plupart du temps avec beaucoup de bonheur. Dont hier soir.


Sinon ? Ben les grands fauteuils en cuir c'est pas fait pour le rock. Le public, (la plupart inconditionnels)l est conquis, mais pas brûlant. Gregg n'est pas un showman d'exception, ses vannes tombent parfois à plat, et il passe trop de temps entre les morceaux. Après il nous demande si on roupille. Il est gentil ! On goûte, on savoure, on revient quand tu veux. On ira peut-être faire un tour en Angleterre ou en Allemagne pour un rappel.


06/26/11 Vitoria-Gasteiz, SPAIN Virgen Blanca Square
06/29/11 Paris, FRANCE Grand Rex
07/1/11 London, ENGLAND Barbican
07/2/11 Birmingham, ENGLAND Symphony Hall
07/4/11 Dublin, IRELAND Grand Canal Theatre
07/6/11 Edinburgh, UNITED KINGDOM Usher Hall
07/9/11 Weert, NETHERLANDS Bospop Festival
07/10/11 Bonn, GERMANY Museumsplatz Festival
07/12/11 Munich, GERMANY Tollwood Festival
07/13/11 Nurnburg, GERMANY Lowensaal
07/15/11 Tuttlingen, GERMANY Honberg Sommer
07/16/11 Alsfeld, GERMANY Burg Herzberg Festival

Keep peachin' guys, you're a great bunch !

[leptilou]

Merci de ce cpte rendu !

[Michel]

Un truc étonnant, sur les albums de TTB, Warren et Gregg ainsi qu'en live les cuivres sont très présents, alors que l'ABB sauf avec des guest n'a pas de cuivres.

FRANCKY oui il faut qu'on se voit plus longuement c'est sur, IDLEWILD SOUTH c'est le 2ème ABB mais j'ai juste pas remis le nom du groupe à chaque fois.

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