JAIMOE'S JASSSZ BAND

For Jaimoe, that sentiment pretty well sums up his entire career. Born in Mississippi in 1944, Jaimoe came up, as did so many Southern musicians at the time, playing the soul music circuit. One of his first big breaks—and one of his most treasured recollections— was touring behind the legendary R&B trailblazer Otis Redding. “I learned so much from Otis,” Jaimoe says now. In 1969, a few years after his experiences with Redding, Jaimoe found himself in Macon, Georgia, where he was introduced to a young hotshot guitarist named Duane Allman by record execs Phil Walden and Jerry Wexler. “I guess they figured that a long-haired hippie and a strange-ass drummer would be good together,” Jaimoe says. Along with Duane’s younger brother Gregg on keyboards, second guitarist Dickey Betts, and an exceptional rhythm section that included bassist Berry Oakley and Jaimoe’s 40-plus-year drum partner Butch Trucks, the Allman Brothers Band was read more...